Speech #960137167

Of course. we cannot take everybody in the whole world. The gentleman from Texas knows that. Our immigration policy is such that we have to restrict numbers. It is very. very difficult. because I do not have to tell the gentleman that the socalled undocumented aliens who are in this country far exceed the problems that are presented by the Indochinese refugees. Suffice it to say this. as far as we know. that the number of sponsors in this country outstrips the number of refugees who are ready to come in. And the refugees who are being admitted under the Indochinese program are those who have families here. those who assisted us during the Vietnamese conflict and those who are so closely allied with us that their lives are in danger from the Communists. Whether we like it or not. we do have certain responsibilities to these people. If we had not had the Geneva Conference. I will say to the gentleman from Texas. the commitments the gentleman pointed to. which seem dismally small. would not have been even that significant. I might also add that Australia and France are doing more for Indochinese refugees. on a per capita basis. than is the United States--and those countries are considerably smaller than we are.