Speech #960240507

If on the second day. we found a troubled family at our doors. we would certainly offer to help in any reasonable manner. If. however. on the third day. we opened our doors to find hundreds of impoverished. downtrodden people speaking a strange language. crowding cur front yard. we would probably be immobilized by fear and uncertainty. The Miami Herald summed up the national mood when it said-"Dade County is the land of the free and home of the scared." This is the situation the American people face today as we ponder the implications of the 84.000 Cuban refugees who have come to our shores seeking sanctuary from Fdels failures. We are on the horns of a dilemma. Our tradition is to reach out and embrace the oppressed peoples of the world and invite them to share our liberties. But we are terrified by what we see. The reports of Castro emptying his prisons. mental hospitals and bordellos have created national uncertainty as to the wisdom of opening our doors to this most recent influx of Cubans fleeing Castros repression. The net result of the Cuban refugee situation has been to focus national and world attention on the problems associated with unrestricted immigration. One of the problems for the United States is the cost. It has been estimated that it will cost us $9 million for every 1.000 unsponsored refugees. The best estimate of the cost of the current resettlement will be around $100 million. for welfare payments. unemployment benefits and the myriad of other expenses associated with transporting. housing. feeding. clothing and providing medical assistance to the thousands of new Cuban refugees now in this country. The problem is compounded by our immigration laws which have a multiplier effect. For example. although our limitation on legal entrants is 280.000 per year. in 1978 we admitted 601.042 immigrants which included 147.000 family members of Indochinese and Cuban legal residents and about 200.000 new refugees from Southeast Asia and elsewhere. However. the problems associated with legal immigration are dwarfed by those connected with illegal entrants. Last year alone. the INS arrested 1.069.000 illegal aliens. About twothirds of that number were employed when apprehended. During that same period. about 7 million youth. minorities and Vietnam veterans were unemployed. One INS study assesses the welfare costs of illegal immigration at $13 billion per year. Another report assesses the adverse impact on our balance of trade payments at $3 billion per year. Mr. Speaker. the tide of immigrants. legal and illegal. is a very real social and economic threat to many Americans. We can no longer afford to remain immobilized in the face of the economic threat to our heavily burdened taxpayers. We need to swiftly move toward a conscious immigration policy which reflects both our national traditions and our economic realities.