Speech #960247058

Any people leaving Vietnam under the orderly deoarture proeTam will count against our quota of 14.000 Indochinese a month. We are also proposing to admit 1.200 other Asians. principally Chinese who have escaped from the Peoples Republic of China and sought temporary refuge in Hong Kong. From the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. we propose to admit 33.000 to 5.000 refugees. respectively. It has been the policy of the United States to offer a haven to any refugee from the Soviet Union who wishes to resettle in this country. This will remain our policy. We deplore the restrictions by Soviet authorities that have resulted in a recent decline in the number of Jews allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Should these restrictions be eased and the trend reversed. we are fully prepared to consult with the Congress immediately on additional admissions and the necessary funding to accommodate all Soviet Jews who seek admission to the United States. We also anticipate admitting Soviet Armenians and other Christians who wish to resettle here. as well as Eastern Europeans of diverse backgrounds who have suffered discrimination in their homelands. We propose to admit 20.500 refugees from Latin America. This figure includes 19.500 Cubans. other. of course. than those who are now on our shores under the current Cuban emergency. The United States has a long and proud history of aiding Cubans fleeing repression under the Castro regime. To date some 800.000 Cubans have resettled in the United States. In recent years. Cuban refugee admissions have been limited primarily to former political prisoners and their families. and to cases involving family reunification. Persons in these categories will continue to comprise the bulk of the Cuban refugees we will admit directly from Cuba or from third countries. The rush to the Peruvian Embassy compound in Havana nearly 2 weeks ago by some 10.000 Cubans seeking asylum was stark evidence of the oppressive conditions under which Cubans are living. The number of those Cubans who expressed a desire to come to the United States is proof that our country remains a strong symbol of freedom and safe haven. Since we first consulted with the ranking members of this committee on April 11. the Cuban situation has obviously changed dramatically.