Speech #960261027

Mr. President. last Friday the administration announced that it would soon be requesting legislation to grant permanent resident status to the 114.000 Cubans and 15.000 Haitians who have inundated Florida over the past few months. I am very concerned about this decision because it suggests that the United States does not intend to pursue serious efforts to resettle these illegal immigrants in other countries. The approach that the administration has taken in this matter is only the latest reminder. if the American people need one. that a new refugee policy is badly neededand soon. Central to such a new policy. in my view. will have to be a recognition that the refugee problem is a world problem and that the United States can no longer be expected to bear the lions share of the burden of solving that problem. In this connection. the United States should insist that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees assume responsibility for resettling all of the worlds refugees. including those from Cuba. on an equitable basis. Just as Thailand agreed to admit Cambodian refugees only on a temporary basis. so also should we make it clear that the Cubans and Haitians now in this country are here temporarily until the vast majority of them are resettled elsewhere. In addition to the 129.000 Cuban and Haitians who have come to our country. over 230.000 other people will be admitted to our country in fiscal year 1980 under the already established refugee program. This is in addition to the 400.000 or so people who are admitted annually under the normal immigration procedures and the 3.5 to 4 million illegal aliens. mostly Mexicans. who have been in this country for some time. President Carter has greeted the latest influx of Cubans with "open arms and an open heart." The United States is a Nation of immigrants. and many of our most productive immigrants and finest citizens were themselves once refugees. There is. however. a limit to our ability to admit and finance the resettlement of refugees. Our refugee and migration assistance program now costs over $500.000.000 a year and constitutes a full quarter of the State Department budget. Total costs borne by the Federal. State. and local governments for refugeesexcluding the recent Cuban exoduswill run an estimated $1.7 billion in fiscal year 1980 and $2.112 billion in fiscal year 1981. The 114.000 Cubans will increase these costs significantly. Mr. President. we must face several hard realities. The refugee crisis is worldwide and can only be resolved in a global context. The United States simply cannot and should not be expected to handle the crisis alone. While some other countries have contributed generously to the care and maintenance of refugees overseas. we have assumed a disproportionate share of permanent resettlements. For example. of the Indochinese refugees to be resettled in 1980. the United States is taking 168.000. The entire rest of the world will take considerably fewer. Although the current Cuban refugee crisis began with the influx of 10.000 people into the Peruvian Embassy in Havana. the United States has ended up with 97 percent of the recent Cuban refugee population. Our Western Hemisphere allies have taken a total of 2.300 or 2 percent. That is unacceptable.