Speech #1000107024

I rise today in strong support of the Hatfield amendment. As I do. I want to compliment my constituents for their good judgment in picking a refugee to represent them in the U.S. Senate. Each time this body addresses itself to the problem of refugees. I hope that Runy BoscHwiTz will take just a few minutes to come and remind us of the value that refugees have meant to this country and will mean in the future. It is just a deep honor and a privilege for me to serve with him. I thinkand I am sure the Senator from Wyoming and everyone else would agree with thisthat his example to all of us in this Chamber in times like this is a particularly rewarding one for each of us who call ourselves Americans. His only drawback. as we all know. is. because of the place of his birth and because of the current state of the Constitution of this country. he is unable to rise to what some would consider higher office in this country. Madam President. this amendment is a modification of S. 814. the Indochinese Refugee Resettlement and Protection Act of 1987. I cosponsored S. 814 last March and am pleased to see it introduced in amendment form today. This action is necessary because the refugee problem in Southeast Asia persists. more than a decade after the United States left Vietnam. Since that time. our Nation has placed a high priority on resettling refugees from Indochina. Instability. repression. and tyranny have not abated since U.S. forces left Saigon in 1975conditions have worsened. The North Vietnamese are well on their way to fulfilling historical ambitions of hegemony in the region. The murderous Pol Pot regime in Cambodia has been replaced by a brutal Vietnamese occupation. And the stream of refugees continues. It is the countries that are unfortunate enough to have to coexist with the Vietnamese imperialists that have borne the brunt of the refugee burden. The countries of first asylumwhere refugees stop immediately after flight from their homeshave experienced a huge drain on their resources and. in some cases. military attack due to their willingness to allow refugees asylum. Since 1975. the countries most affected are Thailand. Hong Kong.