Speech #850045880

Nothing could be a stronger deterrent to future uprisings against communism than American camps filled with abandoned. hopeless Agnes Rozsas. Yet. what do we find the administration and the Congress doing? The answer is threefold: We are letting our crash program to aidHungarian refugees fizzle out. We are permitting the good will created by our airlift to be dissipated in despair and distrust. We are opening ourselves to the propaganda line that America has closed its doors to antiCommunists. Mr. President. I assume Immigration Commissioner Swing speaks for the administration when he tells me. as he did In a letter 2 weeks ago. that the emergency has greatly decreased. As a result. he told meand the same thing was told the press April 13the refugee program will continue on a limited scale. Refugees will be selected on the basis of hardshipseparation of spouses and minor childrenand on the basis of special interest such as cases involving scientists. engineers. and the like. The best estimate I have heard is that this limited scale program may bring in 3.000 more refugees. We have been told. then. the program does not have room for Agnes Rozsa or any of the 7.000 or 8.000 other Agnes Rozsas still in Austria. The emergency may be decreased. as Commissioner Swing says. but it is far from over. It will not be over until Agnes Rozsa and other Hungarians with relatives in America willing to take them are permitted to come here. and until the 40.000 remaining refugees in Austria and those in Yugoslavia are settled somewhere. Or need I remind my colleagues of the news stories coming out of Austria early -this month concerning mass hysteria and despair and the necessity for a "suicide watch" to be established over refugees after the cutback in the American refugeeassistance program was announced. Little Austria. which before the Hungarian uprising absorbed some 245.000 refugees from Communist oppression into its own small population of 7 million. has indicated it will take at least 20.000 of the 40.000 remaining in that country. The United States. even though it has taken more than 31.000. still ranks only 16th among nations in admitting Hungarian refugees on a populationpercentage basis. Mr. President. Congress has been sitting on its hands. We have before us legislation to grant permanent status to the 25.000 socalled parolees among the more than 31.000 Hungarian refugees we have admitted. We have before us legislation to admit up to approximately 70.000 refugees from communism every year. regardless of national origin. We have other legislation before us to liberalize our immigation laws. As yet. nei�ther the House nor the Senate has held hearings on this legislation. The Congress is not alone to blame. The administration. in the words ot a Washington Post and Times Herald editorial of April 18. "apparently has done little to press for this legislation. and it is inexcusably remiss in permitting loose and vague official talk about ending the parole admissions." The same editorial concluded that "the President owes it to the country to set this disgraceful matter right at once with a clear statement of his intentions and a fresh call upon Congress for enactment of permanent legislation." I fervently hope the President will exercise leadership In this matter. for indeed the refugee program has brought this administration to another brink. this time the brink of success. America has had a chance to demonstrate that it can respond to unreserved courage with * unqualified generosity. The opportunity is slipping away from us. out It is not lost. � If the administration cannot or will not provide the necessary leadership to carry the Hungarian refugee program through to its logical end. Congress can. We in Congress still have a chance to fulfill the promise our country held out as a haven to those who lost their homelands fighting for the ideas that keep us free. It is well for us to remember that while there may be certain risks inherent in the admission of refugees. the contributions of those refugees who have come to America. particularly in the past 20 years. have added immeasurably to the security of this country. And. at least as important. people who are willing to risk their lives for freedom in America certainly have demonstrated they have the ingredients that make for good American citizens.