Mr. Speaker. in our search for solutions to temporary crises. in our immediate responses to immediate problems. we may lose sight of the principles which underlie our actions. The needs of some refugees are immediate: they must be helped now. The Indochinese boat people. for example. must be rescued from the water. and in light of their need we in the United States postpone considering the bases on which American aid for refugees rests. But the refugee situation is not a onetime crisis. a crucial. abrupt turning point which can be resolved. Instead. the world is in a period of unrest in which it is assured that more millions of refugees will continue to be generated. Refugees are going to be. for the foreseeable future. a continuing fact of international relations. We can predict that they will exist. all that we cannot predict is from which country they will come next. It is necessary. therefore. to prepare principles on which we can agree. and on which we can base an American policy toward refugee aid and refugee resettlement. We have sympathy for all refugees. for all of those mistreated in their home countries. persecuted because of their religion. race. language. politics. or ethnic group. for those forced to flee out of fear for their lives. But if we based our policy solely on our concern. our humanitarian fellowfeeling for abused people. we would declare ourselves to be responsible for millions of people whom we would be unable to aid. Estimates of the number of refugees in the world have ranged up to 14 million people. World Refugee Crisis. issued in August 1979 by the Congressional Research Service. gave a range of estimates from 8 to 11 million people. and said their numbers were not to be considered accurate. but only as an indication of the magnitude of the problem. And in its country and area analyses. the CRS indicated that there was no area of the world in which it could state that the refugee problem would abate. that the numbers would grow smaller rather than larger. even as the millions of todays refugees were settled in new host countries. One small example of tomorrows problem is the August 13. 1979. United Press release which quoted Vietnamese Secretary of State Nguyen Co Thach as indicating that 3 million Vietnamese may eventually want to leave their country. depending on the political situation. The United States. today taking over half of all Vietnamese refugees being permanently resettled. must be prepared to recognize the dimensions of the responsibility it has shouldered. To aid in promoting the discussion of underlying principles of refugee aid and resettlement. the Federation for American Immigration Reform has released the following statement:
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