Indonesia. Singapore. and the Philippines. But it is in Thailand where the refugee crisis is most acute. Thailand has. in recent years. come to doubt the commitment of third countries to resettlement programs. The United States. in particular. shares part of the responsibility due to cumbersome bureaucratic procedures. questionable adjudication in some cases. and a failure to address the issue of the longstayersthose who have been in the camps for years rather than months. The doubts about resettlement have led the Thais to worry that they will be left with thousands of refugees that have no third country options nor little prospect to return to their homes. The Thais. regrettably. have begun to act unilaterally. They have moved to close the Khao I Dang refugee camp and have theatened to close more camps. There are disturbing reports of forced repatriationof refugees being forced back across the border they risked so much to cross in the first place. I have expressed my concerns about the Thai action on several occasions. But we need to do more. The Senate needs to let the Government of Thailand know that our commitment to a resolution of the refugee crisis in Southeast Asia. As long as Thailand knows that the United States remains dedicated to admitting refugees from Southeast Asia. they will not conclude they need to take unilateral actions that compound the human misery of the camps. Some will no doubt argue that this amendment is unnecessary. that we should not tamper with the Refugee Act of 1980. that the plight of Southeast Asians is an economic not a refugee problem. But these arguments are wrong. This amendment is necessary because there are persistent rumors that the Reagan administration plans to phase out the Southeast Asian refugee program. Last fall many of my constituents. a large number of them refugees from Indochina. came to Washington to express their concerns on this issue. I can assure my colleagues that their personal experiences made it clear to me that there still is a refugee problem in Southeast Asia. It is surprising to this Senator that given what we know of the Communist Vietnamese. there can be doubt that human beings in countries under their control are in fear for their lives because of race. religion. or political beliefs. This amendment will go a long way toward letting the world know the United States will not lessen its commitment to resettling Indochinese refugees. It has been changed from binding legislative language to expressing the sense of the Senate at this point. The message will be sent and we have the option of using binding language later if the need arises. This amendment expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States should accept at least 36.500 refugees from Indochina for each of the next 3 years. It also targets specific groups within the overall ceiling: 1.500 Amerasians and 9.000 longterm camp residents per year. It urges the Attorney General to exercise his authority to parole a minimum number of Indochinese for humanitarian reasons. The amendment also authorizes funds designed to aid refugees directly and indirectly. The amendment fences $5 million for education programs and projects to be carried out by nongovernmental organizations near the Thai borders with Cambodia and Laos. The same amount is reserved in our economic support for Thailand to aid villages affected by the camps. Finally. $1 million is reserved for special training for the Thai military to protect the camps from crossborder raids. It should be pointed out that in each case. these funds come from amounts authorized. this amendment does not authorize more spending. The amendment is not perfect and it will not solve the problems of the refugee crisis in Indochina. But it is a tremendous step in the right direction. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and commend my colleague from Oregon for his work on this issue.
Keywords matched
Refugee refugee refugees