Speech #990050351

Chairman. this particular amendment is going to obviously be debated at some length today. I think we need to have some full background understanding that targeted assistance. as the distinguished chairman of my subcommittee just explained. is something that is not just limited to one or two States. In fact. 46 counties in 20 States in the last 2 years have received targeted assistance for a variety of refugees. ranging from the Cuban refugees to the Vietnamese refugees and various other refugees who come here still legitimately by the thousands. It does not concern in any way. shape. or form the debate over illegal aliens. as my good friend and colleague. the gentleman from Florida [Mr. SHAWl. earlier pointed out. We are talking about the question of the impact on State and local communities. particularly the counties. the county governments. and the functioning of their systems. by the legitimate refugees that we take in under international accord and agreement every year. and in the case of the Cuban Marielito situation and in some other instances of a lesser number in nature. those who are categorized and covered by the targeted assistance and who came here against our will and wishes in very large numbers. I think. in order to appreciate this program and the $50 million a year that was targeted. we need to understand a couple of things about it. First of all. it Is not. as the gentleman from Wisconsin indicated in his speech on advocating this amendment. cash assistance to keep these people on the welfare rolls. That is something that I am very concerned about. and I know the chairman of the subcommittee is also. It is not that kind of money we are talking about. This is money to reimburse the State and local governments for the cost of schools and health care and criminal justice and things like this where there is a major impact by the large concentrated numbers which occur when we have either people coming directly to a community. like Miami and Dade County had happen with the Mariel Cubans. with 150.000 at one time. or when we have the socalled secondary migration situation where the Vietnam refugees. while they were planted in certain locations in the country. tended to migrate back to certain particular towns and communitiesthe Hmong in certain places in the country. the Vietnamese In others. and so on. When that happens. the normal allocations to States under the provisions of this act otherwise and other resources that are available from the Federal Government are not sufficient. and when this happens. the impact goes on a lot longer than otherwise would occur. Those refugees cannot be as easily absorbed and assimilated when you have them there in the large numbers in the communities where they are as would occur in localities where you only get a handful of refugees in an entire year. That is an entirely different story. Let us take the story in my State of Florida for a moment. In 1960 there were only 20.000 Cubanborn refugees of any type living in Dade County. This past year there were more than 525.000. 150.000 of which came over in the famous Mariel boatlift. The problem is that we have not received the kind of support. even with the targeted assistance in the past. that has been sufficient to offset the tremendous cost to the counties and the local governments as was intended. The State of Florida estimates that conservatively by 1982and we do not even have the 1983 figures in herethere were unreimbursed more than $150 million in State and local government expenses. primarily in the areas of schools. health. and criminal Justice. due directly to the Cuban Marielito situation and due to the other refugees who came there. The fact is that. for whatever reasons of the administration and the bureaucracyand I am the first to support a lot of what this administration doesfor whatever reason. we have not gotten the moneys on time or even during the same fiscal year when they were allocated under targeted assistance to our State. That dispute is ongoing right now.