S5942 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE May 2, 1995 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

HAVE THE CUBAN PEOPLE BEEN 

SOLD DOWN THE RIVER? 

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, at noon 

today, Attorney General Reno made a 

formal announcement that has dismayed the Cuban people. 

The Attorney General, speaking for 

the President, announced that effective 

immediately the Cubans interdicted at 

sea will be forcibly returned to face the 

wrath of Fidel Castro. 

Mr. President, of course, Mr. Castro 

has said he will take no punitive action 

against Cubans forcibly returned to his 

tyranny. But the Cuban people, many 

of whom died before firing squads, and 

others who languished for years as political prisoners in Castro’s prisons, 

learned the hard way the value of Mr. 

Castro’s word. 

Mr. President, there has been another sad and tragic moment involving 

the Clinton administration’s dealings 

with the Cuban people. I am already receiving in my office an endless stream 

of telephone calls and faxes from 

Cuban-Americans who feel they have 

again been betrayed by the administration. 

For more than 35 years, Mr. President, the United States has been a safe 

haven for Cubans fleeing Castro’s repressive Communist dictatorship. Last 

year, Mr. President, the Clinton administration began a reversal of this policy. Cuban Americans now appropriately fear that the administration 

has joined hands with the Castro regime in an effort having the continuing 

effect of enslaving the people of Cuba. 

Today’s announcement, described as 

the result of secret negotiations between the administration and the Castro regime, is seen as a sign that the 

United States will now work in partnership with Castro’s brutal security 

apparatus by intercepting and capturing escaping Cuban refugees and 

turning them over directly to Castro’s 

thugs. How sad it is, Mr. President, 

that the United States is now viewed 

as an accomplice in Castro’s repression 

of the Cuban people. 

Mr. President, if the United States 

wants to send naval vessels to surround 

Cuba, it should not be done to cooperate with the Castro regime. It should 

be done to blockade and strangle his 

brutal dictatorship once and for all. 

This development is another reason 

why Congress must pass the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act. In 

the face of this vacillation, the Congress must reaffirm that United States 

policy is to isolate and replace Fidel 

Castro, not to keep the Cuban people 

imprisoned in Castro’s tropical gulag. 

I ask unanimous consent the full text 

of the statement issued at noon by the 

Attorney General, Ms. Reno, be printed 

in the RECORD at the conclusion of my 

remarks. 

There being no objection, the statement was ordered to be printed in the 

RECORD, as follows: 

STATEMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET

RENO REGARDING CUBAN MIGRATION

I would like to make an announcement regarding Cuban migration. 

It has long been the policy of the United 

States that Cubans who wish to migrate to 

the United States should do so by legal 

means. The U.S. Interests Section in Havana 

accepts and processes requests for visas, and 

it also operates an in-country program for 

those Cubans who seek refugee status for 

entry into the United States. 

Pursuant to this policy, last August I announced that Cubans attempting irregular 

means of migration to the United States on 

boats and rafts would not be allowed to enter 

this country, but rather would be brought to 

the United States Naval base at Guantanamo 

Bay, where they would be offered safe haven. 

Last September, following negotiations 

with representatives of the Cuban government, the United States announced that it 

would increase Cuban migration to the 

United States to permit 20,000 legal entrants 

per year. This program, which includes immigrant visas, refugee applications, and a 

Special Cuban Migration Program designed 

to broaden the pool of potential entrants, is 

on target, and we expect to continue legal 

Cuban migration at this level in the years to 

come. This year alone, we expect to bring 

7,000 Cuban refugees to the United States 

through our in-country program in Havana. 

Following recent diplomatic exchanges 

with the Cuban government, the United 

States is now prepared to take another important step towards regularizing Cuban migration between Cuba and the United States. 

First, with respect to Guantanamo: 

We will continue to bring to the United 

States those persons who are eligible for special humanitarian parole under the guidelines announced by the President last October and December. 

The government of Cuba has agreed to accept all Cuban nationals in Guantanamo who 

wish to return home, as well as persons who 

have previously been deported from the 

United States and persons who would be ineligible for admission to the United States 

because of criminal record, medical, physical, or mental condition, or commission of 

acts of violence while at Guantanamo. 

All other Cubans in the safe haven will be 

considered for entry into the United States 

on a case-by-case basis as ‘‘Special Guantanamo Entrants’’, bearing in mind the impact 

of paroles on state and local economies and 

the need for adequate sponsorships. As has 

been true for all Cubans and Haitians previously paroled into the United States from 

Guantanamo, sponsorship and resettlement 

assistance will be obtained prior to entry. 

The number of these ‘‘Special Guantanamo 

Entrants’’ admitted to the United States 

will be credited against the 20,000 annual 

Cuban migration figure, beginning in September of this year, at the rate of 5,000 per 

year (regardless of when the Special Guantanamo Entrants are admitted). 

Second, with regard to future irregular migration: 

Effective immediately, Cuban migrants 

intercepted at sea attempting to enter the 

United States, or who enter Guantanamo illegally, will be taken to Cuba, where U.S. 

consular officers will assist those who wish 

to apply to come to the United States 

through already established mechanisms. 

Cubans must know that the only way to 

come to the United States is by applying in 

Cuba. 

All returnees will be permitted to apply for 

refugee status at the U.S. Interests Sections 

in Havana. Cuba is one of only three countries in the world in which the United States 

conducts in-country processing for refugees. 

The Government of Cuba has committed to 

the Government of the United States that on 

one will suffer reprisals, lose benefits, or be 

prejudiced in any manner, either because he 

or she sought to depart irregularly or because he or she has applied for refugee status 

at the U.S. Interests Section. The Cuban 

Government made a similar commitment in 

the context of the September 1994 agreement, and we are satisfied that it has been 

honored. Moreover, the Government of Cuba 

will permit monitoring by U.S. consular officers of the treatment of all returnees. 

Migrants intercepted at sea or in Guantanamo will be advised that they will be taken 

back to Cuba, where U.S. consular officials 

will meet them at the dock and assist those 

who wish to apply for refugee admission to 

the United States at the Interests Section in 

Havana. They will be told that the Government of Cuba has provided a commitment to 

the United States Government that they will 

suffer no adverse consequences or reprisals of 

any sort, and that U.S. consular officers will 

monitor their treatment. They will also be 

told that those persons who seek resettlement in the United States as refugees must 

use the in-country refugee program. 

Measures will be taken to ensure that persons who claim a genuine need for protection 

which they believe cannot be satisfied by applying at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana will be examined before return. 

Cubans who reach the United States 

through irregular means will be placed in exclusion proceedings, detained, and treated as 

are all illegal migrants from other countries. 

The United States Government reiterates 

its opposition to the use of violence in connection with departure from Cuba and its determination to prosecute cases of hijacking 

and alien smuggling. 

These new procedures represent another 

important step towards regularizing migration procedures with Cuba, finding a humanitarian solution to the situation at Guantanamo, and preventing another uncontrolled 

and dangerous outflow from Cuba. 

The United States policy towards Cuba remains the same. We remain committed to 

the Cuban Democracy Act and its central 

goal—promoting a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba. We will continue to enforce the economic embargo to pressure the 

Cuban regime to reform. We will continue to 

reach out to the Cuban people through private humanitarian assistance and through 

the free flow of ideas and information to 

strengthen Cuba’s fledgling civil society. 

And we remain ready to respond in carefully 

calibrated ways to meaningful steps toward 

political and economic reform in Cuba. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida. 

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent to proceed for up to 

10 minutes as in morning business. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S ANNOUNCEMENT ON CUBAN MIGRATION 

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, it had 

not been my intention to speak at this 

moment but I happened to be on the 

floor and heard the Senator from North 

Carolina. I would like, if I could, to put 

in context what the Attorney General 

announced at noon today. 

mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS

May 2, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE S5943 

The first component of the announcement was that the United States would 

adopt a new policy relative to those detainees who are currently being held at 

the naval station at Guantanamo Bay. 

For some background, in the late summer and early fall of 1994, a large exodus of Cubans commenced from that island and were interdicted by United 

States Coast Guard and some military 

vessels. The decision was made by the 

U.S. Government at that time to establish a safe haven at Guantanamo Naval 

Station, to which in excess of 30,000 

persons who had been interdicted at 

sea were subsequently taken. 

In September 1994, the United States 

Government, as part of what has been a 

continuing negotiation with the Cuban 

Government, held negotiations on the 

specific and limited and singular topic 

of immigration. As a result of that, an 

agreement was reached. Parts of that 

agreement provided that the United 

States would provide no less than 20,000 

visas per year for Cubans wishing to 

come legally to the United States, and 

would do so through a process administered by the United States interest section in Havana. Also, as part of that 

agreement, the Cuban Government 

agreed to undertake those steps which 

would be necessary in order to prevent 

a continuation or restart of a mass exodus from Cuba. 

Over time, the U.S. Government determined that there were three categories of persons at Guantanamo who 

deserved to be granted parole in the 

United States, those three being families with children, the elderly, and 

those who had serious medical problems. Under those three categories of 

parole, approximately 7,000 to 8,000 persons have been paroled into the United 

States thus far. There are another 2,000 

to 3,000 to be paroled into the United 

States. That will leave at Guantanamo 

a population of approximately 15,000, 

plus or minus, which will be composed 

largely of single males, older adolescents, and young adults. 

Over the past several months, there 

has been growing concern about what 

will happen at Guantanamo when we 

end up with that population. Recently, 

first privately and increasingly publicly, the representatives of the U.S. 

military—including General Sheehan, 

who is the Commander, Atlantic Command, which has responsibility for the 

U.S. military interests in the Caribbean—indicated that they felt it would 

be a very serious situation with potential for riots or other major unrest. 

I personally have visited Guantanamo twice since it has been a principal safe haven for at one time Haitians, then mixed Haitians and Cubans, 

and now primarily Cubans. I concur, as 

a lay person, in what I observed at 

Guantanamo: It is a very stark environment. Many would think Guantanamo would look like their vision of a 

Caribbean island. It is not. It is a very 

formidable, rocky, dry, arid place 

where cactus is more prominent than 

palm trees. There is great concern 

about the potential of having a large 

number of persons of a young male status, without any hope or expectations 

for their future, being detained for an 

extended period under those circumstances. 

I might say, this Senate spoke to 

that issue itself just a few weeks ago 

when the Department of Defense requested a supplemental appropriation 

of over $50 million in order to enhance 

the conditions at Guantanamo—things 

like putting in permanent showers and 

bathroom facilities where currently 

portable facilities are being utilized. 

The Senate elected not to fund that 

supplemental appropriation and expressed in its declination to do so the 

need for the United States to determine what its long-term policy was 

going to be relative to the detainees at 

Guantanamo. 

So we have had the opportunity as a 

Senate to speak on this issue, and what 

we said to the administration was: 

Come up with a policy of how to deal 

with this situation before we commit 

an additional $50 million on top of the 

$1 million a day we are spending in 

order to maintain the population which 

is currently at Guantanamo. 

Another part of this very unfortunate 

situation was the fact that there is 

great concern in the United States 

about the increasing number of immigrants. What seemed to be a strategy 

that would try to maximize the 

positives and minimize what are inherently going to be negatives in this situation was a policy that said let us take 

some of those 20,000 visas a year we are 

committed to offer through the interest section in Havana, and let us shift 

those to Guantanamo and assign those 

to those persons who, on a case-by-case 

basis, can meet the standards of entry 

to the United States. That has seemed 

to me for a number of months to be a 

rational policy, one not without risk or 

problems, but better than a set of unhappy other alternatives that face the 

United States. 

I am pleased the administration did 

not wait until we had a riot at Guantanamo in order to act; that the administration essentially took the direction 

which this Senate had given, to state 

what our long-term policy was going to 

be vis-a-vis Guantanamo. That policy 

will be that over the next 3 years, we 

will shift visas from the interest section in Havana to Guantanamo, to 

begin the process of depopulating 

Guantanamo. Those who meet our 

standards will receive one of the visas 

for entry to the United States. Those 

who do not meet our standards will be 

sent back to Cuba. 

The major concern about that policy 

was the concern that is referred to as 

remagnetizing Guantanamo. If you depopulate Guantanamo through this 

process but in the course of that you 

create such a strong impetus for people 

to go to Guantanamo and it refills, 

then you are back to where you are 

today. 

The Cuban Government has restated 

its commitment of last September; 

that is, that it will enforce against 

mass exodus from the island. The 

United States, now having said we will 

not take people to Guantanamo as a 

safe haven, the policy which the Attorney General announced today is that 

those persons who are interdicted at 

sea will be given an on-board screening 

at sea to determine if they have a legitimate claim of political asylum. 

If they have such a legitimate claim 

for political asylum, they will be given 

a special processing commensurate 

with that status and with our history 

of humanitarian outreach to political 

asylees and our obligations under 

international law. 

If they do not meet that standard, 

then they will be returned directly to 

Cuba. That is a provision of this which 

causes great concern to many people, 

including myself. I recognize the long 

history that the United States has had 

relative to a special relationship with 

the people of Cuba. This policy was 

taken as what was considered to be a 

necessary backstop to the steps to depopulate Guantanamo without, in the 

process of depopulating, creating the 

very impetus that would repopulate it. 

Mr. President, I am a cosponsor of 

the legislation that the Senator from 

North Carolina has introduced. I was 

the principal Senate sponsor of the 

Cuban Democracy Act, which today 

represents the basis of United States 

policy toward Cuba. That policy, as the 

President stated, is unchanged. That 

policy is one of economic and political 

isolation of Cuba as the most appropriate United States policy for purposes of closing down the 35-year nightmare which Fidel Castro has represented to the people of Cuba. 

It is a policy that says we will outline with specificity and with compassion what our policy will be toward the 

people of Cuba during this reign of terror of Fidel Castro, and we will stipulate what our policy will be upon Castro’s fall, to reintegrate a democratic 

and free Cuba into the international 

family of peace-loving nations and 

eliminate the one blotch that remains 

on the map of democracies of the Western Hemisphere, which is Cuba. 

That was the essence of the Cuban 

Democracy Act. The legislation which 

I am cosponsoring with the Senator 

from North Carolina extends those 

principles toward the same goal of a 

rapid, hopefully peaceful transition of 

Cuba from the tyranny that exists 

today to a free and democratic government. 

The decision the President made 

today was a difficult one. It represents 

a selection among a series of difficult 

choices. I respect the fact he did not 

wait for a crisis to make the decision. 

He has made it firmly. He has done 

what will achieve, I think, the maximum national security benefits to the 

United States in terms of our military 

base at Guantanamo. 

mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS

S5944 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE May 2, 1995 

The U.S. Department of Defense supported this proposition. It will allow 

Guantanamo to return to its role as an 

important part of our hemispheric security. It will not serve as a magnet for 

future buildup and diversion from its 

military use. It will stop almost $1 million a day of expenditure that we have 

been making at Guantanamo. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time 

of the Senator has expired. 

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent for an additional 2 

minutes. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, there 

were some difficult decisions that had 

to be made around that core judgment. 

The result of the series of decisions 

will be: First that there will be no increase of total Cuban immigration into 

the United States, legal Cuban immigration, beyond that to which the 

United States was already committed. 

Second, that immigration will now 

come from two streams, partially from 

Havana and partially from those persons who are at Guantanamo. 

Third, the American people will be 

assured that only people from either 

place—Havana or Guantanamo—who 

will enter the United States will be 

those who meet our standards for 

entry. 

Fourth, steps have been taken to demagnetize Guantanamo for further 

population buildup. 

Within that policy, the American 

principle of recognition of political 

asylum and provision for those persons 

who seek freedom to make the case 

that they are seeking freedom out of 

the basis of a legitimate fear of political persecution will be maintained. 

They will be afforded that opportunity. 

The Attorney General outlined in summary form today what those steps will 

be. 

So, Mr. President, I appreciate the 

leadership which the President has 

taken in making a difficult decision. I 

believe this Senate should appreciate 

the fact that he has responded to our 

request for leadership on this matter; 

that the U.S. Department of Defense 

will now be able to return its personnel 

and facilities to their intended purpose 

of security of the United States; and 

that we will be able to say that our 

policy of respecting human rights, and 

particularly respecting the rights of 

those claiming political asylum, will 

be maintained. 

They are difficult choices, but in my 

judgment, choices that had to be made. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina. 

MOTION TO RECONSIDER VOTE ON AMENDMENT

NO. 603

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, was a 

motion to reconsider the vote on 

amendment No. 603 made? 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion was not made. 

Mr. HELMS. I make such a motion 

and I move to table the motion. 

The motion to lay on the table was 

agreed to. 

The Senator from Pennsylvania is 

recognized. 

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent I may speak for 5 

minutes as in morning business. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

THE NOMINATION OF DR. HENRY 

FOSTER 

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have 

sought recognition to urge the Senate 

to consider the nomination of Dr. 

Henry Foster to be Surgeon General, to 

consider that nomination ultimately 

on the Senate floor. I urge that this be 

done for two reasons: First, out of 

basic fairness to Dr. Foster and, second, as an important sign that men and 

women can place themselves up for 

nomination for important positions 

without fear of being, in effect, railroaded out of town without having an 

opportunity for their positions and 

their cases and their records to be 

heard. 

This morning, Dr. Foster testified before the Committee on Labor and 

Human Resources and the preliminary 

reports are that Dr. Foster has been an 

impressive witness on his own behalf. 

After Dr. Foster’s name was submitted 

for the position of Surgeon General, I 

met with him extensively to discuss his 

record, after having reviewed his educational record, his record as a practicing physician, the work that he had 

done against teenage pregnancy, the 

work he had done for poor people, and 

the work he had done in a community 

context. 

Let us strip away the facade, Mr. 

President. What has really occurred on 

Dr. Foster’s nomination is an objection 

to his having performed abortions, and 

it seems to me that when Dr. Foster 

has performed abortions, however 

many, a medical procedure permitted 

by the U.S. Constitution, that ought 

not to be a reason for his disqualification. 

Before any other consideration had 

arisen as to issues about performing 

hysterectomies or an issue about 

syphilis in studies of African-Americans or the question about how many 

abortions he had performed, there was 

an immediate cry that Dr. Foster was 

disqualified because he had performed 

abortions. 

I think that is totally inappropriate, 

that is just wrong, to disqualify a 

nominee for Surgeon General because 

that person has performed a medical 

procedure which is permitted by the 

U.S. Constitution. 

With respect to the issue of how 

many abortions he had performed and 

what information had come from the 

White House—and it appears at one 

point the White House made a representation of only one abortion; that 

was not what Dr. Foster had represented—that ought not to be held 

against him and ought not to be a 

smokescreen or a red herring for saying that he is disqualified. Whatever 

Dr. Foster has said about the number 

of abortions, that ought to be a question for the full Senate to consider. 

And whatever the contentions are 

about the performance of 

hysterectomies or about the syphilis 

testing on African Americans, that 

again is a question for consideration by 

the full Senate. 

Now, I know, Mr. President, there 

have been statements by some that 

they are going to filibuster the nomination. Well, if they choose to filibuster the nomination, so be it. Let us 

have it out on the Senate floor. And 

there are some who say that if the 

nomination is voted out by committee, 

and it is not brought to the floor, they 

are going to tie up the Senate. I do not 

think we need those kinds of threats 

for the Senate to consider its business 

and decide whether Dr. Henry Foster is 

qualified to be Surgeon General. 

It is my hope that the committee 

will report Dr. Foster to the floor for 

consideration by the Senate, and that 

can be done in a variety of ways. It can 

be done on an affirmative vote by a 

majority saying he is qualified, it 

could be done on a vote by the committee saying that he ought to be considered without recommendation, or it 

can even be done if the committee 

votes Dr. Foster down, as we have had 

with nominees. Judge Bork was voted 

down by the committee but it was 

voted to the Senate floor. Or Judge 

Thomas, later Justice Thomas, was a 

tie vote in the committee and was 

voted to the Senate floor. 

It seems to me, in fairness to Dr. 

Foster, he ought to be considered by 

the full Senate, and in fairness to the 

system where we are asking people to 

come to Washington under very difficult circumstances as a matter of 

precedent somebody ought not to be, in 

effect, railroaded out of town without 

having the Senate consider his nomination. 

So as this matter is being considered 

today by the committee, I wanted to 

make these comments because the core 

question here, Mr. President, stripped 

away from all the subterfuge, stripped 

away from all the smoke, stripped 

away from all the red herrings is 

whether Dr. Foster ought to be disqualified for performing abortions, 

however many, a medical procedure authorized by the U.S. Constitution. I 

think the Senate ought to face up to 

that squarely. If the balance of the testimony shows qualification, as I think 

it will, based upon my examination of 

the record and my detailed conversations with Dr. Foster in questioning of 

him, then I think he ought to be confirmed. 

I thank the Chair and yield the floor. 

f 

RECESS UNTIL 2:15 P.M. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under 

the previous order, the Senate will now 

stand in recess until 2:15 p.m. 

mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS