Mr. Speaker. today I am pleased to join my colleagues in the House as a participant in the 1984 Congressional Call to Conscience Vigil for Soviet Jews. I wish to express my support of the hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews seeking their right to emigrate. to practice their religion freely. and to study their history and culture. As we all know. the plight of Soviet Jews has worsened dramatically over the past decade. The figures tell the story. in 1983 1.314 Jews were allowed to emigrate compared to the 51.320 allowed to leave in 1979. Last year represented the lowest annual emigration total in 20 years. arid the total number of Soviet Jews allowed to emigrate to the West has dropped 98 percent since 1979. Yet the number of visa applications have greatly increased as has the alarming rate of visa denials. For those who remain. religious persecution has become a fact of life. Those Soviet Jews with the courage to speak out on behalf of their people are silenced.
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emigrate emigration visa