Mr. Speaker. a dedicated and able public servant. Marshall Wise. the director of the Cuban Refugee Emergency Center in Miami. Fla.. since March 9. 1961. has recently resumed his previous position as Director of the Miani Social Security Office. On March 7. 1961. he was requested to assume the position of director of the Cuban Refugee Emergency Center with the understanding that it would probably be a 60- to 90day assignment. This temporary assignment has stretched into a period of more than 2 years. As director of the Cuban refugee program. he was faced with the difficult task of organizing a program to handle thousands upon thousands of refugees arriving daily. in many cases without family or friends and with little or no knowledge of the English language. He was called upon to provide them with. among other things. food. housing. clothing. medical care. jobs. job retraining. resettlement opportunities. and education for both the children and the adults. Never before in the history of our country have refugees from oppression arrived upon our shores in such numbers. and never before have so many thousand refugees congregated in one metropolitan area. The Greater Miami area. with a population of about 1 million. has had to absorb approximately 200.000 Cuban refugees. No community could withstand the almost immediate impact of a 15 to 20 percent increase in population without skillful leadership and Federal assistance. The situation was worsened by the fact that there already existed in Dade County.
Keywords matched
Refugee refugee refugees