Speech #960183835

I yield to the gentlewoman from New York. Due to alleged violations by INS of the constitutional rights of about 5.000 of these asylum applicants. their status has been under review by a Federal district court in Miami since last May. The same judge has also stayed INS proceedings involving approximately 3.000 additional Haitian asylum applicants. This case has been pending since 1974. Before and during these judicial proceedings. the care and maintenance of these people has fallen on the State and local communities in Florida. A similar situation exists in New York. though not as many asylum applicants are involved. The problem of Haitian asylum applicants has been with us in Dade County and in Florida generally for the past 7 years. Normally. the average annual number of political asylum applicants throughout the Nation as a whole is about 5.000. That number is now reflected in one county aloneand therein lies the problem. If the flow of applicants were normal. the local communities could absorb the costs. But this is not the case and. as a result. INS is severely backlogged in handling these cases. Since immigration policy is a Federal matter. it is right that the Federal Government assume the responsibility for the laws passed by Congress. It is not the fault of local communities that INS has either handled these cases badly or has not had the resources to expedite the legal procedures. The States should not be forced to pay the price for Federal failures. Therefore. my amendment provides for Federal reimbursement by the relevant Cabinet department for expenses incurred n providing social services to asylum applicants who made application prior to November 1. 1979. This program requires the local communities to document their expenses to the Federal Government. but does not guarantee any particular level of reimbursement. It is thus patterned after the practice in the Cuban refugee program. which has worked so well. This reimbursement applies only to those who have actually applied for political asylum prior to November 1. 1979 and extends only until their status is finally adjudicated. Thus. it is not openended. but it will provide some relief from a financial burden which has amounted to approximately $2 million per year in Dade County. Fla.. for the past 5 years. To lessen further the financial burden on the Government. my amendment also authorizes the Attorney General in his discretion to provide work authorizations for asylum applicants. This is not only consistent with past INS practice. but also acknowledges the existence of a court order by a Federal district court in Miami which directs INS to provide work permits for approximately 4.500 asylum applicants involved in this third Federal court lawsuit. In the spring of 1978. INS unilaterally revoked work permits issued for these people. By allowing these asylum applicants to work. we will lessen the burden on the Government by creating a new group of taxpayers. The State of Florida and Dade County support this move enthusiastically. because there will be no effect on citizen employment levels. since these aliens take low level. unskilled jobs unattractive to Americans. Mr. Chairman. I urge my colleagues to support this much needed amendment. It makes no statement concerning the merit of these asylum applicants. It does relieve a great deal of human suffering. Surely this Congress is as ready to assist the needy on our own shores as we are to assist the Cambodians in their hour of need. Finally. I hope that this amendment will prove to be but an interim measure. In my judgment. the only moral and practical solution to the plight of the Haitian boat people is for the Attorney General to exercise his discretionary authority and grant refugee statuspolitical asylumto the approximately 8.000 Haitians currently seeking asylum in the United States. In this. I join a variety of political. religious. and labor organizations which have urged the administration to grant asylum to this small number of Haitians who have for too long languished on our shores. Such a resolution of this serious human problem would demonstrate that U.S. refugee policy is administered in an evenhanded way on a humanitarian basis. It would also reduce Federal. State. and local expenditures that will be needed to assist this small group of people as long as their legal status remains in doubt. I thus urge approval of the amendment I offer today and express my hope that the administration will soon decide to grant refugee status to these Haitian boat people.