Speech #890165672

Mr. President. I think the letter just placed in the RECORD eloquently points out how the principal impact of the Cuban refugee problem has fallen upon modest people. particularly upon our Negro citizens. of whom many thousands have been displaced from modest employment. such as operators of elevators. maids in hotels. attendants in service stations. and in numerous other employment opportunities. It is made so clear by this communication from the NAACP that I feel that this letter. speaking for itself. shows how frustrated the Negro community has been by the refugee problem. and how longsuffering they have been. Up to this time there has not been any open outbreak. They have really acted most commendably and as fine citizens. But Mr. Jones points out that the tension is growing. and that people are on the unemployment rolls by the thousands. as a result of Cuban refugees taking the employment opportunities from this group. I believe that these letters and the task force resolution attest to the undoubted fact that the Cuban refugees have caused a severe impact on the unemployment problem in the Dade County area. and that that impact is growing worse every passing day. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has advised me that some 227.000 refugees were given a haven of refuge in our country under the old program. That is the program that existed prior to Mr. Castros preventing the emigration of the people of Cuba. Since September 28. 1965. when the new program began. about 9.868 Cuban refugees have been admitted to this country. of whom approximately 4.924 came in by airlift. the remainder by boat. In addition. it is estimated that between 3.000 and 4.000 refugees will be admitted monthly until such time as the program may be terminated. No one knows when the program will be terminated. but the airlift. which is continuing daily. except Sundays. is bringing in about 190 refugees a day. Sometimes the number is nearer 200. My information from the Immigration and Naturalization Service is that the number of Cuban people who have applied for admission is almost 50.000. They.are anxious to get out. in most instances to rejoin relatives. in many instances merely to get out of Cuba. So it can easily be seen that since Miami is the only port for the reception of those people. the problem is daily growing more serious. Of the total number of refugees that have been admitted. it is estimated by the Immigration and Naturalization Service that some 95.288. or approximately 40 percent. have been resettled. It is impossible to obtain figures to show how many of those who were resettled returned to the MiamiDade County area. and. as well. to show exactly how many are now in Miami. although certainly a majority of the total is still there or has returned. I do not believe I have to plead the importance of doing something for this community. which has borne the brunt of a national program. Neither do I feel that any of us would want to change that program. We all realize that we should afford an opportunity to the Cuban refugees to breathe free air again. Yet the impact has fallen so heavily upon this community. ordinarily thought of merely as a great tourist center. that unemployment is very heavy there. The figures furnished to me by the Unemployment Service and by the authorities in Dade County show that the number goes up into many thousands. and that the services have difficulty in keeping up with the exact number.