Political Quotes

“I speak in opposition to the amendment. This is an extension of a measure first introduced in 1989. It is something that declares entire groups in the former Soviet Union and in Southeast Asia as subject to persecution and thus entitled to refugee status under our laws. I have been on this one a long time, as I say, and I know people are tired of it. You cannot pick an issue more fraught with emotion, fear, guilt, and racism than when you are in the area of refugees and immigration. I know there will be smatterings of that in this debate. It never is ever far removed. Debate about who is a political refugee and who is an economic migrant has proceeded vigorously in recent years, but very little is said about the slide of U.S. refugee policy into pure politics, just as illustrated by this amendment by my friend from New Jersey. And I respect Frank Lautenberg thoroughly. He and I have worked together on many issues. The pressures he has on this amendment are total. I have watched it over the years. Under our Refugee Act and under the United Nations Convention and Protocol, a refugee is a person with a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. That is a refugee. The way we determine refugees is on a case-by-case basis, which is the only sane and sensible way to determine who is a refugee.”