Speech #1140064898

We are dealing with terrorism today. Really? What were we dealing with when we accepted Cuban refugees? We were dealing with a Communist regime in Cuba that was friendly with the Soviet Union. which had nuclear weapons pointed at the United States. and we were accepting refugees from that country. I am glad we did. We were living in a very dangerous time when they were accepted. and on balance we found that history has proven that those refugees from Cuba have become an important part of the United States. We accepted over 200.000 Soviet Jews who were being persecuted in that country and wanted to come to the United States so that they could practice their religion freely. In my hometown of Springfield. IL. the synagogues opened their doors and said: We will sponsor these families as they come to our Midwestern community. We brought refugees from the Soviet Union in. and they became part of the United States. The story is told over and over again. Yet Republican Presidential nominees and Governors describe refugees as just terrorists on the run. They say they are not carefully screened and are still allowed in the United States. That is the way they describe it.