Speech #1010044720

There is no Independent judiciary to hear and resolve these issues for individuals seeking redress through the system. The improvements noted above. limited as they are. do not apply to Pentecostalists and other Evangelical Christians. Their churches are still banned. they still face possible jail sentences for exercising their beliefs. most notably that of conscientious objection. but also Evangelical witnessing and holding religious meetings. ["Report To Congress Concerning the Presidents Proposal To Raise the FY 1989 Refugee Admissions Ceiling." P.4] In October 1988. President Reagan. acting under the authority conferred upon him by the Refugee Act of 1980. authorized the admission of up to 18.000 Soviet refugees in fiscal year 1989. By December 1988. however. it became apparent that this number was inadequate to meet the growing need. Accordingly. the President raised the Soviet refugee allocation to 25.000. Despite these efforts. backlogs of refugee applicants at the United States Embassy in Moscow soared from 1.500 a month in fiscal year 1988 to 4.000 a month by early spring. And the numbers applying in Rome were nearly as high. By October 1988. not only Soviet Armenians but also Soviet Jews and Pentecostals began to be rejected for refugee status in previously unheard of numbersnearly 1.000 by January 31. 1989. Currently. approximately 4.000 Soviets. the majority of them Jews. remain in Italy. having been denied refugee status by the United States. A like number are awaiting decisions at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. On April 6. 1989. witnesses from the General Accounting Office informed the subcommittee that their onsite investigation of refugee processing in Rome and Moscow revealed "various inconsistencies in the manner in which individual refugee cases were adjudicated." GAO further stated: We also found a lack of knowledge among the INS officials in Rome and Moscow about Soviet country conditions and the treatment of specific ethnic and religious groups in the Soviet Union. We noted differing interview approaches which affected the quality and type of available information upon which to base adjudication. and we think the tremendous volume of refugee applications is a contributing factor since it puts an enormous amount of pressure on the time allotted for processing these cases. By April 1989. the number of Soviet Jews denied refugee status by the United States had reached 1.470. with an unprecedented disapproval rate of 37 percent having been reached in March. Since the vast majority of these rejected applicants had been processed in Rome. the Italian Government was compelled to arrange for their care and maintenance. The refugee camp in Ladispo. Italy. now houses over 12.000 Soviet refugee applicants. many of whom have been there several months. With the liberalization of Soviet emigration policy. the United States will accept up to 43.500 this fiscal year. the majority of them Jews. To meet the challenges of these unprecedented numbers. U.S. refugee processing must be efficient. consistent. and predictable. Therefore. the present processwhich In effect requires a separate determination in each case. by each INS adjudication. as to the conditions of life for Jews and Evangelical Christians in the Soviet Unionserves no purpose other than to promote delay and confusion and waste scarce human and fiscal resources. I believe that the solution to this problem is to reestablish. legislatively. a presumption that Soviet Jews and Evangelical Christians are subject to persecution.