Speech #1050174074

Cambodians. Poles. Chinese. and many other refugees with permanent protection from being returned to unstable or repressive regimes. Last year. we adopted legislation to protect Nicaraguans. Cubans and others. but. the Haitians were unfairly excluded from that bill. The time has come for Congress to remedy this flagrant omission and add Haitians to the list of deserving refugees. By approving this legislation. we can finally bring to an end the shameful decades of unjust treatment to Haitians. Throughout the 1980s. less than 2 percent of Haitians fleeing the atrocities committed by the Duvalier regimes were granted asylum. Yet. other refugee groups had approval rates as high as 75 percent. Haitian asylum seekers were detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. while asylum seekers from other countries were routinely released while their asylum applications were processed. Until recently. Haitians have been the only group intercepted on the high seas and forcibly returned to their home country. without even the opportunity to seek asylum. Like other political refugees. Haitians have come to our country with a strong love of freedom and a strong commitment to democracy. They have settled in many parts of the United States.