Speech #960247058

One alternative may be special legislation on this question. For the moment. they are granted a 60day parole with deferred inspection. During that time they must apply for political asylum under the procedures of the Refugee Act. like any alien without proper documentation who wishes to seek refuge here because of a wellfounded fear of persecution in his or her country of origin. As you know. asylum procedures involve a careful casebycase review. and the process can take months under the best of circumstances. The Refugee Act does not authorize assistance to those awaiting final action on asylum claims. except those who applied by November 1. 1979. Clearly these provisions were not written with the kind of situation in mind that we face today. We intend to keep the Congress fully informed on the evolution of this problem. as well as our plans to deal with it. We welcome your thoughts on ways to respond to this situation humanely and expeditiously. Since the Cubans are now arriving directly on our shores without the proper screening required by our laws. we are not proposing to accommodate them in refueee admissions numbers we presented to you last week. They will be treated as political asylum cases. which are not Included in authorized refugee admissions by. the Refugee Act. At the same time. we are preserving the 3.500 refugee admissions numbers we added to the proposed annual flow from Cuba when we invoked emergency group admissions procedures at the beginning of this crisis. We will need some of these numbers for Cubans airlifted to Costa Rica who qualify for the U.S. resettlement program because they meet the refugee definition and are former political prisoners or have close family ties to the United States. We also expect to use some of the numbers allocated for Cubans within Cuba who meet the above criteria. as stated in the consultation document. Finally. the proposed number could be used for others leaving Cuba directly for the United States if we are successful in convincing Castro to begin a more orderly and humane program of official departures. With this current influx of undocumented arrivals fleeing from Cuba. we are experiencing the pressures of being a country of first asyluma burden that we have borne before in our history. Like scores of firstasylum countries around the world today. we will be generous. we will be sensitive to the basic human desires that motivated their flight. no boats will be turned away. and no one will be returned to a country where he or she might face persecution. In addition to Cubans. we anticipate admitting 1.000 other refugees from various parts of Latin America. These include former political prisoners and Central Americans fleeing civil strife in their homelands. We are strongly committed also to expanding admissions of refugees from Africa. The geographical restrictions in the previous legislation severely limited the number of Africans who could qualify for refugee status. Nearly all of those who did qualify came from the Horn of Africa. defined by the prior legislation as a part of the Middle East. The Refugee Act of 1980 eliminates this restriction. making it possible for refugees in any part of Africa to apply for admission. The Immigration and Naturalization Service currently is developing temporary procedures for reviewing applications for Africans. pending the establishment of an INS presence In Africa. We propose 1.500 admissions this fiscal year for African refugees. This level constitutes a threefold increase over the last fiscal year. It is our best estimate of the number who will wish to apply for and will qualify for refugee status during this fiscal year. Our experience in the coming 5 months should provide us with a sound basis for adjusting this number In calculating fiscal year 1981 admission levels. We shall also maintain our longstanding policy of resettling nersons fleeing political and religious persecution in the Middle East. We propose to admit a total of 2.500 refugees from this region. This reflects a growing demand for resettlement among religious and ethnic minorities in the region. such as Christians from Iraq. Internal repression. and now the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan has also created large numbers of Afghan refugees. some of whom are also seeking admission to the United States. Mr. Chairman. we recognize that there remain large regional disparities in the numbers of proposed refugee admissions. Considerations I have noted compel these disparities for the present. As I have indicated. however. we are determined to develop a system which permits refugees in all parts of the world to apply freely for admission to the United States and to have their applications fairly considered. In addition to the refugees we propose to admit into the United States from abroad. the act also authorizes an adjustment to permanent resident status of up to 2.500 persons in the United States granted political asylum at least a year ago. These 2.500 would bring to 234.200 tlhe total number of refugee admissions and adjustments for this year. We also expect to use the authority under part B of the refugee definition to provide In special circumstances for the admission of certain political prisoners and others released directly from their country of origin. specifically those leaving Vietnam. Argentina. and Cuba. as noted in our consultation document. We will also be alert to ways of extending this provision to other political detainees who may be released in the future. The cost to the Federal Government of processing. transporting. and initially resettling these refugees in the United States will be approximately $267 million for fiscal year 1980. We estimate that domestic assistancefunded through the Department of Health. Education. and Welfarewill cost an additional $243 million. A number of other Federal agencies will Incur lesser expenses for providing services to these refugees. It is still too early to tell what the Federal costs will be of assisting Cuban and other asylum applicants. We will keep the Congress Informed on these costs as estimates become available. It is important to note that the private sector. particularly voluntary agencies. contribute generously to refugee resettlement programs. Our ability to work closely with dedicated private organizations and individuals has helped to make resettlement a remarkably effective process. In the coming months.