Speech #960175465

I would like to acknowledge the work of my good friend and colleague from New York (Mr. Fisu) the ranking minority member for his efforts in producing a bill which the entire subcommittee could support and which the full committee reported out by a vote of 20 to 6. Let me now briefly review the major provisions of the Refugee Act of 1979. In title II. the bill sets up a statutory framework for the admission of refugees into the United States and provides for their adjustment of status to lawful permanent residents. The title makes several significant improvements in current law. First. the bill provides a new definition of the term "refugee" which essentially conforms to that used under the United Nations Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. and which eliminates the geographical and ideological restrictions now applicable to conditional entrant refugees under section 203 (a) (7). of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The committee added language to make it clear that the definition would include those persecuted or threatened with persecution in their own country on account of their race. religion. nationality. membership in a particular social group. or political opinion. Ths amendment was necessary to cover the situation in Vietnam in 1975 and in countries today such as Cuba and Chile where there are political prisoners or prisoners of conscience who may be of concern to the United States. The committee also added language specifically to exclude from the definition of "refugee" those who themselves engaged in persecution. This is consistent with the United Nations Conventionwhich does not apply to those who. inter alia. "committed a crime against peace. a war crime. or a crime against humanity"-and with the two special statutory enactments under which refugees were admitted to this country after World War II. the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 and the Refugee Relief Act of 1953. Let me say that this expanded definition will in no way open the floodgates to hordes of refugees. Merely because an individual or group of refugees comes within the new definition does not guarantee resettlement in the United States. Obviously. with 10 to 13 million refugees worldwide that would be a practical. if not philosophical. impossibility. The number of refugee admissions to this country will be strictly limited under the terms of this legislation. This expanded definition will simply give our Government the flexibility to admit refugees of special humanitarian concern to the United States who remain within their own country as well as those who have managed to escape to a third country. The total number of refugees admitted will remain unchanged from the limits established in the bill. Second. the bill establishes a statutory procedure for the admission of refugees to replace the conditional entry and parole provisions of current law. Importantly. for the first time. the bill requires that Congress be consulted before refugees are admitted. and spells out in detail the elements of that consultation. The bill provides for a normal flow of refugees not to exceed 50.000 annually except in cases where the President. prior to the beginning of the fiscal year and after consultation with the Committee on the Judiciary. determines that there is a foreseeable need to admit a greater number and it is "justified by humanitarian concerns." I would point out that although the 50.000 figure represents an increase over the 17.400 admissions allowed under the present 203(a) (7) conditional entry provision. the number does not actually indicate an increase in overall annual refugee admissions to the United States. since the Attorney Generals parole authority has been used consistently to exceed the conditional entry ceiling. The 50.000 annual admissionsand any additions theretowill be allocated among refugees of "special humanitarian concern to the United States" in accordance with a determination made by the President. The committee added language to assure that this determination would be made only after consultation with Congress. The bill also provides for the admission of refugees in unforeseen emergency situations arising after the start of the fiscal year. If the President determines following consultation with the Judiciary Committees. that an emergency refugee situation exists. that admission of refugees in response to the situation is justified by grave humanitarian concerns. and that admission cannot be accomplished under normal flow procedures. he may fix a number of refugees to be admitted for up to one year. Again. the admission numbers will be allocated among refugees of "special humanitarian concern to the United States" as determined by the President after consultation with Congress. All refugees--normal flow and emergency situationwill be admitted by the Attorney General as refugees. not as lawful permanent residents. Applicants for refugee admission will be required to establish that they meet the refugee definition. that they have not become firmly resettled in any foreign country. and that they are admissible with certain exceptions as immigrants under the act. Admitting the refugees as refugeesin effect granting them a new statuswill allow officials to conduct better and more intensive screening prior to granting them permanent resident status. In testimony before the committee. the Attorney General stated that he was not satisfied with current screening procedures and would support a status akin to conditional entry after admission. Those admitted as refugeeseither under the normal flow provision or in an emergency situationare allowed to adjust their status to that of lawful permanent residence after they have been physically present in the United States for 2 years. Once granted. the lawful permanent resident status operates retroactively to the date of the refugees arrival in the United States. so that in terms of eligibility for naturalization the refugee is not disadvantaged by the waiting period. The committee was extremely concerned about assuring that Congress has a proper and substantial role in refugee admissions. given our plenary power over immigration. Consequently. the legislation as introduced was amended specifically to define the "consultation" process which up to now has been informal and solely a matter of courtesy or custom. The bill now provides that consultation means discussions in person by designated Cabinetlevel representatives of the President with Judiciary Committee members to review the refugee situation or emergency refugee situation. to project the extent of possible U.S. participation. and to discuss the reasons for believing the proposed admission of refugees is justified by humanitarian concerns. Further. the section requires that committee members be provided with certain detailed information on the proposed admission. Additionally. the legislation requires that the Judiciary Committee print the substance of consultations on refugees in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. The committee bill also creates. for the first time. a statutory asylum procedure in our immigration law. Currently. asylum can only be provided administratively. The bill now requires the Attorney General to. establish a uniform procedure for aliens within the United States or at ports of entry or land borders to apply for asylum which may be granted if the alien is a refugee within the new definition. The bill allows the Attorney General to terminate an individuals grant of asylum if conditions change in the asylees home country so that he or she would no longer be subject to persecution upon return. In addition. the bill amends section 243(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. relating to withholding of deportation. to prohibit. with certain exceptions. the deportation of an alien to any country if the Attorney General determines that the aliens life or freedom would be threatened on account of race. religion. nationality. membership in a particular social group or political opinion. These provisions are consistent with our international obligations. and were supported by the State and Justice Departments in addition to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and numerous other witnesses. As in the case with title 1H. the primary objective advanced by title III. dealing with domestic assistance. are equity and flexibility in our treatment of refugees. Equally important are those provisions in title III which are designed to insure accountability with regard to our domestic resettlement program. In the past. refugee resettlement has been solely the result of administrative decisionmaking. There has been no legislative involvement in our resettlement policies and practices other than the blanket authorization of funds. This policy of unfettered executive discretion would have continued under the proposals submitted by the administration. The committee. after receiving extensive testimony from resettlement experts. felt that the delegation of such broad authority to the executive branch was not warranted. Instead. the committee adopted provisions which establish specific resettlement priorities and which insures that the expenditure of Federal funds for this purpose are closely monitored. For over two decadesbeginning in 1962 with the Cuban refugee program and carried forward in 1975 with the Indochinese refugee program and in 1978 with the Soviet refugee programwe have witnessed the emergence of different domestic assistance programs for different refugee groups. The result has been that some refugees receive a wide variety of domestic services. others receive nothing. Under title III of the bill. this disparate treatment is eliminated and all refugees are made eligible for the same range of resettlement services. Title III also recognizes the need for preserving flexibility with regard to the resettlement approaches utilized by State and local governments and by voluntary agencies. The committee was careful to insure that existing approaches which have been successful and costeffectivethat is Soviet resettlement effortsare not impeded and that new and innovative resettlement approaches can be developed in the future. This title places special emphasis on those social services which have proven to be essential in the refugee absorption process. For example. title III acknowledges the vital importance of providing English language training to refugees as soon as possible after their arrival in this country. All witnesses agreed that the ability to read and speak English is directly related to their ability to assimilate. to find jobs. and to become economically selfsufficient. It is clear that employment opportunities are greatly enhanced by vocational and professional training and. as a result. title III places high priority on jobrelated programs. Furthermore. because the committee recognized the importance of these services in facilitating resettlement. no time limitation is placed on Federal support for these programs. On the other hand. title HI limits reimbursement to State and local governments for cash and medical assistance to refugees who have been in this country for less than 4 years. It also provides 1 more fiscal year of full Federal funding before that limitation takes effect. The administrations proposal would have limited reimbursement period to 2 years. The reason the committee adopted a more generousand a more realisticreimbursement formula is that decisions to admit refugees are within the exclusive province of the Federal Government and every effort must be made to minimize the financial impact on State and local governments. This is particularly true when we note that Cuban and Indochinese refugees have tended to concentrate in certain States. In my judgment. it is essential that we continue to receive the full support of State governments for our refugee programs. I believe that we would jeopardize that support and cooperation if we were to transfer the resettlement burden to the States after the refugees have been in this country for only 2 short years. While most refugees are quickly integrated into American society. some adjustment problems do occur in the first few years and I do not believe we should require States to respond to these residual problems with their own resources. In short. full reimbursement for a 4year period represents. in the committees judgment. a proper allocation of Federal and State responsibilities for the care and resettlement of refugees. While the funding level for title III is substantial. I would remind my colleagues that it is a sound investment when you consider that one of its basic objectives is to remove refugees from the welfare system and to encourage them to become productive members of our society. For example. one problem presented to the committee was the large number of refugees who go on welfare in order to be eligible for medical assistance (medicaid). In other words. we found that we were encouraging welfare dependency. on the part of many employable refugees by linking health care eligibility to welfare eligibility. This problem has been corrected in this bill by authorizing medical assistance to be provided. for 1 year after arrival. to refugees who are not eligible for cash assistance. I point this out to my colleagues to demonstrate how this bill can actually result in a cost savings to the American taxpayer. A final problem the Refugee Act of 1979 addresses is the current fragmentation of the resettlement program at the Federal level. with responsibilities divided between three Cabinet DepartmentsState. Justice. and HEW. Because of this situation and as the result of the low priority historically accorded to refugee resettlement by HEW. programs have not been properly evaluated. expenditures have not been adequately monitored and coordination has been extremely limited. A recent GAO report foundthe HEW management system lacking in detailed program guidelines and found it unable to effectively monitor the use of Federal refugee program funds. It is clear that HEWs role must be strengthened and that the Federal Government must substantially improve its refugee resettlement mechanism. Title H would accomplish this goal by creating an Office of Refugee Resettlement in HEW. directly responsible to the Secretary. That office will be charged with the responsibility of administering our domestic refugee program and all resettlement activities. including reception and placement grantsalthough during fiscal year 1980 these grants will remain in the State Departmentwill be concentrated in this office. The committee believes that the creation of this office by statute will promote accountability. enhance long range planning and improve coordination and cooperation among the Federal Government. States. localities and voluntary agencies.