Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of this bill to authorize emergency asistance for the transportation. temporary maintenance. and resettlement of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees. It is expected that some 130.000 men. women. and children will seek refuge in this country. and an additional 20.000 will be resettled in other nations. Almost all of these people are already at U.S. sites in the Pacific or in the continental United States. Mr. Chairman. I want to impress upon my colleagues the fact that the refugees are here. Now. We are not debating about what policy to pursue at some hypothetical future date. These refugees are under our jurisdiction now. and we cannot turn our backs on them. We can not ignore our basic moral cblic:ation to offer them humanita:ian assistance. These people left their homeland in fear for their lives. in most cases leaving behind the greatest part of their cultural roots and material possessions. We must now provide the means for their rapid assimilation into American society. The United States is a nation of immigrants and we should not forget that heritage. According to the 1970 census. there are only about 780.000 American Indians in the United States. That means that less than 0.04 percent of our population can truly be called native American.
Keywords matched
immigrants refugees