He was also beaten unconscious by his coworkers for discussing the problems facing Soviet Jews. Zanneta was fired from her job and the couples home was vandalized by hooligans who painted swastikas on the door. While Mark and Zanneta were able to escapefrom the Soviet Union late in 1988. they wereunbelievable as it seemsdenied admission to the U.S. as refugees. Unfortunately. this is only one of many terrible stories that I have been made aware of in recent months. The proposed legislation will ensure that these kinds of stories do not continue. andcombined with the enlarged 1989 refugee ceiling for the Soviet Unionwill go a long way toward ameliorating this situation. As the representatives of a Brooklyn constituency with the largest percentage of Soviet Jews in the Nation. permit me to say a few words about this community in particular. It Is not only in the best interests of the SovietJewish community to end this terrible Immigration crisis. but It Is in our national interest as well. like other waves of immigrants before them. Soviet Jews have brought new ideas and new ambitions. new drive. and new achievements to America. I am immensely proud to represent the flourishing Soviet Jewish neighborhoods In Brooklyn. In addition. I strongly support the legislations call upon the administration to establish categories of Indochinese who are subject to persecution. and I will be proposing an amendment to designate specific groups of Indochinese to be included in those categodes. In the case of the Indochinese. changes in INS refugee processing in February of this year have resulted in skyrocketing denial rates for refugee applicants in Vietnam. raising important questions about whether the ODP Program is being administered fairly. Between February and May. about 70 percent of asylum seekers were denied refugee status. prior to February. the figure was under 10 percent. These changes in procedures have created serious concerns that the INS may not be following its own guidelines on the processing of Indochinese refugeesconcers that are amplified by the fact that the INS conducts refugee interviews in Vietnamese Government buildings using Vietnamese Government interpreters. hardly an environment that promotes a free exchange of information about persecution. I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2022.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigrants refugeesconcers refugees asylum seekers refugee