Madam Chairman. I rise in strong support of this legislation. Madam Chairman. as someone who has been deeply concerned about Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union for many years. I strongly support enactment of H.R. 2022. which is a reasoned and compassionate response to illconceived actions by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Tragically. just as the gates appear to be opening for Jews and evangelical Christians in the Soviet Union. the door of America for thousands has been slammed shut by the United States. As a result of INS policy shifts in August 1988. denial rates have soared: A total of 4.919 Soviets were denied refugee status from October 1988 through March 31. 1989. In Rome. the denial rate for March 1989 was almost 36 percent. in Moscow. the denial rate was 85 percent by the end of March. Despite welcome liberalization in the Soviet Union. both Soviet Jews and evangelical Christians continue to suffer. and have a wellfounded fear of persecution. Moreover. in an evaluation of INS processing of Soviet asylum seekers. the General Accounting Office found several inconsistences in the new screening programattributable to lack of knowledge about country conditions by INS officers. differing interview approaches. and the volume of applicantsand noted that 208 out of 415 cases that had been reviewed had been reversed as of March 31. 1989. These unfortunate changes in policy come at a time in which prompt responsesrather than chaos and delayare required to deal with the outflow of Soviet asylum seekers. By the end of April. more than 26.000 Soiets were awaiting interviews in Moscow. at the same time. more than 5.000 persons in Rome were either awaiting interviews or had not yet had their cases presented to INS. and were forced to languish in a kind of social and economic purgatory. The numbersas important as they arecan at times obscure the human dimension of this unfortunate situation.
Keywords matched
Immigration emigration Naturalization asylum seekers refugee