Amendments Nos. 1150, 1151, 1152, 1153, 1154, 1155, 1156, 1157, 1158, 1159, 1160, 1161, 1162, and 1163 En Bloc to Amendment No. 1136

AMENDMENTS NOS. 1150, 1151, 1152, 1153, 1154, 1155, 1156, 1157, 1158, 1159, 1160, 1161, 1162, AND 1163, EN BLOC TO AMENDMENT NO. 1136

Mr. REED. Mr. President, over the past few weeks the entire world has witnessed the images emanating from Liberia of chaos and carnage and a people who are bedeviled by a civil war that has lasted too long. This is a country that is in turmoil, a country with which we have a deep historic relationship. It is a country I do believe we must assist.

The trouble in Liberia is not of the last few days or few months. It has extended at least for a decade. But at this time we have the opportunity, and I believe also the responsibility, to assist the people of Liberia to find a better way, a way without violence, a way that will guarantee a democracy that works and an economy that provides for the people of Liberia.

Liberia has a special relationship to the United States. In 1822, a group of freed slaves from America began to settle the west coast of Africa. They were provided assistance by private philanthropists but at the insistence and encouragement of the U.S. Government. This was, at that time, a response to the prevailing system of slavery in the United States, a humanitarian approach.

By 1847, these settlers had established the Republic of Liberia, the first independent country in Africa. It was modeled after the United States. In fact, even today, 5 percent of the population trace their heritage directly back to these American slaves who were freed and repatriated to Liberia.

The Liberians modeled their Constitution on the United States Constitution. The Liberian flag closely resembles the United States flag. The capital of Liberia is named Monrovia, after President James Monroe.

Before 1990, before the beginning of this civil war, Liberia's leading trading partner was the United States, and the United
States was a major source of assistance to the country of Liberia.

Our histories have been inextricably linked since 1822. Without the attempt of the United States in a small way to work its way through the problem of slavery and the creation in this country of private philanthropy, Liberia would not exist.

I argue that these close historical ties are very important influences that should govern our decision today as we seek to help the people of Liberia.

At the core of the problem today in Liberia is the behavior and the conduct of the President of Liberia, Charles Taylor. Taylor is 55 years old. He is the son of an American father and a Liberian mother who was a direct descendent of American slaves.

During the 1970s, he worked in Boston, MA, while earning an economics degree at a Massachusetts college. He returned to Liberia in 1979, having spent a significant part of his life here in the United States. In 1979, the Government of Liberia was at that time taken over by Samuel Doe. President Taylor worked briefly for Samuel Doe. When he was accused of embezzling over $1 million from that Government, he left Liberia. He fled to some place with which he was very familar, Massachusetts. He was arrested there but he managed to escape from jail and made his way to Libya where he trained at a camp run by Qadhafi, a guerrilla training camp.

In 1989, he led a small band of irregular forces that overthrew the Samuel Doe government, and he effectively became leader. Then, through an election, he became the President.

But his Presidency has been marred not only by the decline of Liberia but by the instability throughout west Africa, spawned by his policies and his practices. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people have been killed and over 1 million people have been dispossessed in Liberia during the Taylor reign.

Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, a city of more than 1 million people, is the only African capital that has no electricity, no running water, and no telephone service. Tens of thousands of people live in the ruins of bombed-out buildings. There are only two functioning hospitals in the entire country. Only a handful of flights each week leave Monrovia in small planes and go to adjacent west African countries. There is no direct connection between this country and the capitals of the world.

In the past decade, in response to this violence, this chaos, and this collapse, the United Nations has passed seven
resolutions seeking to halt the destabilizing force of the Liberian Government—seeking to halt it from its policies of encouraging rebel groups in adjacent countries and trying to induce it to fully abide by numerous Security Council resolutions to end the internal conflict in Liberia.

The United Nations-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone is investigating war crimes that have taken place in Sierra Leone.
These crimes include mass rapes, kidnapping, murder, amputation of limbs of civilians, and recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Last month, the Court unsealed an indictment against Charles Taylor for "bearing the greatest responsibility for war crimes,
crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law within the territory of Sierra Leone since November 30, 1996."

Taylor has deliberately assisted rebel forces in Sierra Leone and has provided resources for and is a willing party to the atrocities which I mentioned—the atrocities which have led to his indictment by the Court in Sierra Leone. He did it for diamonds. He did it for power. But the results have been devastating to that country.

It is quite clear that Taylor has not only destroyed his own country but he has also helped to undermine and destabilize adjacent countries, such as the Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.

One of the problems with countries such as Liberia and adjacent countries is when there is a government that does not work or simply works for the benefit of the party in power or the person in power, those countries are likely breeding grounds for terrorist activity and terrorism that will spread beyond their borders. In fact, in today's world, it could spread worldwide.

As a CRS report noted, "For more than a decade, cycles of conflict in Liberia have generated a range of effects that have undermined the national security, political stability, and economic prosperity of its neighbors, and had secondary negative repercussions in the wider sub-region. Among the most serious of such effects are the spread of small arms; the diffusion of violence-based social norms, often with commercial underpinnings; and increasing amounts of mercenary activity in the region; the deployment of diverse, often state-assisted rebel groups along regional borders; rampant human rights abuses; and the creation of aggrieved refugees and internally displaced populations."

That has been the record of Charles Taylor.

I believe the United States has an obligation to Liberia based on history, based upon the chaos that is obvious in the country, based upon the policies and practices of President Taylor that has ruined his own country and harmed his neighbors. We must act for the security of west Africa and possibly even for the security of the United States.

I should also point out that our British allies intervened in Sierra Leone to ensure stability because of their historic ties with Sierra Leone. The French have intervened in the Ivory Coast. In fact, a month ago it was the French forces that evacuated Americans who were in danger in Liberia itself.

I believe we have to take several steps. First, the United States should organize a robust multinational force endorsed by the United Nations Security Council to support the cease-fire and to restore order in Liberia.

We all recognize that this is a decision for the President of the United States. But the Department of Defense must give the President of the United States all the options he needs and which he requires for the movement of troops—troops that could, with the President's order, intervene in Liberia. Without timely orders and giving troops notice of movement and beginning the movement process, we could find ourselves with other ugly episodes of violence in Liberia in the next few days, or weeks, or months. Finding the President being moved to act, it could take days to put our forces in place to operate.

With respect to not only organizing our response, we also should seriously begin marshaling the forces necessary to intervene if and when the President of the United States gives such an order.

Our involvement should not be contingent on Charles Taylor's decision to leave.

I have already described the record of Mr. Taylor. It is a record that lacks credibility. And his decision should not represent a veto of our policy. The President has said that he would consider the use of force or international forces if Taylor left. I think we should make it quite clear that if the situation deteriorates sufficiently and there is a prospect of using force for positive change for the Liberian people, then Charles Taylor should not decide by his presence or his absence whether we commit forces or assist with these international forces.

The United States should also seek Security Council approval of chapter VII authority to further support the Sierra Leone Special Court and its indictment of Taylor for crimes against humanity.

Presently, although the Special Court is backed by the United Nations, only Sierra Leone is bound by its decision. We should use our diplomatic influence to ensure that Taylor answers the indictment, in the event he does leave Liberia, or in the event that he comes into international custody in Liberia.

Finally, we should support a U.N. mission for Liberia, in consultation with the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, and the International Contact Group for Liberia, to provide for an interim government and ultimately a democratic transition.

The world, and particularly the people of Liberia, are waiting for our leadership. We should provide it.

There is another aspect of the issue of Liberia that is important to consider. It is not with respect to those Liberians who
are in that country but actually with respect to Liberians who are here in the United States and who have been here in the United States for more than a decade.

When the Liberian civil war broke out, many Liberians began to flee to the United States. The chaos began to be obvious to our political leaders and in March of 1991, the then-Attorney General recognized their plight, and granted to these people temporary protective status, or TPS. This was back under the administration of President George Herbert Walker Bush.

Under TPS, nationals of a country may stay in the United States without fear of deportation because armed conflict or extraordinary conditions make it unsafe for these people to return home.

To obtain TPS, persons must register with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services—formerly known as INS, before its reorganization—pay a processing fee, and apply for an authorization to work. They must have a passport from the country from which they have fled. And they cannot be granted TPS if they have any criminal convictions.

Persons with TPS in the United States must pay taxes, but they do not qualify for benefits such as welfare or food stamps, and not a single day spent in this country under TPS counts toward the residency requirement for permanent residency.

As required by statute, the Attorney General reviews the situation in the country each year and then decides whether to extend TPS.

In the case of Liberia, the civil war has raged on and on for more than a decade, prompting Attorneys General of the first Bush administration, the Clinton administration, and the present Bush administration to annually review the status of Liberians in the United States.

In 1996, 1998, and again in 2002—this time under the present Bush administration—the Attorney General found that the situation in Liberia had deteriorated to such an extent that TPS was not only granted but there was a "redesignation."

What does that mean? It means that people who had fled the country after 1991, or who had returned to Liberia and then returned to the United States, were also included in the protected category of TPS. So we have had a situation going over a decade in which annually Attorneys General have looked at the issue and have granted protective status to these people.

There was one brief period, from 1999 to 2001, where the conflict seemed to be ebbing. In that period, TPS was not granted. However, the Attorney General and the administration determined that it was still inappropriate to return these people to Liberia.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 15 minutes allocated to the Senator from Rhode Island have expired.

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for an additional 3 minutes.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?

Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. REED. Thank you, Mr. President.

During this period of time, the Attorney General, therefore, granted a different form of relief known as deferred enforced departure, which was used to shelter the population of Liberians in the United States from immediate deportation.
But I think the point is, it is quite clear we have recognized the legal right of these people to stay in the United States because of the turmoil in Liberia for more than a decade.

That turmoil today is even worse. It is reaching a crisis proportion, so much so that the President of the United States is actually contemplating the use of American forces or certainly American support for an international peacekeeping mission.

Now, I have given this long and complicated history to suggest that we have a population that each year waits anxiously for a decision by the Attorney General whether to be sent back to a very difficult environment.

We are talking about 15,000 people in the United States. There is a human face to this. They cannot tell an employer they can take a job for 2 years. They do not know if their children can go off to college for 2 or 3 years because you cannot give those assurances. They pay taxes, but they do not qualify for benefits. And many of these Liberians have lived in the country longer than the 5 years of residency required for citizenship.

What I have done for several years is introduce legislation to allow these individuals to become permanent residents as a step towards citizenship. I have been supported by my colleagues, Senators CHAFEE, KENNEDY, CORZINE, DURBIN, and HAGEL because we believe—and particularly at this moment we believe—it is appropriate to give these Liberians in America a sense of permanency.

Let me say, this would not be a unique occasion. We have, in many other instances, extended coverage like this to other nationals. We have had situations in which we have allowed people staying in our country to adjust to permanent residency status.

For example, in 1998 Congress passed a law allowing four national groups, who were in similar situations, staying in the United States at the discretion of the Attorney General to adjust to permanent residency status: 4,996 Poles, 387 Ugandans, 565 Afghanis, and 1,180 Ethiopians.

In the 102nd Congress, we passed a law that allowed 52,968 Chinese nationals with deferred enforced departure to apply for permanent residency and then citizenship because they were victims of Tiananmen Square.

In the 105th Congress, we passed the NACARA legislation. Under this law, 150,000 Nicaraguans, 5,000 Cubans, 200,000 El Salvadorans, and 50,000 Guatemalans were given the chance to reach permanent residency status.

In 1999, we passed a bill allowing 2,000 Syrian Jews to accede to permanent residency en route to citizenship.

My legislation would not set a precedent, but it would provide support and comfort, and I think long overdue justice, to 15,000 Liberians in this country.

Mr. President, I hope we can work together in the near future to make this legislation law.

I thank my colleagues for listening to this speech about Liberia. We have two functions: One, to provide assistance internationally to help the people struggling there; and then to provide a sense of permanency to those Liberians who are here.

I yield the floor.