Speech #920320768

You have only to look at the reply to note its almost total inappropriateness. The plight of Soviet Jewry is even more desperate now than when I last wrote to you. Gavril Shapiro. whose case is well known to you. and 20 other applicants for visas have lost their jobs and have been approached by the Soviet militia with the demand that they find employment or face trial as economic parasites. Within the last seven days new and more onerous requirements have been heaped upon prospective emigrants. which are calculated to confuse and shame them. For example. applicants. no matter what their age. even adults. are now required to obtain the permission of their parents in connection with their application for a visa. As a part of the documents supporting the application. the parents must obtain from their employers an acknowledgement that the employer has been told by the parents that their child wants to leave the Soviet Union. a procedure obviously calculated to hold them up to ridicule and embarrassment. not only by the employer but by the parents fellow employees. Thus. it becomes more and more apparent that the Soviet Government has not been impressed by any representation that has been made to them on the subject by this Administration. for it is proceeding as though none was made. If the matter was discussed with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko on the occasion of his recent visit. and words of assurance he may have uttered are certainly not being observed or followed by the Soviet authorities. Again. I respectfully suggest that your silence at this time. in the face of continued and increasing harassment by the Soviet authorities of visa applicants will be taken by them to be acquiescence In their actions. I would respectfully urge that you make known to the Soviet Government that its desire for favored nation treatment in its trading relations with the U.S. may stand in jeopardy as long as the Soviet Government insists upon maintaining its outrageous visa demands. You will be sustained In this position. knowing it has very substantial support in the Congress. as is indicated by the fact that there are now 76 cosponsors of the socalled Jackson Amendment in the Senate