Speech #940055020

Mr. Speaker. although the American involvement in the Vietnam war has ended. the plight of the Vietnamese people. particularly the refugees. is still very much in the public eye. A plethora of comments and opinions have emanated from the American people. the press. and public officials. much of which has been acrimonious. May I suggest. before my colleagues deliberate on any legislation addressing the refugee question. that they consider the following editorial commentary from the May 7 edition of the New York Times: President Ford is right to be angry at the querulous and uncharitable responses of too many Americans toward the plight of the Vietnamese refugees. His request for $507 million to assist the resettlement of approximately 150.000 Vietnamese over the next two years is a reasonable and honorable response to a tragic human situation. The United States can do nothing less. Those citizens who are unemployed or Who are financially pinched by inflation and high taxes have understandable fears that the nation is taking on yet another burden while their problems remain unsolved. But those fears are based on a misconception of the facts. About 60 per cent of the refugees are children. while many others are elderly persons too old to enter the job market. Thus. only 30.000 of the Vietnamese refugees are heads of households and likely to seek work. Of these. many are doctors. lawyers and businessmen who can readily find places for themselves in American life and contribute needed skills. What is harder than the fears of the unemployed to explain and justify is the antagonism of many members of Congress. including wellknown liberals. and other leaders of opinion throughout the country. Several liberal members of the House of Representatives seem not to be aware that the war in Vietnam is over. No nation is eager to welcome criminals. prostitutes. war profiteers. or practitioners of political torture. But it grossly distorts the whole nature of the refugee problem to focus on the tiny minority of persons who might deserve one or another of those terms of opprobrium. or to exaggerate their number. There is no possible way to make a just determination about the political or moral character of individual refugees. If some Vietnamese engaged in dirty work. they usually had American advisers or were financed by American money. In some respects it was a dirty war. But now that it has all ended badly. it would be the ultimate disgrace for Americans to turn their backs and adopt a holierthanthou attitude toward those Vietnamese who aligned themselves with the American war effort in their country. It is likewise blatantly contradictory to play upon fears that the Vietnamese may take away jobs or end up on welfare rolls and at the same time argue that many of them are too rich to deserve help. Most of these refugees have lost all of their worldly possessions. Many are separated from loved ones. All have lost their country. a lasting sorrow that perhaps only other migrants and exiles can fully comprehend. CXXI---879Part 11