Speech #960300388

I salute my colleague from Wisconsin for bringing this critical subject again to the attention of the Members of the House and of the American public. Mr. Speaker. the main objective of the Refugee Act was to create a flexible and systematic procedure for the admission of refugees into the United States. Title II of the Refugee Act sets forth such a procedure. It eliminated the former seventh preference "conditional entry" provision of the Immigration and Nationality Acts immigrant visa preference system. replacing it with new provisions for the regular admission of refugees. as well as for their admission in emergency situations. Through fiscal year 1982. a "normal flow" of up to 50.000 refugees may enter the United States annually. A number in excess may be admitted if. after consultation with the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. the President determines that the excess is warranted by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest. Beginning in fiscal year 1983. no normal flow number is designated. and the President establishes the appropriate total number after consultation with Congress. The President also decides the allocation of refugee admissions among refugee groups annually. after consultation with Congress. The Carter administration on April 15 announced that Cuban admissions for fiscal year 1980 would total 19.500. Now the President may determine. after appropriate consultation with Congress. that an emergency refugee situation exists and admissions of refugees beyond those initially established for a given fiscal year are justified by "grave humanitarian concerns." He may fix a number of additional refugee admissions that may be allocated during the succeeding 12month period or less among refugees of "special humanitarian concern." President Carter used this emergency provision to allow the admission of 3.500 Cubans into the United States who were among the 10.000 who sought refuge in the Peruvian Embassy in Havana. Since this was before the 1980 totals were submitted to Congress. this number is included in the 19.500 admissions that will be made available for Cubans this year. The procedure under which the President consults with Congress concerning refugee admissions is specifically prescribed by the Refugee Act. It includes discussions in person by Cabinetlevel representatives of the President with members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. The Presidents representatives provide the committees with certain specific information. to be supplied at least 2 weeks in advance of the discussions.