President. I rise in strong support of Senate Concurrent Resolution 8. of which I am a cosponsor. This resolution expresses concern over the new Soviet emigration regulations. billed by the Soviet Union as the beginning of a speeding up of emigration delays. It was hoped by many that they also signaled a loosening of emigration. But these regulations do not permit emigration for religious. national. or political reasons. They codify the previous pretexts for denying emigration permits even in cases involving the reunification of immediate families. And they substantially limit the number of individuals even eligible for emigration. Unfortunately. the tightening of emigration indicated by the wording of these regulations is borne out by the low emigration numbers since the regulations were adopted on January 1. According to the National Conference on Soviet Union Jewry. little over 20 Soviet Jews have been permitted to emigrate this month. Moreover. although I welcome the freeing of some of the divided spouses and cancer patients on whose behalf I have worked. many still await freedom. Yuli Edelshtein. one of my adopted refuseniks. continues to be persecuted for his crime. wanting to live as a Jew. So do the Khassins. who seek only to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Therefore. this resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that we will rededicate ourselves as a priority in the 100th Congress to support the restoration of human rights to all Soviet citizens. especially the Soviet Jews and others who seek to emigrate. We will not rest until all those who week to drink from the well of freedom are free to do so. I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration