Speech #1000022245

Mr. President. I rise today to speak out on an issue that should concern all Americans: The Soviet delays and refusal to allow seriously ill Soviet citizens emigrate to the West for medical treatment. We are all aware of Mikhail Gorbachevs glasnost or openness campaign. Last month 470 Soviet Jews were granted permission to emigrate. equal to about half of the entire emigration allowance for 1986. Newspaper accounts suggest that a "mass exodus" of 10.000 or more will soon be permitted by Soviet authorities. I sincerely hope these stories prove to be accurate. I would like nothing more than to see thousands of Soviet refuseniks gain their freedom after so many years of hardship. persecution. and harassment. My concern for the brave Soviet Jews who desire to emigrate has not and will not diminish. Allowing 10.000 refuseniks to leave would be a very concrete sign that Gorbachev is willing to follow his words with deeds. But the issue of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union involves far more than the estimated 10.000 to 11.000 Jews who have applied to emigrate and been refused more than once. Since 1968 there have been a total of 643.765 requests for emigration by Soviet Jews. Only 266.899 requests have been granted. Thus simple math leads me to conclude that over 370.000 Jewish refuseniks remain in the Soviet Union against their will. And due to Soviet policy. applying for permission to emigrate creates dangers for the applicant. Jobs are lost. homes are lost. harassment is a regular occurrence. and lives are ruined. If Soviet emigration policy ever underwent a true change that fully opened Soviet borders. we know that far more than 370.000 people would sieze the opportunity and leave for freedom. Those of us who have long championed the cause of Soviet Jewry recognize that glasnots has. thus far. delivered much more style than substance. There is one particular area that I would like to see Secretary Gorbachev take serious action: Allowing seriously ill refuseniks to emigrate. We do not know how many refuseniks are sick and in need of treatment that is only available outside the confines of the Soviet Union. We do know that Gorbachev has allowed several refuseniks related to cancer cases to emigrate. Unfortunately. in both these cases permission was granted too late to aid the cancer patients. Both Inna Meiman and Michael Shirman died before their disease could be effectively treated. In both cases the delays were due to Soviet roadblocks that unnecessarily prolonged the emigration process. Inna died 21 days after arriving in the United States after she had sought to emigrate for months. Michael died a few days after his sister was allowed to emigrate to give him a bone marrow transplant in Israel. also after longseeking to emigrate. There can be no excuse for letting superpower politics enter the operating room. We in the Congress must do all we can to ensure that the cancer patients we know of are granted permission to leave.