Speech #960300386

Anyone who has visited the various camps and watched the Cubans being processed or watched them arrive in Key West in their small boats. as I have. can not help but be aware of the human side of this problem. Also. as a Nation we have always prided ourselves on opening our doors to receive those who have been victims of political persecution and who require sanctuary. However. it now appears as if this administration is departing from the long held policy of limiting refugee admissions primarily to former political prisoners and their families. and to cases involving family reunification. Now. the doors appear to be opening to admit economic refugees on the same basis as political refugees. I simply must question the ability of this country. or any country. to continue to accept an ever increasing number of refugees from nearly every corner of the Earth. As a specific example of this. the current Cuban migration figure is slightly over 120.000. however. the total figure of those who have fled the Castro regime to resettle in the United States is rapidly approaching 1 million. In this connection. it must be kept in mind that for many years this country had a very orderly immigration policy which permitted a specified number of immigrants to enter each year. This policy worked very well for the country and allowed us to control those entering to a number which could best be assimilated into our society. In recent years that orderly process has been changing rapidly. Now. in addition to the 270.000 immigrants who are allowed to come to this country under our normal immigration laws. the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1980 tripled the number of refugees permitted to enter annually to a figure of 50.000. I might add that the approximately 120.000 Cubans who have entered this year did not come in under the vastly increased quota but rather by a unilateral action of President Carter. In my opinion. it is time to take a long. hard look at our admissions policy with a view of determininq just how far this country can go in helping the unfortunates of every nation on Earth without seriously interfering with the rights and welfare of our own citizens.