Home > 1999 Presidential Documents > pd04oc99 Memorandum on Measures Regarding Certain Liberians in the United States...pd04oc99 Memorandum on Measures Regarding Certain Liberians in the United States...
Air Partnership Fund, which will provide grants to State and local
governments for projects that reduce both greenhouse gases and
pollutants like soot, smog, and air toxics. Finally, I call on Congress
to withdraw all appropriations ``riders'' aimed at strangling programs
that save energy, save consumers and businesses money, and reduce global
warming pollution.
I look forward to working with local leaders to meet this pressing
environmental challenge, and I applaud their leadership and dedication.
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 1833]
Monday, October 4, 1999
Volume 35--Number 39
Pages 1821-1886
Week Ending Friday, October 1, 1999
Statement on the Death of Oseola McCarty
September 27, 1999
Hillary and I were saddened to learn of the passing of Oseola
McCarty of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Ms. McCarty is a true American
hero. In 1995 she donated $150,000 to the University of Southern
Mississippi for scholarships for needy students. The extraordinary thing
about this gift was that Ms. McCarty accumulated the money from working
75 years washing and ironing people's clothes.
I had the pleasure of awarding this extraordinary woman the
Presidential Citizens' Medal for her extraordinary act of generosity.
While we mourn her passing, Oseola McCarty's commitment to the dignity
of work, her belief in the power of education, and her extraordinary
generosity ensure that her memory will live on for generations to come.
Our country needs more people like her, who don't just talk about
responsibility and community but who live those values everyday.
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 1833-1834]
Monday, October 4, 1999
Volume 35--Number 39
Pages 1821-1886
Week Ending Friday, October 1, 1999
Statement on Measures Regarding Certain Liberians in the United States
September 27, 1999
Today I directed the Attorney General and the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to defer for one year from September 29 the
deportation of certain Liberians who are present in the United States on
that date. This action is aimed at promoting stability in Liberia and
west Africa. In particular, I am concerned that a decision by our
Government to deport Liberians who have enjoyed the protection of our
country for many years
[[Page 1834]]
could cause governments in west Africa to deport many thousands of
Liberians in their own countries. This would severely burden Liberia and
threaten the fragile peace that has been recently achieved in west
Africa. Furthermore, this action preserves the status quo for these
Liberians while the Congress actively considers legislative relief for
them.
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 1834]
Monday, October 4, 1999
Volume 35--Number 39
Pages 1821-1886
Week Ending Friday, October 1, 1999
Memorandum on Measures Regarding Certain Liberians in the United States
September 27, 1999
Memorandum for the Attorney General
Subject: Measures Regarding Certain Liberians in the United States
Over the past 10 years, many Liberians have been forced to flee
their country due to civil war and widespread violence. From 1991
through 1999, we have provided Liberians in the United States with
Temporary Protected Status because of these difficulties. Although the
civil war in Liberia ended in 1996 and conditions have improved such
that a further extension of Temporary Protected Status is no longer
warranted, the political and economic situation continues to be fragile.
There are compelling foreign policy reasons not to deport these
Liberians at this time, including the significant risk that such a
decision would cause other countries in West Africa to repatriate
involuntarily many thousands of Liberian refugees, leading to
instability in Liberia and potentially threatening peace along the
Liberian border.
Pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct the foreign
relations of the United States, I have determined that it is in the
foreign policy interest of the United States to defer for 1 year the
deportation of any Liberian national who is present in the United States
as of September 29, 1999, except for the categories of individuals
listed below.
Accordingly, I now direct you to take the necessary steps to
implement for these Liberians:
1. deferral of enforced departure from the United States for 1
year from September 29, 1999; and
2. authorization for employment for 1 year from September 29,
1999.
This directive shall not apply to any Liberian national: (1) who is
ineligible for Temporary Protected Status for the reasons provided in
section 244(c)(2)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act; (2) whose
removal you determine is in the interest of the United States; (3) whose
presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has
reasonable grounds to believe would have potentially serious adverse
foreign policy consequences for the United States; (4) who voluntarily
returned or returns to Liberia or his or her country of last habitual
residence outside the United States; (5) who was deported, excluded, or
removed prior to the date of this memorandum; or (6) who is subject to
extradition.
These measures shall be taken as of the date of this memorandum.
William J. Clinton
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 1834]
Monday, October 4, 1999
Volume 35--Number 39
Pages 1821-1886
Week Ending Friday, October 1, 1999
Message to the Congress Transmitting a Report on the National Emergency
With Respect to Angola (UNITA)
September 27, 1999
To the Congress of the United States:
As required by section 401(c) of the National Emergencies Act, 50
U.S.C. 1641(c), and section 204(c) of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. 1703(c), I transmit herewith a 6-month
periodic report on the national emergency with respect to the National
Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) that was declared in
Executive Order 12865 of September 26, 1993.
William J. Clinton
The White House,
September 27, 1999.
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 1834-1839]
Monday, October 4, 1999
Volume 35--Number 39
Pages 1821-1886
Week Ending Friday, October 1, 1999
Remarks at a Dinner for Representative William J. Jefferson in
New Orleans
September 27, 1999
The President. Thank you very much. First of all, like everyone
else, I want to thank
[[Page 1835]]
the Davises for having us in this magnificent home. And thank you for
the tour through all the art and all the books and all the history of
your life. It was fascinating. And I didn't steal any books or artwork.
[Laughter] And I can't afford the discount price, either. [Laughter] But
it's really wonderful, and we thank you for having us here.
Q. What about the golf----
The President. I'm getting there. [Laughter] I want to thank the
mayor for making me so welcome in New Orleans and tell you that he has
done a truly magnificent job. New Orleans has had one of the biggest
drops in violent crime of any major city in America under his
leadership. And I applaud him for that.
I would like to thank Sheriff Harry Lee, who is back there, for many
things--being my friend for a long time. But you should know that he
came with a group of people from Louisiana to the White House and stayed
2 days this week and provided good cajun cooking for the annual
congressional picnic, with all the families there--and the annual press
picnic. And while he is a strong supporter of mine, he did not taint the
food of any of the Members of Congress of the other party--[laughter]--
or any of the hostile press members. [Laughter] He was totally generous
to everybody.
I want to thank the people who came from out of town here--Tommy
Boggs, my good friend; and my friend Mack McLarty, the former Chief of
Staff and Special Envoy to the Americas. We're all glad to be in New
Orleans tonight, and we only wish we didn't have to go home.
And I thank Bill for running for Governor. I didn't thank him in the
beginning because I didn't want him to leave the Congress. You know,
whenever you run for an office like this and you run against an
incumbent and times are good, you wonder and worry. But I have seen,
myself, a marked movement in the polls and enough to justify your
investment here tonight.
So I just want to make some substantive points that have nothing to
do with politics. First of all--they have to do with policy more and
people--and, incidentally, a political campaign.
First of all, my handicap on my home course is a 12. [Laughter] And
that's what it is and that's what I play, even--[laughter]--unless I
play a strange course from long tees, and sometimes I play to a 14. But
otherwise, I normally play to a 12, and that's about what I shoot.
Secondly, I do most of my music in my music room. Hillary built me a
music room on the third floor of the White House, in a little end room.
And I have saxophones there from all over the world, from China, Russia,
Poland, the Czech Republic, two magnificent horns from Germany, two from
France, three from Japan, and goodness knows where else. Then I've got a
bunch of American horns. And I play a 1935 Selmer, and I have a 1915
Buescher soprano saxophone. So I've been into this a long time, and
that's where I play, because it's so far away I can't hurt anybody
else's ears. [Laughter] So I don't take it on that plane with me when I
go. And I do have one at Camp David. And if you have any other
questions, I'll try to answer them. [Laughter]
But let me make some points very quickly--and I want you to know why
I'm here tonight. Bill Jefferson started with me in 1991, when I was
running for President--and nobody but my mother thought I could win--
well, my wife did; no one else, those two. And we did it because we
thought that the country couldn't go on the way it was, with this sort
of gridlock in Washington where 12 years of the previous administrations
had quadrupled the national debt, and they basically had reached an
accommodation with Congress where every year we would embody President
Reagan's idea that if you cut revenues and increased spending, you would
balance the budget. It defied basic arithmetic; it didn't work in 1981,
and it didn't work in 1991. And in between we quadrupled the national
debt, and we got big, big increases in interest rates and high
unemployment. The unemployment rate in Louisiana when I took office was
about 7\1/2\ percent, I think, and it's 4.2 percent today.
So we said--we had been involved with this sort of new Democratic
movement. And we thought the Democratic Party had to prove that you
could be pro-business and pro-labor; that you could be for equality and
[[Page 1836]]
education and for high standards; that you could be for growing the
economy and improving the environment; that you could be for respecting
individuals and people of all different races and ethnic groups and
religious groups, and still believe that what binds us together as
Americans is more important than what divides us.
In other words, we felt that American politics had fallen into this
sort of liberal/conservative, right/left, business/labor, environment/
economy. Everything was one way or the other, and nobody was ever
getting anything done, and the country was getting deeper in the ditch.
And our social divisions were deepening.
And I know that the previous President, with whom I had a very
cordial, personal relationship, vetoed the Brady bill to do background
checks because the NRA wasn't for it and the Republicans had to be with
them; and then vetoed the family and medical leave law because some
people in the business community said, ``Well, that's an anti-business
measure''--even though, clearly, one of the biggest challenges that we
have is to balance work and family.
So I really believed--and I had some of the same arguments with my
friends in our party. If this whole business is about having to make
choices between these two things, we're going to leave America the
loser. And the evidence was pretty compelling in 1991--we had high
unemployment, stagnant wages, terrible recession, and increasing social
division. And so I asked Bill and a number of other people in Louisiana
to help me run for President, when I was, in the words of my
predecessor, just a Governor from a small Southern State. And the people
gave us a chance. They gave Al Gore and me a chance. And they basically
listened to our argument about putting people first, and they said,
``We'll try it.'' But it was just an argument; they didn't know.
By 1996, we were reelected, and with a much bigger margin of victory
in Louisiana--thank you very much--because it wasn't an argument
anymore; it was an established fact. You didn't have to argue anymore;
you knew whether this was working or not, and it was.
Now we're nearly 7 years into it, 6\2/3\ years, and the facts make
the case. We have almost 19\1/2\ million new jobs, the longest peacetime
expansion in history, the lowest unemployment rate in 29 years, the
Other Popular 1999 Presidential Documents Documents:
|
| GovRecords.org presents information on various agencies of the United States Government. Even though all information is believed to be credible and accurate, no guarantees are made on the complete accuracy of our government records archive. Care should be taken to verify the information presented by responsible parties. Please see our reference page for congressional, presidential, and judicial branch contact information. GovRecords.org values visitor privacy. Please see the privacy page for more information. |
 |