[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 48 (Thursday, April 28, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
     LEGISLATION TO GRANT TPS TO RWANDAN STUDENTS IN UNITED STATES

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                        HON. MICHAEL J. KOPETSKI

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 28, 1994

  Mr. KOPETSKI. Mr. Speaker, on April 6, 1994, an airplane was shot out 
of the sky as it approached a landing at Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, 
killing President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyprien 
Ntaryamira of Burundi. The two Presidents of these neighboring, central 
African nations were returning from a conference in Tanzania on ways to 
end the ethnic killings in Burundi, where 100,000 people were killed 
last October.
  Since the assassinations, Mr. Speaker, the simmering ethnic tensions 
between the Hutu and the Tutsi tribes in Rwanda have escalated, and we 
have seen the worst that human beings can do to each other. More than 
20,000 people have been slaughtered in 2 weeks, and possibly 10 times 
as many are refugees, forced from their homes, on the run for their 
lives.
  It is in this context, Mr. Speaker, that I rise to introduce 
legislation, on behalf of myself and Mr. Jefferson, to designate 12 
months of temporary protected status [TPS] for Rwandan students and 
their dependents currently residing in the United States.
  Provisions exist in the Immigration and Nationality Act to offer 
temporary relief from deportation under certain circumstances. The 
Administration currently provides some type of blanket relief from 
deportation or forced departure to several hundred thousand nationals 
from Afghanistan, China, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Liberia, 
Somalia, and most recently Bosnia. TPS, although not currently in 
effect, was extended to Kuwaiti citizens during the Persian Gulf War. 
It is entirely appropriate at this time to extend TPS to Rwandan 
students in the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, this should be a matter of little controversy. Let's not 
force Rwandans to return to the senseless slaughter that has overrun 
their homeland.

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