Speech #1010044720

Recognizing. however. that tefugee conditions are by nature fluid. H.R. 2022 would sunset the required use of such presumptions on October 1.1990. H.R. 2022 also directs the Attorney General to establish procedures for Indochinese refugeesdefined for purposes of H.R. 2022 as refugees from Vietnam. Laos. or Cambodiaof the type established by H.R. 2022 for Soviet Jews and Evangelical Christians. The bill does not specify particular categories of Indochinese individuals who are to be deemed subject to persecution. but I would note that since 1983 the executive branch has recognized 24 such categories of individuals. including. for example. Vietnamese Catholics and Laotian Hmong. We would expect the administration to review that list to make any necessary additions. subtractions. or modifications. Section 2 of H.R. 2022 requires the Attorney General io adjust to refugee status an alien who was a national of the Soviet Union. Vietnam. Laos. or Cambodia is such alienfirst. wasor isdenied refugee status by the United States between August 15. 1988. and September 30. 1989. second. wasor isparoled into the United States. third. is not excludable under the provision of law that deals generally with the grounds of exclusion for refugees. and fourth. applies for such adjustment at any time. The power to "parole" aliens into the United States is granted to the Attorney General by section 212(D)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. At the time of its enactment. Congress intended that the parole authority would be used for the temporary admission of individual aliens. The practice of using the parole provision for the permanent admission of groups of aliens originated with the Hungarian refugee crisis. By 1958. 32.000 Hungarians had been paroled into the United States. In the case of an alien whom the Attorney General has paroled into the United States not for any short term. time limited reason. but instead under circumstances that suggest. explicitly or implicitly. that the parole will remain in effect indefinitely. parole status is an unacceptable alternative to a more permanent and defined immigration status. Perhaps the most troubling aspect for such individuals is that parole may be revoked for any or no reason. at any time. This continual uncertainty as to ones right to remain in the United States impacts on the individuals ability to plan his life. Decisions as to whether to marry. raise children. purchase a home. or start a business cannot be made simply on the merits. since the specter of forced uprooting is always on the horizon. Moreover. a parolee. no matter how long here. is legally incapable of petitioning for the admission of a family member under our immigration laws. since that right is available only to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Recognizing the inequity of permitting individuals to remain in the United States in a status of perpetual parole. Congress has time and again enacted special legislation to allow parolees to regularize their immigration status. Most recently. Congress enacted. as part of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. a provision to allow Cuban/Haitian entrants to become lawful permanent resident aliensPublic Law 99603. section 202. Similar legislation was enacted in 1977 for the benefit of Indochinese paroleesPublic Law 95145. section 101and in 1966 for the benefit of Cuban paroleesPublic Law 89732. as amended. It is also noteworthy that the present administration has submitted to Congress legislationintroduced as H.R. 2646to regularize the status of the same Soviet and Indochinese parolees who would be adjusted under the provisions of H.R. 2022.