Speech #960183853

Mr. Chairman. I express my full support of the Refugee Act of 1979. a bill which will unify and expand the existing and fragmented domestic programs for refugees coming into the United States. This bill recognizes the complexity and often the tragedy of the refugee issue. It also acknowledges the myriad problems which confront refugees and the organizations and government agencies which aid them. Our current refugee program is a hodgepodge of legislative and administrative authorizations. Indeed. it is not a program at all but many disparate provisions which were established to accommodate different refugee groups as crises occurred. The bill under consideration will unify these many efforts. It will revise U.S. immigration laws to provide more systematic Government procedures to admit and resettle refugees under both normal and emergency conditions. Combining and streamlining these programs will greatly ease the plight of refugees who. upon fleeing their homelands. begin the difficult. often anguishing. process of reestablishing themselves and their families in a new country. Our recent experience with the Southeast Asian "boat people" exemplified our inability to deal quickly. effectively. and systematically with a refugee crisis. The bill under consideration establishes a comprehensive settlement program in a newly formed Office of Refugee Resettlement. The Office will be required to develop programs and services to help refugees. These will include: orientation. job training. language training. and educational programs. These are in addition to medical assistance. child welfare services. and special programs for unaccompanied children. In addition to providing these services. the bill redefines the term "refugee." In its current usage. refugee status is only applied to those who are fleeing Communist or Middle Eastern countries. In a significant humanitarian gesture. the new bill defines refugee as a person from any nation who cannot live at home because of actual persecution or a wellfounded fear of nersecution due to race. religion. nationality. membership in a particular social group. or political opinion. There may be those who contend that the proposed definition is too broad. I believe the current definition is far too narrow and that it prevents far too many desperate people from receiving asylum in our country. The proposed bill also increases the entire immigration quota from 290.000 to 320.000 annually. of which up to 50.000 may be admitted as refugees. Currently. 17.400 refugees may be admitted annually. The increase from 17.400 to 50.000 has been criticized by those who feel it is too large an increase and that somehow this increase will unleash unlimited immigration into the United States. Increasing a quota is not eliminating a quota. I believe this increase is a gesture we as a nation can well afford to make. The 32.600 additional people who may be aided by our passing this legislation well deserve our attention. The Refugee Act of 1979 is a significant step toward our recognizing the overwhelming complexities of worldwide immigration and of beginning to deal with them humanely and reasonably. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.