"Floating Berlin Wall"

LAST MAY CANDIDATE CLINTON WAS "APPALLED" BY George Bush's decision to force every boatload of fleeing Haitians back to the thugs in charge of their country, without checking to see if anyone on board qualified for political ( asylum under a treaty the U.S. signed. But President Clinton now backs forcible return, and a government lawyer (a Bush holdover) vigorously argued for it last week before the Supreme Court. This broken promise has infuriated black leaders and human-rights lawyers. But Clinton fears that an armada of poor blacks will wash up on Florida.

The Administration will boost refugee screening inside Haiti, and claims that its interception of boats just outside Haitian waters stems from a desire to save people from drowning. The Haitians' lawyers call this a "floating Berlin Wall" that bars refugees from all destinations. Why, the lawyers ask, can't the U.S. go back to screening the boat people to pick out those really fleeing persecution?