Speech #890282666

It is effective only if the Cuban desires and wants to adjust his status and makes application for it. This bill would make it possible for natives or citizens of Cuba who were inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States subsequent to January 1. 1959. to apply for adjustment to permanent resident status without leaving the United States. It would not mean that all Cuban refugees would automatically qualify for permanent resident status. Those who elect to apply may be adjusted at the discretion of the Attorney General. if they are otherwise eligible to receive an immigrant visa and admissible to the United States. This means they must meet the health and security tests for admission and are not disqualified by reason of any of the grounds for exclusion listed in our immigration law. Approximately 300.000 Cubans have sought asylum in the United States since January 1. 1959. when the Cuban Government first began to enact agrarian reform laws and other measures to confiscate private property. Since President Johnson on October 3. 1965. announced that the United States would accept all refugees whom Castro would permit to leave. they have been coming in by air at the rate of approximately 4.000 a month. This exodus from Cuba may well continue at this rate for several more years. Already we have spent more than $214 million for transportation. adjustment allowances. welfare payments. and so forth. for the Cuban refugees. Passage of this bill would ameliorate the plight of thousands of Cubans who find It difficult to obtain suitable employment or to travel outside the United States because of the indefinite nature of their status as refugees. Present law places no limit upon the number of natives of the Western Hemisphere countries who may be admitted to the United States for permanent resident statushowever. those who are here as visitors and in other nonimmigrant status are prohibited from applying for permanent resident status. They must leave the United States. apply at a U.S. consular office in another country for an immigrant visa and reenter the United States. This prohibition is designed to prevent visitors from misusing their nonimmigrant admission to gain admittance ahead of those applying for immigrant visas in the regular manner in their native countries. However. the Cuban refugees obviously are unable to apply in Cuba for a visa since we have no U.S. consulate there. The trip abroad to Canada or Mexico after arrival In Florida as refugees is costly and unreasonably burdensome for those who have been stripped of their property by the Communist Cuban Government. Since only a small proportion of the refugees have been able to finance a trip abroad for reentry as immigrants. the result has been that a considerable number have been forced to take employment in lower paying jobs than those for which their training and experience qualify them. This is so because permanent resident or citizenship status is often a requirement for practice of a professionmedicine. dentistry. law. teaching. accounting. and so forth. Accordingly this bill will assist many Cubans to make a greater contribution to our economic life and reduce the costs of our Cuban refugee program since it will permit a faster adjustment to selfsupporting status for many families. This bill creates no precedent for the same thing was done in 1958 for the Hungarian refugees. in 1960 for refugee escapees within the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. and the 1965 amendments to the immigration law contain a provision for adjustment of status for refugees from communism from outside the Western Hemisphere. For the foregoing reasons I favor enactment of this bill. I will repeat. however. that for some time I was hesitant to support such legislation because of the possible foreign policy implications inherent in our Cuban refugee program. Lyndon Johnson back in 1962 when he was Vice President. when spelling out our Cuban policy. announced that our aim Is to get rid of the Castro regime and of the Soviet Communist influence in Cuba. When President Johnson signed the 1965 Immigration Act at the Statue of Liberty he proclaimed a welcome for all those who would flee from Castrobut he spoke of the day when they would return to a homeland cleansed of terror and free from fear. In hearings before the Immigration and Nationality Subcommittee we have been given the firm and unequivocal assurances of the Department of State and Justice Department that the policy of the United States. which we share with the other countries of the OAS. is one of opposition to the Communist regime in Cuba. It Is our continuing goal and strong desire that Cuba shall be freed from Communist domination and shall return again to the free world family of nations. Accordingly we were assured that passage of this bill should not and would not be taken as an indication that we believe that the Castro regime is here to stay. The OAS countries and the free world should understand that this special help to Cuban refugees is being given for purely humanitarian and practical reasons and in no way reflects any change in our attitude or any lessening in our determination. I believe the legislation should receive the favorable consideration of the Members of the House. Mr.