
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 21, 1994                    TAG: 9406210338 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A5    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940621                                 LENGTH: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

29 OF 35 REFUGEES SENT HOME \

{LEAD} The first boat people to fail the United States' liberalized policy on Haitian refugees were returned to their homeland Monday, while U.S. Embassy employees and dependents left the troubled country.

In a statement in Washington, exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide called the U.S. refugee program ``still the same cynical joke.''

{REST} Of the 29 boat people repatriated on Monday, only five were allowed to leave the port and return to their homes, U.S. Embassy spokesman Stanley Schrager said. The rest were detained by immigration officials, he said.

Until last Wednesday, the United States considered all Haitian boat people economic refugees and summarily shipped them home. But the new Clinton administration policy grants every Haitian refugee a shipboard interview to make a plea for political asylum.

Six of the 35 boat people picked up last week were deemed eligible for asylum and sent to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for processing before going to their final destination.

Schrager, the embassy spokesman, said 55 more boat people were picked up over the weekend. He said they were taken to the Comfort, a hospital ship anchored off Jamaica where the Immigration and Naturalization Service is interviewing asylum-seekers.

Aristide's statement used his harshest language since Clinton changed the refugee policy May 8. ``The policy towards the refugees is still the same cynical joke. It does nothing to prevent the extreme violence perpetrated by the coup leaders against Haitian citizens,'' Aristide said.

{KEYWORDS} HAITI BOAT PEOPLE REFUGEE U.S. COAST GUARD by CNB