Speech #1040200945

We must work with the people of Haiti and with their government. If we fail to do so. we will. again. see the kind of pictures that we saw in the very recent past of U.S. Coast Guard ships picking up overladen small wooden boats with refugees reaching out for salvation. We will see. again. the pictures of the butchered citizens of Haiti. like the man dragged from the Catholic church during mass. At that point. we will ask ourselves not whether we scored appropriate political points. but whether we serve the national interest. It is ironic that at the very time Congress is about to turn again to the question of illegal immigration and how to frustrate its imposition on the United States. that we are close to bringing about a crisis on an island which has been the source of so much of that illegal immigration. Clearly. one of the most fundamental things that the United States can do to reduce the amount of Illegal immigration Is to turn serious attention to assist in the social and economic development of those countries which are the most likely sources of illegal immigration. We have made progress on that front as it relates to Haiti. Illegal immigration is down by over 20 times in the last 3 years. The question is. are we going to lose this momentum or are we going to build on the progress that we have made? During the period of military rule in Haiti. as has been the case for decades previously.