John Conyers: “this particular special order is brought about because of the circumstances in Haiti, which a number of us have been…”

“this particular special order is brought about because of the circumstances in Haiti, which a number of us have been working on in this body for many years, both Democrats and Republicans. We have followed with great interest the attempts to get the democratic, both political and economic, bases in place in Haiti, so we want to discuss this program and these efforts with the membership today. First of all, there has been what we call a political stalemate that arises from alleged irregularities in an election held in May 2000. As a result, there has been a freezing of needed financial aid that we think maybe there is a new effort coming forward to unblock. So we have new hope that the political part of this problem will be resolved and that Haiti will begin to receive funds from international organizations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Bank and others that are anxious to help Haiti, which is in a very serious economic crisis. Mr. Speaker, I will put my statement in the record and also background information on Haiti. In addition, I will include a letter to the distinguished Attorney General, John Ashcroft, which expresses the strong dissatisfaction toward the Haitian asylum seekers who are singled out and returned without any interviews or determination of whether they are at risk in going back to their country.”