Speech #960317651

Mr. President. on July 23. 1980. when this legislation was considered on the House floor. it was clear that the purpose of the language of the amendment offered by Congressman McDADE of Pennsylvania. was to force the administration to act on the Cuban refugee situation pursuant to the Refugee Act of 1980. What was at stake. and still is. is this Nations commitment to follow the law. Mr. President. on Friday of last week. the administration officials responsible for the Governments refugee program appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was clear from their presentation that the decision by the administration to not follow the terms of the Refugee Act of 1980 has caused more problems than have been solved. First. no firm decision has been made to separate economic refugees from political refugees. The only efforts that have been made. as I understand it. is to reunify family members and detain other individuals who fall into categories of criminals. mental cases and the like. The Attorney General has the authority to decide which refugees are here because of fear of political persecution and deny others continued presence in this country. Second. Mr. President. the failure of the Carter administration to follow the terms of the Refugee Act of 1980 has also caused a reduction of Federal reimbursement to State and local authorities which have had to bear the bulk of the responsibility for these refugees. This problem should not have been put on the backs of State and local officials. It should have been recognized as an international problem and brought to the attention of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The failure of this administration to pursue that course of action now makes it doubly hard to obtain assistance from other nations. Mr. President. the sole reason we are in this mess is because President Carter announced to the world that we would accept the Cuban refugees from the Peruvian Embassy in Havana "with open arms." I submit that from that point on this administrations refugee policy has been nothing but halfsteps and temporary measures to meet the politics of the times. This has resulted in nothing but confusion for the Cuban community. State and local officials and the American people. Mr. President. the amendment adopted in the House. would simply force the administration to act according to the Refugee Act of 1980. I do not believe the Senate should avoid its responsibility in this matter and permit the administration to avoid acting under the provisions of that law. The sbction is very brief. It says: No funds appropriated under this Act may be used for any action by the Attorney General or by tle Secretary of State which is not in compliance with the provisions of the Refugee Act of 1980. In other words. all we ask them to do is conform to the law. That is all this section does.