Speech #1000107002

They do not want to see those numbers go down in that part of the world. They want to keep those numbers up even if those people do not qualify. and the troublesome part about that is very simple. that the resettlement program then creates a real draw. We go ahead with third country resettlement to the United States of America. and that is a draw which increases that flight. so if there is a flight of refugees and you bet it is a steady flight. and every time we have become more generous in that areaand I tell you there is nothing that will outmatch the communications system among human beings in that part of the world. Ma Bell could tear down the wires. for I tell you they all know very well what is up. They then say they are relaxing in the United States and here we go. And that draw contributes to that flight. and this bill will lead to an ever greater draw and an extraordinary draw it will be. Then it surely disturbs me. and I know that this really needs to be said in complete context. and I will not even put anything else on it. but it says in the findings "that the United States" bears a share of the responsibility for the deterioration in the refugee first asylum situation in Southeast Asia because of unnecessarily slow and complex resettlement procedures. I know that is frustrating because the people do not fit the definition. But that statement is not fair or right. No other country in the whole world has come close to the resettlement record of the United States. taking 50 to 60 percent of the entire current flow. 800.000 total since 1975. and as our allies drop away we are going to be the only ones doing it. Another one is stated here in this remarkable piece of legislation that says the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees shares responsibility for the "hardening of attitudes" in first asylum countries. that is just not so. The UNHCR has even recently made new initiatives to pursue repatriation. and that is always the first option. Do not forget that is what that is. So that is not so. Then it goes on to say the United States must "renew its commitment to an ongoing generous refugee resettlement." How extraordinary that is. We have allocated 38.000 refugee numbers this year alone. I signed the letter the other day. along with Senators T=D KENNEDY. STROM THURMOND and JOE BIDEN. and we unanimously sent up the recommendation. I objected to the amount of the numbers but everything else was beautifully said. I commend that letter to those who wish to pursue this issue. and I know you probably do not because it is that kind of an Issue. but we have allocated 38.000 refugee numbers and we have also this program in Vietnam called the orderly departure program or ODP. We have orderly departure numbers for Southeast Asia in the next fiscal year and they are within that figure. No one is being left out unless you are doing things with the system that were never intended to be done and that out of frustration and irritation and a bureaucracy wanting to just tilt things in one area of the world alone. and that is absurd.