Speech #1020208833

Otherwise. the goal of democracy and a better life for the Haitian people will be lost in the continuing nightmare of repression and injustice. On May 24. with the cruel and callous stroke of his pen. President Bush signed an Executive order that reversed decades of American leadership in providing sanctuary for refugees fleeing political oppression. He ordered the Coast Guard to return all Haitians directly to Haiti. without pausing to question whether they qualify for refugee status. Yet. United States immigration officers have found that fully onethird of the Haitian boat people have a credible claim to asylum. In the months since the Presidents harsh order. the few Haitian boat people who now flee have been returned by the Coast Guard and immediately arrested on the dock by Haitian police. A boatload of 158 Haitians was stopped by the Coast Guard Just 3 weeks ago. United States Embassy officials in Haiti have protested this treatment. but they can do little more than watch as the Haitian authorities bring the boat people in for questioning. The police have released most of the boat people within a matter of hours. but those who are said to have organized the departure are Imprisoned. If there were any political refugees on these boatsand past experience suggests that as many as onethird werethey now have been fully identified to the repressive Haitian police. It is because of incidents such as these that international law prohibits the return of refugees. Article 33 of the 1951 International Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees states that no country: Shall expel or return a refugee In any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race. religion. nationality. membership of a particular social group or political opinion. In 1981. when it established its procedures for handling Haitian boat people. the Reagan administration stated that article 33 binds the United States even on the high seas. For over a decade. it had been our Governments policy to return no one to Haiti without first determining whether they are political refugees. The Bush administrations reversal of this long standing practice jeopardizes Haitian refugees. and means that the example of the United States will be cited whenever other nations decide to slam their own doors on refugees and force them back into the hands of their oppressors. At a time when refugee needs are greater than ever before. the United States is setting an unconscionable example for the world. With refugees flooding out of the former Yugoslavia and Somalia by the thousands. with the alarming riots taking place in Germany. with ethnic controversies erupting in violence in many other troubled lands. America must not abdicate its role of leadership and compassion in accord with international law. Today. some of our countrys most respected civil rights leaders. led by the NAACP and TransAfrica. are initiating a campaign to protest the administrations bankrupt policy. and to restore our longstanding leadership in providing asylum to refugees. In June. I introduced the International Refugee Protection Act. which would write clearly into our immigration laws that the United States cannot return persecuted refugees. regardless of where they come Into U.S. custody. Others have proposed granting temporary haven to those Haitians already in the United States. and I hope that Congress can vote on these proposals before we adjourn this fall. The United States will admit 140.000 refugees this year from other parts of the world. There is no justification for the exclusion of Haitian refugees. The Haitian boat people deserve equal justice with other refugees. The Bush administrations misguided and illegal policy must be reversed.