Speech #1040013574

In what I would call a hamhanded effort to bring the military regime to its knees there. the White House slapped a brutal embargo on the poorest people in the hemisphere and then trumpeted a policy that said. "If you can make it out to international waters. well pick you up and give you a safe haven." Is it any wonder that desperate Haitians came by the tens of thousands? It was a selfmanufactured crisis that is now a serious infection festering under a bandaid solution. At the height of the combined Cuban and Haitian crises this past summer. more than 30.000 Cuban refugees and thousands of Haitian refugees sat in limbo in the heat. in tent camps in Panama and Guantanamo. patrolled and operated by United States soldiers at a very substantial cost to United States taxpayers. In the past few months. the administration has been quietly paroling many refugees into the United States. more than we know. we do not have a number. more than 1.000 from the Panama camps alone. No matter how much passion Americans have for the plight of these refugees. and we do have compassion because of the miserable situations in their countries. they also know that this type of openended policy creates more problems than it solves. Why? Because the Federal dollars do not flow to the places where the refugees do. and when it comes time to settle these newcomers into the United States. there is no provision for them. It discourages individuals from using the orderly asylum process that is out there. which has worked well and served this country for years. And it encourages the truly desperate to take to the high seas in their rickety. overloaded boats. and sadly we have many examples of tragedy. It is also a losing proposition for most of the refugees. The White House has just completed the process of returning Haitian refugees to their country. the last 4.000 dramatically against their will. literally kicking and screaming. being dragged off boats. These repatriations occurred despite the protests of the Haitian Government which asked for time to set up a system to reintegrate the refugees and avoid further destabilization of the tenuous calm that exists in Haiti today. Many of these disgruntled and frightened refugees are camped out now in PortAuPrince demanding employment from a government that has no means to provide employment. Likewise the Cuban refugees are still smarting from the abrupt abrogation of the terms of the Cuban Adjustment Act. All the while the policy Is failing in every direction. the bills are mounting. Look for a defense supplemental as early as next week to provide billions of American tax dollars in funds to pay for these extra missions.