The short joint communique issued at the end of his trip suggests that the time is ripe for the resolution of the latter issue this bill addresses. The process of determining which children of U.S. soldiers wish to come to the United States has been preliminarily agreed to by both countries. as well as the conditions for their departure. Accord between the United States and Vietnam has been reached on several issues: First. the issue must be resolved bilaterally. second. the Amerasians must be given nonrefugee status. third. the Amerasians must be eligible for the benefits normally afforded to refugees. fourth. the Vietnamese must allow Americans to conduct preliminary facetoface interviews. fifth. family unity must be preserved. and sixth. the issue must be resolved quickly. According to the Department of State. temporary statutory authority for the final resolution of this problem should now be enacted by Congress. The legislation Senator McCAIN and I introduce today provide the necessary legal authority for the program to go forward. In sum. our legislation calls for a waiver of numerical limitation of immigrant admissions under the Immigration and Nationality Act and waives other grounds for exclusion for Vietnamese Amerasians for 2 years. It allows immigrant status as required by the Vietnamese. but authorizes all of the language training and assimilation assistance provided refugees under chapter 2 of title IV of the Immigration and Nationality Act. It requires facetoface interviews in Vietnam. It defines Amerasians in the Vietnamese context.
Keywords matched
immigrant Immigration refugees