Speech #920173813

Jews. and so forth. have come in without any resources. They are. indeed. coming in now by the thousands. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has estimated that from 7.000 to 10.000 nonCuban refugees will reach the United States this year and the best information I have is that not one will be eligible for the special benefits provided in the Cuban refugee program. Why should a Cuban refugee be entitled to it when a Haitian or a Jewish refugee is not? The chairman of the Subcommittee on Refugees of the Judiciary Committee. the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts . last March 10. asked the General Accounting Office to undertake an analysis of Federal expenditures in this program. The report is dated November 3 and is available. In a press release relating to the findings of the GAO. the Senator from Massachusetts states in part: According to the findings by the General Accounting Office (GAO). public assistance payments to refugees have increased some 300% in recent yearsfrom $26.500.000 in fiscal year 1968 to an estimated $106.200.000 in fiscal year 1972. Payments in behalf of all other persons receiving public assistance increased by 110% during the same period. Total costs for the Cuban Refugee program. which began in 1961. have amounted to nearly $730.000.000. This includes some $119.100.000 in federal payments to Dade County. Florida. public schoolsand some $496.000.000 in public assistance payments and services to the refugees. Efforts to phase out the payments to Dade County have met with local resistance and no success. Proposals to reduce .airlift costs by as much as 26% have all been rejected by the Department of State. The time is long overdue for the Administration to begin phasing out the Cuban Refugee Program. This can be done effectivelyand without hardship to the refugees. Let me say that the Senator from Massachusetts is a Man who probably knows more about the refugee problem than anyone in the Senate.