I respectfully say that it was. in my mind. inappropriate to state that the purpose perhaps of the Nickles amendment is to keep out those black Haitians who are rotting away at our naval base at Guantanamo. That is a very unfortunate statement because it is not so. The Haitians at Guantanamo are awaiting admission as refugees. A refugee is a person fleeing persecution. or a wellfounded fear of persecution. based on race. religion. national origin. or membership in some political or social organization. A person is not a refugee who simply does not like their country anymore. does not want to be drafted. does not like the economy but Just wants out. or is frightened by something that happened in the political goverrment within their district. That is not a refugee. Either we keep and stick with the U.N. definition of refugee and the U.S. definitionand that is what it is. but let us not make economic refugees political refugees. There is a difference. What happened In the previous administration. sadly. we found there were State Department refugees and INS and Justice Department refugees. That was a real mistake of the previous administration. This amendment does not affect refugees who are admitted under another provision which allows waivers of medical exclusion. So as we go through the debate. and we are nearly to conclude that. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
Keywords matched
refugees refugee