Speech #850063679

President. I have Introduced a bill which I believe should be acted on by the Congress at the earliest possible opportunity. It would provide principally for the reuniting of families separated when the breadwinner emigrated to the United States under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953. leaving his wife and children behind. It would also admit a limited number of socalled pipeline casesrefugees who were given assurance of jobs and homes under the act. and for whom processing had been begun. but who were unable to emigrate before the act expired. In addition. it provides special nonquota visas for four classes of refugees whose resettlement is urgent for humantiarian. political. and economic reasons. Under these provisions the bill would admit: 10.000 refugeeescapees presently in Austria. 10.000 refugeeescapees presently in NATO countries. 4.000 orphans adopted by United States citizens. 5.000 Middle East refugees temporarily in refuge in Western Europe. The total number expected to be admitted under the bill would be about 89.000 over a period of 2 years. Dependents and "pipeline cases" together would be limited under the bill to 60.000. It is estimated that some 20.000 of those would be dependents of refugees already in the United States. I believe that there can be little doubt in any Senators mind that it is morally incumbent upon the Congress to reunite the families which were inadvertently broken by the workings of the Refugee Relief Act. In Italy. for instance. there are about 10.000 wives and children waiting to be reunited with husbands and fathers who are now in this country and who are employed and capable of taking care of their families. Human decency demands that we facilitate the reunion of these broken families. The Refugee Relief Act. as great a humanitarian effort as it was. had some unfortunate after effects. It raised the hopes of many thousands of refugees who had obtained assurances of jobs and housing in this country and for whom processing had been initiated. However. the act expired and the hopes which had been raised were dashed. This bill will permit these people. whose efforts to begin a new life were frustrated through no fault of their own. to finally emigrate. It is both morally and psychologically indefensible to allow the situation to continue as it is. In addition to those persons who were left stranded by the expiration of the Refugee Relief Act. there are several other categories of escapeerefugees which present urgent problems for the United States not only from a humanitarian point of view but because our seeming indifference poses serious political and economic difficulties for the Free World. If enacted. this bill would relieve these economic and social pressures. reduce United States budgetary costs. and remove a condition which is grist for the Communist propaganda mill. The bill would admit up to 10.000 escapeerefugees from Austria. including 3.000 Hungarians. and 10.000 refugeeescapees who are now temporarily residing in NATO countries. Many of the persons who would be admitted under these provisions have languished in camps for years. and the United States has and is indirectly contributing to their support through the United States escapee program. Thousands of refugees have already permanently settled in Western Europe or in other countries through the efforts of private agencies and the Intergovernmental Committee on European Migration. but there remains a significant number still to be resettled abroad. It is fair and in the best interest of this country to welcome a reasonable number of these refugees to the United States. It should be pointed out that to the extent that these people are resettled they will no longer constitute a drain on United States budgetary resources through the USEP program but instead will become selfsupporting. industrious residents of this Nation. Speedy action should also be taken to admit another group of aliens.