Speech #1030079941

Mr. President. this is an amendment which asks this body to go on record. in the form of a sense of the Senate. that no person who was a member of the Armed Forces of Iraq during the period from August 2. 1990. through February 28. 1991. and who is in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia as of the date of the enactment of this act shall be granted entry Into the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act. as amended. unless the President certificates to the Congress prior to such entry that such person. one. assisted the United States or coalition armed forces after defection from the Armed Forces of Iraq or after capture by the United States or by the coalition armed forces. and. two. did not commit or assist in the commission of war crimes. That is the essence of it. At the end of the gulf war. approximately 39.000 Iraqis were living in refugee camps in Saudi Arabia. The vast majority of these Iraqis were civilians or Iraqis who had participated in the uprising in southern Iraq following the gulf war. However. 4.000 of the Iraqis in the Saudi camps were Iraqi soldiers who were captured or who had defected during Desert Storm. Recent press reports have brought to light United States participation in a multinational effort to resettle Iraqi refugees. In fiscal year 1992. the United States resettled 3.442 Iraqi refugees. In fiscal year 1993. the United States expects to admit 4.600 additional Iraqis. While the vast majority of these Iraqis are civilians who had a legitimate fear of persecution in Iraq. and thus qualified for refugee status. a small number are exsoldiers and their families. The purpose of this amendment is to make sure that combatant exsoldiers are not given the same status this Nation quite properly affords to other Iraqi refugees. This practice of allowing the relocation of Iraqi soldiers who may have taken up arms against the United States and its coalition partners during Desert Storm is a matter of great concern to this Senator and other Members of Congress. I note that on August 6. 75 Congressmen. led by Representative DONALD MANZULLO of Illinois. sent a letter to President Clinton asking him to block entry into the United States -of the class of Iraqi soldiers covered by this amendment.