Speech #1010027236

Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of H.R. 2072. the dire emergency supplemental appropriations bill. and with particular gratitude and appreciation for the decision of the chairman and members of the Appropriations Committee to include $100 million for migration and refugee assistance. In 1986. 900 Jews left the Soviet Union. For 1989 we expect the figure to be over 35.000. An unprecedented coalition which encompasses Congress. the executive branch and democratic governments around the world have made basic human rights for Soviet Jews. including the right tc emigrate. a key plank of the EastWest dialog. From arms control to trade. we have linked foreign policy decisions to these fundamental reforms. Under glasnost we are witnessing what appears to be a historic reversal in the Soviet attitude toward emigration. Ironically. now it is our own country that is responsible for the continued suffering of newly released Soviet refugees. Last year. the State Department vastly underestimated the number of refugee slots we would require in this fiscal year. All of this years allocation has now been used up and in consequence the Immigration and Naturalization Service resorted to a capricious and arbitary selection processwhich last month saw a denial rate of almost 40 percent. We also have to note that as more refugees pour into Italy. the backlog grows and the misery increases. In human terms. families are being torn apart as parents but not children. sisters but not brothers are granted refugee status in the United States. Mr. Chairman. this bill begins the process of solving the current crisis. $85 million in this supplemental will channel resources to the private relief agencies now providing food and shelter to East bloc refugees in Europe. $75 million of that amount has been earmarked specifically for Soviet refugees. In addition. these funds together with others already appropriated for fiscal 1990. will provide an additional 24.500 refugee slots. Also provided are funds to cover transportation costs to this country as these refugees begin the process of rebuilding their lives. But it is onlya beginning. Congress also needs to accept its responsibility in providing Federal funding for domestic resettlement of these refugees as envisaged under the Refugee Act. The act was specifically intended to hold the States and local governments harmless for the foreign policy decisions of the Federal Government. Without this provision we are inviting States and cities to hang out a shingle-"refugees not welcome here." This would be the devastating consequence of failing to provide domestic resettlement funds that would mark a dramatic departure from our own tradition of acceptance for refugees and asylees and a failure of our own foreign policy. One of the key tenets of Democracy is the right to live and move freely anywhere within a countrys borders. We could never tolerate or allow a situation that denied that right to any individual or family residing in the United States. Mr. Chairman. we have to ensure that once these refugees reach our shores we provide them with the language training and job skills they require to become fully contributing citizens and that we do so at the Federal level. There are basic rights at stake here and it is the job of Congress to ensure that they are upheld. I therefore hope that the Senate will see fit to include funding for domestic resettlement of these refugees. the importance of which is recognized in the report accompanying this legislation. To conclude. Mr.