Mr. President. the Foreign Relations Committee has acted.. favorably on legislation to provide $405 million for. the transportation and resettlement.of Vietnamese refugees. I fully supported this legislation in. committee and will support it on the floor. I believe we have an obligation to provide homes for those we have brought from Vietnam. The refugee situation has generated a great deal of controversy. Everyone understands the fears. of those who are worried about the impact on the economy. but their fears seem largely unjustified.. By preliminary estimates. only 30.000 of the refugees will be looking for work. But even if the number were double that. it would be less than 1 percent of the number of Americans presently unemployed and less than onetenth of I percent of the total labor forceThe administration plans to find a sponsor for every refugee family through the. voluntary agencies. This will help guarantee that the economic impact on any single State or community will be negligible. Those who offer to sponsor refugees will probably come from every Statefrom urban. and rural areas. And with the help of those sponsors. the Government and the relief agencies. much can be done to lessen the impact of the refugees on the economy. The high. level of unemployment should- not be made an. excuse for rejecting. people who have nowhere else to go. But the current economic situation does require that special care be taken to. ensure that the refugees not add significantly to the problem of unemployment or to. the financial difficulties of State and local governments. The questions of who the refugees are. why they came. and whether many of them would rather- go back home have been raised by many people. The United States certainly should do everything possible to enable those who want to go back home to return safely to Vietnam. and Cambodia. And the. United States. should provide their transportatlon- Those who want to return. and feel they are: in no danger. should be allowed to go. immediately and without waiting for weeks- in refugee camps. The Government apparently knows more about the first. 40.000 refugees than about those who have come since. The initial group seems to be in the middle class in their education and occupational background. Sixty percent of the heads of households speak English. Those who left. South Vietnam in. the final days and hours. however. probably come from all walks of lifehighranking Government officials. businessmen. scholars. peasant farmers and housewives. Whoever they are. these new immigrants. like every wave of immigrants. before them. will bring something unique. in value to help. enrich American life. Just as it would be unfair to blame the tragedy of Vietnam on any single group of Americans. it would also be. unfair to blame the immorality of what went. on in. Vietnam on a few refugees. They are now In America. They will be governed by the laws of the United States. Like President Ford. r feel the United States has an obligation to help Vietnamese who want to stay in this country. It is unfortunate that the evacuation of Vietnamese. was not. better organized. Undoubtedly. the chaos of the evacuation from South Vietnam means that many of the refugees. were not really in danger and many whose lives are endangered were left behind. However. every Vietnamese is In a. real sense a victim of the long and tragic war. and the least we can do is to- help in the resettlement of these 130.000 victims who have been brought out of the country. The refugee legislation that Congress will soon act on is an important first step in the resettlement effort. We cannot know for certain whether the funds In this legislation. will be sufficient or perhaps even too much. The administrations original request may have overestimated the costs- of maintaining and resettling the refugees. Its projections were based on the. assumption that all the refugees would remain in camps for 90 days. that none of them are dependents of Americans with homes to come to. that It will cost. $600 to settle each refugee and that fairly sizeable expenditures will be necessary for health and education. We do not know yet who the refugees are. what their private finanoial resources are. how soon they will be placed with sponsoring families. how many are still coming or how many will want to settle in other countries or go home. However. in considering this initial refugee resettlement legislation. it is more important to determine. the quality of the program than its exact costs. Huge amounts of money could be spent. and the goal of assimilating the refugees rapidly into American society still not achieved. Congress must make certain that every effort is being made. to find homes for the refugees in communities where they will be welcome and where they can soon become selfsufficient. There must be no barriers to using the vast resources and experience of the church groups and other voluntary agencies to help settle the Vietnamese. These organizations can help screen potential sponsors to determine whether they can actually afford to. provide homes and other assistance. They can help find jobs for the refugees. They can help make certain that every refugee finds a home in a community where he can play a productive role and where he can become economically selfsufficient. Numerous offers of assistance have come to my office from the people of Iowa. Senators and Congressmen from every State in the Nation have had the same experience.
Keywords matched
immigrants refugee refugees