Speech #890184548

I hope the expanded program outlined by your Director will find the necessary support not only from the nations who are its direct beneficiaries but also from your other members who believe in its pur.poses and are encouraged by its results. Mr. Cl airman. todayDecember 1marks a new chapter in the history of American immigration. This is the day that the new immigration law of the United States goes into effect. It abolishes the national origins system for selecting immigrants. Applicants will be chosen because of their individual merits and for reasons of equitynot because they happened to be born in a favored nation. This basic change was especially important to President Kennedy and President Johnson because they saw it as a test of Americas democratic purposes. I am confident that a new era is well begun. Significantly. the new law emphasizes the reunion of families. It also includes for the first time in a basic statute. permanent provisions for the annual admission of a specified number of refugees. I know these provisions are of special interest to ICEMnot only because refugees are an important part of your work but also because this act reaffirms Americas concern that the doors of sanctuary be kept open. When historians characterize this century they will certainly give the refugee a special place of honor. HoWV can we measure the courage of a family that leaves its country. braves every kind of physical peril. that reaches out for a new home among new people whose language they may not speak and whose culture they probably do not share. Whether for the cause of individual freedom or for humanitarian concern. it is our duty to keep the paths of sanctuary open and to accept the responsibilities of resettlement. Thinking of those already among us and knowing that countless thousands are yet to come. I believe it is appropriate for all of Us to maintain the best traditions of our countries by repeating our pledge of sanctuary and resettlement. Many of your members have been countries of first sanctuary for refugees. With the exodus of Cubans. the United States becomes again a major country of first asylum. We have already welcomed almost 300.000 Cuban refugees. We have undertaken in partnership with the voluntary agencies a resettlement program costing millions of dollars. As you know. a new arrangement begins today which will probably bring many more thousands of refugees into our country. This is not alone a problem of the Western Hemisphere. More than 20.000 Cubans have gone to Spain. Some 3.000 have then continued their journey to reunion with their families in Americaand that has been possible through your administrative help and the good offices of the High Comissioner. March 3. 1966 CON( I take this opportunity today to urge your member Governments to reconsider their relationship to the Cuban refugee problem. to seek out and offer new possibilities of resettlement. to relate this overwhelming exodus of refugees to the humanitarian partnership we have built together in the postwar years. And I might add here for the Cubans what has alsobeen the universal lesson of all refugee movements in our countriesthat their main objective is to become productive. selfsufficient. contributing members of the society which has given them sanctuary. when the final costs of refugee resettlement are added up. my guess is that the host countrynot the refugeewill be the debtor. What a fine gesture it would be if your Governments and your national voluntary agencies took advantage of this Christmas season to give help and recognition to the Cubans. especially those in Spain. Christmas 1965 will not be a season of hope for millions of our fellow human beings. Refugee problems frequently reflect political conflict and upheavaland turmoil in Asia. Africa. Eastern Europe. and the Western Hemisphere only promises greater burdens for the months and years ahead.