Speaker. as the President is preparing for his historic summit with General Secretary Gorbachev. I would like to take the opportunity to urge him to place the issue of Soviet Jewry high on his priority list for discussion and for action. The recent flurry of refusenik releases is wonderful. however. we cannot be complacent and believe that this activity signals a true change in Soviet emigration policy. Over the past 9 months. an increased number of Soviet Jews have received permission to emigrate. U.S. officials predict that a total of 8.000 Soviet Jews will receive visas in 1987. This number. while greater than in any year since 1981. falls well below the 1979 high of over 51.000 Jews allowed to emigrate and does not reflect any real improvement in the underlying problem of Soviet emigration policy. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews still wait to leave the Soviet Union. A great deal of attention has been focused on Mr. Gorbachevs "glasnost." Glasnost has involved some easing of media censorship and encouragement of public debate on some social and economic policies. It has not had a -great deal of impact on emigration. Large numbers of longtime refuseniks are routinely being denied visas and now new applications are being accepted from firsttime emigrants. I rejoice for those individuals and families who have been given permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union. At the same time. I add my voice to the others proclaiming that while we rejoice. we shall not forget the thousands and thousands of people who are still not permitted to leave the Soviet Union.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visas emigrants