President. I am a cosponsor of S. 814 authored by my colleague Senator HATFILn of Oregon and I wish to add my support to its addition to the State Department authorization bill. The Southeast Asian Refugee Resettlement Program has been a good one having settled over 1 million refugees worldwide. We have already accepted 800.000 refugees in the United States and that has been the right thing to do. Through this program. we have enabled these refugees to start a new life. Clearly. refugee resettlement is a worldwide problem with which all nations should be concerned. But just as clearly our country has a special responsibility to that region because the continuing dislocation in the area is in large part due to the lingering disruptions of the Vietnam war. As we get farther and farther away from the years of involvement in the war. there are fewer and fewer of what can be accurately called refugees. But we cannot end our participation in this program right now. This amendment will lead us to the end of U.S. participation but in an orderly fashion that provides justice and fairness to those currently in refugee camps. This amendment provides a clear U.S. commitment to continue the program over the next 3 years. It addresses the problem of the longstayer population by increasing admissions numbers for certain categories.
Keywords matched
Refugee refugee refugees