Mr. Speaker. the Soviet Union has informed the United States that it intends to move forward on resolving 36 separated family cases involving some 117 individuals. This is the largest Soviet response to nearly 30 years of pressure by the United States to end what may well be the cruelest of obstacles to free emigration thrown up by the Soviets: the deliberate enforced separation of American citizens from their Soviet spouses. The decision by the Soviets to finally permit the emigration of these separated spouses is welcome news. When I last traveled to the Soviet Union on Interior Committee business. our congressional delegation raised the issue of separated spouses with Soviet officials. I got the impression that the Soviets were in fact willing to move to resolve these cases. and I am glad that they have now done so. Sadly. however welcome this news may be. the reality is that life is still very difficult for the tens of thousands of individuals who still seek permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union to the United States. Israel. or anywhere else in the Western World. Indeed. Jewish emigration in particular has slowed to a trickle over the past few years. One can only hope that the latest Soviet action is an indication of better things to come for all those who seek to leave that country. In the meantime. we must continue efforts to mobilize public opinion in this country and around the world to exert moral and political pressure until the Soviets adopt more humane policies.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration