Mr. Speaker. although tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union continue to mount in the midst of the Nicholas Daniloff affair. inspiring and optimistic news came from the Soviet Union this past week. After waiting 8 years to gain permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Boris and Irene Ghinis and their children learned Wednesday. September 24. that they had been granted visas to leave the Soviet Union and be reunited with their family. The Ghinises are currently in Vienna. Austria. and will soon be coming to the United States to live. Since 1978. Mr. and Mrs. Ghinis had applied to emigrate from the Soviet Union on seven occasions. However. each time they were denied because Soviet officials alleged that Mr. Ghinis. a former employee at the Research Institute of the Ministry of the Radio Industry. possessed state secrets. After their first attempt to emigrate. Mr. Ghinis was fired from his job and since then had to support his family by working odd jobs. The Ghinises release is a just and long overdue reward for their undying spirit and dedication to human rights. In the eyes of the Soviet Government. the members of the Ghinis family were seen as outlaws. not because they had committed a serious crime against the state. but because they wished to practice their religion openly. and exercise their right to emigrate. Despite facing economic and personal hardship over the past 8 years. the Ghinises never lost their will to live nor their will to be free. However. in our joy over the release of the Ghinis family. we must not turn our backs to the thousands of Jewish prisoners of conscience who remain detained in the Soviet Union. the victims of antiSemitic persecution.
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emigrate visas