Since that time. he has been living in Moscow. I use the Magarik family as an example because the Hawaii Action Committee for Soviet Jews. sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Hawaii. has randomly targeted them for attention. and because the Governor of Hawaii. the Honorable John Waihee. himself. as honorary chairman of the committee. wears a refusenik bracelet with the name of Alexey Magarik engraved on it. But the Magariks are typical of thousands of other Jewish families and individuals who. for whatever reason. seek to leave the country of their birth but cannot do so because of a repressive emigration policy. a policy not in keeping with commonly accepted standards of human rights. Mr. President. we need to redouble our efforts to pressure the Soviets to increase their Jewish emigration quotas. We should make it absolutely clear to General Secretary Gorbachev that one of the measures by which the U.S. judges the sincerity of his commitment to improved superpower relations is progress on the Jewish emigration question. We ourselves are a nation of immigrants. many of whom were motivated to leave their native lands for the same reasons which impel Soviet Jews. at great risk of persecution. to seek a life outside the Soviet Union. Therefore. it is incumbent upon us to lead the way in extending that basic right of all human beings. the right of free movement. to all who seek to exercise that right. We must continue to serve as a beacon of hope for the thousands upon thousands of Soviet refuseniks who search for a better life. or risk losing that right ourselves someday.
Keywords matched
emigration immigrants