Speech #850012340

If they know that there is always a haven of security where they are always welcome if they are compelled to escape from their homeland. then their attitudes toward their Soviet masters will be positively affected. This is why it is so vital for the success of our policy aims in Eastern Europe that we give confidence and assurance to the peoples of that area by making available to them a permanent and reliable refuge. In the Hungarian emergency the President. under existing laws. was able to give limited and temporary relief to thousands of refugees. The Refugee Relief Act afforded openings for a few thousands. and the Immigration and Nationality Act gave discretionary authority for emergency entrance of additional numbers. However. these laws of their very nature are not suitable to constitute a longtern basis for a refugee program. The quotas of the Refugee Relief Act are used up. and It is not proper that unlimited numbers be authorized for entry under the emergency clauses of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Furthermore. those clauses do not allow entrants into this country to come in under conditions affording a longterm solution of their status. Consequently. I am introducing two bills today to correct this situation. The first bill provides for the issuance of 30.000 nonquota immigrant visas each year to Hungarian and other East European escapees. Despite the many thousands of Hungarians who have been accepted into the United States and other countries in Europe and elsewhere. there are still 65.000 left stranded in Austria where they are imposing a heavy burden on the economy and the charity of the Austrian people. And more are constantly coming in. In other words. there is still a terrific problem left to be solved. Can we in the United States permit countries like Austria. Germany. and Italy. which already have complex economic problems of their own to bear the main burden of refugee support simply because of their proximity to the danger area? As the leader of the free world and the nation most blessed with the resources for a solution of the escapee problem. can we create an impression of unwillingness to bear our fair share? It would be folly to allow this impression to be created simply because we have not put laws on our books to implement a policy we have already adopted and which the American people so clearly want. The Hungarians. however. are only part of a large problem. There is a considerable backlog of other refugees and escapees in Europe who should be permitted to migrate. and there are untold thousands in the Eastern European countries themselves who will certainly become refugees or escapees in the future. What would happen if next week or next month Poland or another captive country blew up in a manner similar to that of Hungary? It is only commonsense that we should not perpetually allow ourselves to be thrown from crisis to crisis because we have not been foresighted enough to enact the proper legislation.