Speech #1000107006

Mr. President. let us go back to the case made by the Senator from Wyoming. I want to first of all say that there is no one in this Senate who would prefer more than I to see the possibility of repatriation which he very accurately stated to be one of the propositions that we must consider in resolving refugee problems. I would like to see all of the refugees be able to return to their homelands in safety. with some confidence that they could pursue their lives in their own native land. whether it be Cambodia. Laos. or Vietnam. But to say that all of those who have crossed the border into Thailand and other countries. are nothing but economic refugees is without foundation. It might be called inaccurate. If the Senator will go back into the records. he would find that many of those who have been rejected have been rejected on the basis that they cannot meet the stringent documentation requirements. So they are "not qualified" or outright rejected. That in no way affects their status of whether .they are political or economic. It merely says. "You do not qualify under our regulations." To blanket all those under the term economic refugees is simply not fair or accurate. The Senator also quotes the Rey Commission. Let me quote the Rey Commission. They have two specific proposals in the Rey Commission report to expand the refugee processing. First. they proposed the U.S. participating immediately in an effort to resolve the "long stayers" population and. second. to reconsider the rejected Cambodians. It is also interesting to note that the President of the United States. President Reagan. invited the Congress to broaden the definition for categories of refugees to handle peculiar characteristics of Cambodian. Lao and Viet refugees. in NSDD 93. But. Mr. President. regardless of the Rey Commissions recommendations to expand the qualifications for refugees. despite the President of the United States urging the Congress to review those qualifications. this amendment does not amend the Refugee Act. I ask the Senator from Wyoming to show me where a senseoftheSenate resolution amends an act. We are not asking for any change in definitions. We are not asking for any change in the regulations. In this senseoftheSenate amendment we are merely saying. "let us make a 3year commitment." The Senator says. "Well. we have already done that in the Judiciary Subcommittee. and approved a very generous figure." Let me read from the letter. He quotes the 29.500 proposed for the regional ceiling on "first asylum refugees." But then in the middle of that paragraph he cuts it in half. Let me read the whole paragraph. 1. While our commitment to work in partnership with Southeast Asian governments continues. we are nonetheless at a critical juncture in our programs in the region. we therefore request that only half of the 29.500 numbers proposed for the regional ceiling on "first asylum refugees" in Southeast Asiathat is. 14.750shall be allocated before further midyear consultations with the Committee. We make this stipulation for the following reasons: Then they give the reasons for asking for that. proposing that firstasylum numbers be shifted to ODP. Mr.