BALTIMORE -- Pressing his case against the Baltimore Orioles, Sen. Jesse Helms asked the U.S. Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission to investigate the team's reported practice of refusing to sign Cuban defectors.

"My interest, of course, is a sympathetic one for Cubans who manage to flee the repressive regime of Fidel Castro," Helms wrote Friday in his letter to the EEOC. "I do not believe that they should have to endure discrimination when they come to the United States."

The Justice Department is already investigating the hiring practices of the Orioles, who have been accused by Helms and a conservative group of refusing to sign Cuban defectors, a department spokeswoman said Thursday.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Kara Peterman confirmed that Assistant Attorney General Robert Raben sent a letter last week to Helms which says the department has "opened an independent investigation of the Baltimore Orioles to determine whether the alleged player hiring policies and practices violate the prohibition against citizenship status discrimination."

Peterman refused to comment further, citing the investigation.

Orioles owner Peter Angelos took his team to Havana last year to play a Cuban national team and arranged a reciprocal visit to Baltimore. The Washington Times reported in May that Angelos is refusing to sign Cuban defectors in order to maintain good relations with the government of Fidel Castro.

Angelos has denied that his team refuses to sign Cuban defectors. Orioles spokesman Bill Stetka, reached early Thursday, said he was not aware of the investigation.

Raben sent the letter in response to a request in May by Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asking the Department of Justice to investigate the matter. The investigation is being conducted by the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices.

Last month, Rep. William Goodling, R-Pa., the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, asked Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to investigate Angelos' reported policy of not hiring Cuban defectors.

The conservative group, Judicial Watch, meanwhile, has said it has filed a complaint against the Orioles with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.