Mr. President. as the ranking Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have had the opportunity to watch this situation develop and to be aware of this administrations repeated failures to act forcefully and directly on the Cuban refugee problem. On April 17. 1980. the Judiciary Committee held a hearing in response to the administrations request that of the 10.000 Cubans seeking asylum at the American Embassy in Havana. 3.500 of them be permitted to be brought to this country as "political refugees." under the terms of The Refugee Act of 1980. Public Law 96212. As a result of that hearing. Senator KENNEDY and I sent a letter to the President on April 25. 1980. giving our approval to his request and to implement the terms of the new refugee legislation. Except for my visit to the White House yesterday. that is the last I have heard from the administration about their plans to implement the law. On May 5. 1980. I sent a wire to the President. which read: Mr. President. As you are aware. the Cuban refugee situation in south Florida grows more critical each day. As of today. more than 11.000 Cuban exiles have left Cuba to come to our shores. Although these people are leaving a communist dictatorship. we cannot let this situation escalate at its current rate. I urge you to ask the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to offer his assistance in organizing the orderly flow of Cuban refugees to other Latin American nations and other countries who may indicate a willingness to accept these refugees. All available diplomatic channels should be opened in an effort to solve this problem. This should not become simply an AmericanCuban problem. The sheer numbers of potential refugees that may leave Cuba demand that a worldwide effort be pursued by your Administration. The people of this Country are displeased with this situation and are demanding that immediate action be taken. SRom THURMOND.
Keywords matched
Refugees Refugee seeking asylum refugees refugee