Mr. Speaker. today 1.200 persons from Germany and Austria will arrive in New York under provisions of the Refugee Relief Act of 1953. This is good news for the 1.200. It is not good enough for the thousands left behind who. through maladministration of the act and the unnecessary restrictive provisions. may never be given the chance to find a new life and new hope in the United States. The ceremonies on Tuesday are presumably to dramatize the success of the Refugee Relief Act. yet to me it appears to be like a man who. when climbing a hill. boasts he has scaled Mt. Everest. The refugee program is still far from a success. I am pleased with the arrival of the 1.200 immigrants. There is no gainsaying the importance of these arrivals to them and to us. Lest we. however. conclude that all is well. let us examine the record. As of July 1 only 37.642 visas had been granted out of the permitted total of 209.000. That is 17 percent of the authorized total. although twothirds of the life of the act has gone by. Of these. only 11.567 visas went to refugees. The remainder went to aliens with relatives in the United States. The need for changes in the act is paramount. How much the administration of the act has improved with the arrival of Mr. Gerety remains to be seen. It took 2 years to issue visas up to 17 percent of the authorized total. There is only 1 year left to reach the remaining 83 percent. or five times the number of people issued visas in the 2year period. The record is not good. Unless changes are made.
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Refugee immigrants visas refugees refugee