Mr. President. while military repression in Poland continues to thwart the aspirations of the Polish people. and indeed imperils the peace between East and West. refugees from that Sovietsponsored tyranny continue to stream across the border into Western Europe. Accord. ing to Sundays New York Times. more than 50.000 Poles are currently housed in Austria. many in makeshift camps and army barracks. While the Austrian Government has welcomed this most recent exodus of men and women from Eastern Europe with its now customary warmth and efficiency. Austria Is simply unable to accept permanently all of the Polish refugees. And while some of these Poles would surely like to return to their native land. others desire to begin a new life for themselves and their children in the West. I believe they should be permitted to do so. And I am concerned that the United States has not yet taken adequate steps to provide that opportunity. I am. therefore. Introducing legislation today that would allow thousands of additional Polish refugees to be admitted to the United States as refugees. Congressman BxAOG of New York is introducing identical legislation today in the House. In the last 6 weeks alone. more than 1.000 of the Poles in Austria have sought asylum in the United States. Should General Jaruzelski fulfill his promise to relax Polands passport laws. a veritable flood of refugees could well result. Under current law. however. only 9.000 refugees can be admitted to the United States from all of Eastern Europeand Just 5.000 are expected to be admitted from Poland. This is surely not enough. The legislation I am introducing today. the Polish Refugee Act of 1982. would provide special authority for the Immigration and Naturalization Service to admit an unlimited number of these individuals fleeing Poland. A crisis is at hand. Shall the United States be prepared to provide refuge to those gallant men and women who have strived so mightily for 17 months to democratize Polandand who in consequence must now seek exile during Polands dark days?
Keywords matched
Naturalization Immigration Refugee refugees