This House must be part of the Helsinki vigil. We must work to insure that the commitments made in the Helsinki accords are honored. In recent weeks. we have heard encouraging reports that the Soviet Union is permitting increased numbers of its Jewish citizens to emigrate. When it signed the Helsinki accords. it promised all of its citizens the right to emigrate. The record on that promise has not been a good one. Last year. our former colleague. Andy Maguire brought to my attention the case of Boris Dekhovich. a young Russian Jew living in Vinnitsa. Ukrainian S.S.R. who has been denied permission to join his parents in Israel. Prior to their departure in August 1975. the parents and sister of Boris Dekhovich were subjected to repeated harassment because of their desire to emigrate and because of their religious beliefs. Last year 60 Members of the House joined me in a letter to Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in an appeal on behalf of Boris Dekhovich. My efforts to deliver the letter through the Soviet Embassy here in Washington and through the U.S.
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emigrate