Speech #890154415

Mr. Chairman. I am today requesting the appropriate committees of the Congress to interest and concern themselves in the pending negotiations between the United States and the Castro government with regard to the entry of refugees into the United States. and to hold hearings as may be necessary. The Federal Government has the clear responsibility to insure that the burden and the privilege of accommodating thousands of Cuban refugees from Communist tyranny is shared by all America. For the Federal Government to pay for the costs of transportation. housing. food. clothing. education. health. and other matters has been generally recognized. The administration and the Congress have and will. I am sure. continue to provide the necessary funds. The distinguished gentleman from Louisiana . who is chairman of the Subcommittee on Appropriations. and the members of his subcommittee have. and I am sure will continue. to be fair. reasonable. and generous In their allocation of Federal funds for the care of Cuban refugees. However. the burden is more than financial. The principal burden is the ability of any one community to take to its heart and absorb into its economic life more thousands of those who flee tyranny. The whole world knows of the truly outstanding manner in which the people of Greater Miami have met the problem of the Influx of hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees heretofore admitted. There Is perhaps no finer chapter in the history of humanitarianism. But it is unrealistic and unwise to stretch any further the generosity and the humanity of the people of Greater Miami by assuming or expecting that the community is prepared and willing now to be the terminal settlement point for hundreds of thousands more of Cuban refugees. Because important national policy is Involved the appropriate committees of Congress should concern themselves with the specifics of the negotiations now taking place. I am of the opinion that any agreement for entry should. among other things. be surrounded by or contain certain basic limitations and safeguards. First. Entry of refugees should be sharply limited. First priority should be to reunite immediate families. and second priority to release political prisoners. The best estimates of these priorities means that from 30.000 to 50.000 people will be involved.