Texas. and California and those counties such as Orange County. Calif.. and Ramsey County. Minn.. that have absorbed very large numbers of refugees. But the fact is that during markup the committee did not feel that it had sufficient and reliable information upon which to devise a program at this time. We thought that a study preliminary to such a program would be much more advisable. because. as the gentleman from Illinois has said. in some cases this program could actually be destructive to the goal of moving people into the mainstream of American society. Let me also say to the gentleman that I join him in expressing some concern about the operations of the refugee program. This is the first term of Congress for me as subcommittee chairman. I would like to direct these comments to the gentleman from Illinois and the gentleman from New York both of whom along with me were consultative members of the Judiciary Committee during the fiscal year 1982 consultative process. I think we had some positive effect in that together we recommended an admissions level more in line with the absorption capabilities of the United States as you know. subsequent to our recommendation the fiscal year 1982 level was reduced. For example. in fiscal year 1981. the authorized number of refugees that could be admitted was 217.000. the actual admissions were about 160.000. In fiscal year 1982. which was the first full year of our work and consultation under the Refugee Act the approved level was 140.000. and it is our judgment now that approximately 100.000 refugees will be cleared this year. Thus. in fiscal year 1981 the number admitted was about 30 percent lower than the number authorized. In fiscal year 1982 we have again reduced by about 30 percent the number of actual admissions.
Keywords matched
Refugee refugee refugees