Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 7859. a bill to provide educational assistance to refugeeimpacted areas. The legislation authorizes a new program of grants to State and local educational agencies to meet the educational needs of Cuban and Haitian refugee children. Additional assistance is also provided to areas where there are large concentrations of Indochinese refugees. and funds for adult education programs for Cubans and Haitians. In the last 5 months. almost 117.000 Cubans and between 15.000 and 35.000 Haitians have entered this country. The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that between April 30. 1979 and April 30. 1980. the number of Indochinese refugees in this country increased 76 percent. from 196.848 to 346.859. Although the numbers of refugee children and adults have increased dramatically in the last 12 months. the Federal Government has not provided sufficient assistance to local and State governments which are charged with delivering many vital services. Providing an appropriate education for these children and their families will be both costly and difficult. Local school budgets are already severely strained. and the Federal compensation minimal.
Keywords matched
Immigration Naturalization refugees refugee refugeeimpacted