Speech #1050097497

I rise to state my objection to the motion to proceed on the District of Columbia appropriations bill. at least temporarily. I want to explain why. There is currently an amendment on the D.C. appropriations bill that will grant certain Central Americans access to the suspension of deportation procedure. These are refugeespeople who leave their countries for political asylum here. And they will not be deported because of the amendment that is part of the D.C. appropriations bill. It covers some 191.000 Salvadorans. some 21.000 Nicaraguans. some 118.000 Guatemalans. and I certainly support the suspension of deportation for all of those groups of asylum seekers. It does not. however. cover just about 18.000 Haitians. In fact. the only group of asylum seekers that were left out of the bill as it came out of the House were the Haitians. This is not only patently unfair but certainly suggests almost a tin ear on the racial implications of what came out of the House by the House Members who put this together that they would not understandthat singling out the Haitians for exclusion from this relief would be perceived as negative in many parts of this country which Is nothing short of stunning to me. I am happy to report that I had a conversation with the majority leader.