KOCH. These two bills are a protest by this Congress against the oppression practiced on the Jewish minority in the Soviet Union by the Government of that country. House Concurrent Resolution 202 calls on the President to reaffirm Americas historic role as the defender of human rights throughout the world by pressing the Soviet Government to assure its Jewish minority religious and cultural freedom and freedom of emigration. H.R. 6385 would provide 30.000 special immigrate visas to Soviet Jews fleeing persecution. The right of free emigration from any country lies at the very foundations of world law. It is the final guarantee of the rights of the individual against the oppression of the state. It was written into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. a part of the United Nations Charter. to which the U.S.S.R. is signatory. Substantial numbers of Soviet Jews wish to emigrate: how many we cannot know until it is possible for them to leave. To secure their right to seek a new home is the vital concern of the friends of freedom and justice around the globe. Presumably. most Soviet Jews who are allowed to emigrate will wish to exercise their right of return to Israel. But. to provide a choice and to blunt the phony issue of Zionism. it would be well for the United States and other nations to declare their willingness to accept their share of the outflow. This land has sheltered refugees many times in its history: most recently from Hungary. from Cuba. from Czechoslovakia. Now again. as so often before we are summoned to redeem our national pledge to all the oppressed who yearn to breathe free. We must not fail that trust.
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emigration emigrate immigrate visas refugees