Speech #830256877

On the surface this would appear to make for an auspicious beginning of a grand. new program. But this was not the case. From the beginning it was reported that the administrator was unsympathetic to the refugee program itself. As many of you know. it was rumored here on Capitol Hill that everything would be done to impede the progress of the program. Last January. for example. Mr. McLeod told a congressional appropriation committee that he hoped 15.000 persons would be admitted by June 30. And yetaccording to a count made in June only 48 refugees had been admitted. Fortunately. certain Members of Congress did not forget about this program once they voted for it nor did the President give up hope for its success. Last springwhen only 8 refugees had been admitted in so many months of operationseveral Members took the floor to register strong protests over what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to sabotage the whole program. One Member. from a State bordering my own. attacked the slowdown as a national scandal. The combined interest of Congressmen and the President had its effect. On April 30. Mr. McLeod sailed for Europe to investigate firsthand the operation of the refugee program. Among other places. he visited Italy where the problem. as Ambassador Luce can verify. is particularly acute and explosive. In fairness to all concerned. the program has gained momentum in the last month. The last count taken July 22. showed that 1.779 refugees had been admitted to this country. but this is still far short of Mr. MeLeods January estimate of 15.000 by June 30. It amounts to about eighttenths of 1 percent of the total authorized and the program is almost onethird over. Every imaginable excuse has been given for the delays. One reason often given is the lack of cooperation from f oreign governments in pledging to readmit aliens who obtain visas by fraudulent means. But this reason hardly holds water when we consider that Italy from the beginning has been willing to cooperate in every way and early agreed to take back all refugees who might later be found to have used fraud in obtaining visas. Yet Italians. like refugees from other countries. have been hamstrung in their efforts to come to this country. Mr. Speaker. the best of laws can accomplish little when there is no will to make it work and when there is lack of cooperation only misfortune for everyone concerned can be the result. Another reason given for the delay so far is the need for strict security investigations of each refugee. And certainly I think we would all agree that when we voted for the Refugee Relief Act last summer we were voting for an act with adequate security precautions. Special safeguards in regard to security screening were written into the bill. Other precautions. over and above our usual immigration provisions seemed to insure the security of the United States against the possible admittance of subversive agents. I agree that these safeguards are vitally necessary. But I submit.