Speech #970194160

Mr. Speaker. today. along with JACK KEMP and 55 of our colleagues in the House. I am introducing a sense of the Congress resolution concerning Ethiopian refugees. This resolution is also to be introduced in the Senate today by PAUL TSONGAS and NANCY KASSEBAUM. with sponsorship by Senators CRANSTON. MOYNiHAN. LEVIN. and KENNEDY. This resolution addresses the immediate threat to Ethiopians. urging the Secretary of State to revise his Departments policy in order to halt deportation proceedings that could affect up to 15.000 Ethiopians now in the United States. Following the Marxist revolution in Ethiopia and its regimes blatant violence and religious and political persecution. beginning in 1977 extended voluntary departure was granted. allowing Ethiopians here in the United States to remain indefinitely. The return of these individuals would have exposed them to certain persecution for their political and religious beliefs. In August of 1981. without public discussion or comment. the Department of State determined that the turmoil within Ethiopia had stabilized to a considerable degree. and therefore recommended the cancellation by INS of the extended voluntary departure program. Notices for Ethiopians to appear at deportation proceedings were issued. and a great fear rose up across the country by individuals. and their friends and families of an imminent return to a country without individual rights. and where the government has proclaimed retribution against those alleged to have spoken ill of the current government. While Government sponsored killings and disappearances have ebbed from their height during the red terror of 1979. by no stretch of ones imagination should the United States foreceably repatriate individuals to this government. This resolution asks the Secretary to reassess conditions and potential threat to these individuals and revise the Departments recommendation accordingly. It specifically asks that extended voluntary departure be continued for all Ethiopians who have continuously resided in the United States since before January 1. 1980. This distinction reflects current legislative proposals for amnesty included in immigration reform. as well as the change in the Ethiopian Governments procedure for issuing visas to the United States since 1980. the Mengistu government must approve all visas. We therefore recognize that those individuals who have come here with Government sanction should be expected to justify a claim for asylum. One of the reasons we seek continuation of extended voluntary departure pending a permanent solution is that many members of the Americas Ethiopian community have been here since the midseventies. It is difficult for many to prove asylum claims. There are no published hit lists from the Ethiopian Government. and exchange of information between our nations is limited. Consequently. it has often been difficult to document the certain danger such individuals would face if returned.