As Under Secretary of State George Ball said at the hearings: This is not possible for some applicants. either because their employment is such that they cant leave it or because of the fact that they simply dont have the money to make the necessary trip. Mr. Speaker. while the situation of other Latin Americans with regard to the adjustment of status is not so drastic as that confronting the Cuban refugees. it is unfair in a similar way. While people from all other parts of the world can change their status without leaving the United States. all residents of the Western Hemisphere must go to another country in order to gain permanent residence. Yet like the Cuban refugees who. as Secretary Ball said. "simply do not have the money to make the necessary trip." many of the immigrants from the Western Hemisphere cannot afford to travel from New York to Chile or another South American country and back simply to get a permanent residence visa. It is not fair that we ask them to do so. I have introduced legislation. H.R. 13393. to remedy this problem by putting the people of Latin America on an equal footing with the people of the rest of the world. Now that the Select Committee on Western Hemisphere Immigration has been selected. and has begun to meet. I trust that it will make this inequity a first order of business. And I trust that in the very near future. the Members of Congress will help the other citizens of Latin America. much as we today have the opportunity to help the refugees from Cuba.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigrants visa refugees