Speech #920173452

I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. President. the main thrust of the U.S. refugee effort in Europe is to assist in the resettlement of refugees who first arrive in countries contiguous to the Communist countries of Eastern Europe. It is in U.S. foreign policy interests that the countries of first asylum maintain a liberal asylum policy. The countries of first asylum cannot maintain a liberal asylum policy in the face of the economic and political burdens of an everincreasing refugee population if there is no assurance that the refugees have the opportunity to move onward to resettlement countries of the free world. Our main effort. entirely through international and American voluntary agencies. is to provide expert counseling as to emigration possibilities. visa documentation services. medical examination. language training. and some supplementary care and maintenance. The countries where the principal refugee camps are locatedAustria. Germany. and Italypay 100 percent of the cost of maintaining these camps. including food for the refugees. maintenance and upkeep of buildings. all utilitieseverything. It is estimated that nonCommunist European countries spend about $40 million a year to support East European refugees. while West Germany alone spends about $2 billion a year on refugees and expellees from Eastern Europe of German extraction. These countries also assist substantiallyas does the United Statesin alleviating refugee problems in Africa and Asia. Furthermore. refugeereceiving countries such as Australia-$92 million in 1970spend substantial sums on refugees and migrants resettling in their own countries. Abolishment of the U.S. refugee program would have the following unfortunate effects: First. It might move countries of first asylum to curtail their lenient policy of refugee acceptance. If this happened. it could inhibit movement to asylum countries for those who wish to flee from political or religious persecution. Second. Disruption of these voluntary agency operations through abrupt termination of USRP. as would be necessary under the Senate Appropriations Committee provision. would seriously damage the highly efficient and indispensable international resettlement mechanism which involves the joint participation of USRP. the voluntary agencies. the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. and the countries of asylum. This resettlement mechanism has been perfected through 20 years of experience in dealing with the continuing flow of refugees and in meeting large emergencies such as the Hungarian exodus of 1956. the exodus of Czechoslovaks and other Eastern European refugees after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. and the current large flow of Jews from the Soviet Union. To terminate or cripple USRP would place serious obstacles in the path of current resettlement efforts and inevitably drastically reduce the rate at which the refugees escaping from Eastern Europe could be effectively handled and received by free countries. The list of voluntary agencies with which we have contracts follows: The American Fund for Czechoslovak Refugees. The Polish American Immigration and Relief Committee. The International Catholic Migration Committee. The World Council of Churches.