They are simple and clearcut: Racial purity. and the names and addresses of three Jews. The fear among the Jewish community is growing more palpable every day. It is preposterous to presume that Soviet Jews are no longer being or that they do n ut meet the refugee requirement easily. Unfortunately. such persecution has become a historical fact in the Soviet Union. In this country we have laws governing immigration. and laws governing refugees. They are different for a reason. Refugee ceilings are adjusted every year. sometimes more. because of current events. Some opponents of this bill contend that H.R. 2022 would set a bad precedent. I charge that from a foreign policy stance. from a human rights stance. and from a purely humane stance. it would be dangerous precedent not to respond to current world events and would be grievous not to take credit for a significant U.S. human rights victory. Our ad hoc House Task Force on Soviet Refugees. on which I am pleased to serve as chairman has been assured by former Secretary of State George Shultz. as well as other highly placed present State Department officials. that Soviet Jews should be presented. en bloc. to be refugees. Discussion has centered on the splitting of hairs. such as. "well. you were discriminated against but not persecuted. so you dont qualify as a refugee." Soviet Jews must be considered refugees. period. Yet. the rejection rate in Rome by U.S. immigration office in past months has not reflected that attitude. In March of this year. 36.5 percent of Soviet Jews applying for refugee status in Rome were denied. In April that dropped to 27.9 percent in May the denial rate was 19.5 percent. On June 8. 1989. our task force held a meeting with State Department officers in which we were advised that the rejection rate would go down to 10 percent.
Keywords matched
Refugees Refugee immigration refugees refugee