Caring for Refugees

Floor Speech

Mr. KAINE. Madam President, in the last year I have been to Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon to visit Syrian refugees and the organizations that work with them. I have seen the effects of refugees fleeing violence on these nations. Lebanon has 4 million people. They are having to care for 1 million refugees from Syria--one in four members of their population.

These countries, especially Jordan and Lebanon, are small--much smaller than the United States. They are much poorer than the United States. Jordan has very little water for their own citizens, much less refugees, but they have shown a real sense of compassion and hospitality in treating these Syrian refugees who are fleeing violence and coming over their border. Lebanese citizens even run double school shifts--their own kids in the morning and Syrian refugees in the afternoon.

When I have been in the Middle East in these countries, I have wondered what would happen if refugees fleeing violence in other countries came to the United States. I wonder if we would show the same compassion to refugees that is being shown by these poorer nations.

I wish to say a few words about the crisis at the border now because we are now faced with that question--refugees fleeing violence and coming to the United States.

Who are the children coming to the United States? They are overwhelmingly refugees from three Central American countries--52,000 just this year. They are not just coming to the United States; they are also flooding into Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Senator Menendez held a hearing this morning, and we had testimony. What is the reason they are coming? And the testimony was this: The reason they are coming is overwhelmingly the violence in the neighborhoods where they live that forces their parents to decide that to keep them safe, they should leave.

What is the source of the violence? Again, overwhelmingly, the testimony is that the source of the violence is the drug trade that has corrupted the neighborhoods and made them dangerous. The kids are fleeing violence driven by the drug trade.

Here is the sort of sad punch line: Where does the drug trade originate? The drug trade is originating because of the significant demand in the United States for illegal drugs, especially cocaine.

So these kids are fleeing to the United States because Americans are buying illegal drugs in such numbers and the dollars being shipped south are creating conditions for gang warfare and cartels, turning these nations into transit points for drugs.

I know these children, and I know their neighborhoods. I lived in El Progreso, Honduras, in 1980 and 1981. Six hundred kids from El Progreso have already come to the United States as unaccompanied refugees this year.

Honduras, a beautiful country with beautiful people, a longtime ally of the United States, is now the murder capital of the world. There are more people murdered in Honduras than in any other country. El Salvador is No. 4 in the world, and Guatemala is No. 5 in the world.

I recently met with President Hernandez of Honduras to talk about what we can do. So what should we do? Let's get to the prescription. What should we do?

First, we have to stop blaming the kids or assuming they are bad people. They are not. We need to show the same compassion for refugees fleeing violence and coming to the United States as nations such as Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan show to refugees fleeing violence and coming to their nations.

Secondly, we need to work on our legal process and the resources the President asked for. I have some criticisms of exactly how those dollars will be spent and the particular protections these refugees need when they arrive. Remember, it is a 2008 law we are dealing with that was passed unanimously by Congress and signed by President Bush.

We need to do immigration reform. The fact that we haven't done it for so long creates a sense of confusion. If we can clearly elaborate what our immigration policy is, it will dispel myths.

More support for security in Central America is critical. We need to interdict more drugs. General Kelly, the head of SOUTHCOM, says we let 75 percent of the drugs that come into the United States go by us. We know where they are, but we haven't put the military resources in place to interdict them.

Finally, we have to tackle the U.S. demand for drugs because that is what is driving the violence in the neighborhoods which is causing kids to flee.

In conclusion, this year is the 75th anniversary of a very shameful event--the voyage of the St. Louis. The St. Louis was a ship that left Germany in 1939 with hundreds of Jews onboard. These Jews were fleeing violence and antisemitism to come to the new world. They were not allowed to disembark in Cuba, they were not allowed to disembark in the United States, and they were not allowed to disembark in Canada. Eventually, the ship had to be routed back to Europe, where, research shows, hundreds of those Jews who had to get back off in Europe died in the Holocaust.

The testimony this morning was that if we, without due process, send these children home, many will die as a result.

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Mr. KAINE. That lesson of the St. Louis should stick with us, and there are many things we can do to avert this crisis and to show our good hearts as Americans.

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