Last year. the Reagan administration won a tremendous human rights victory by convincing General Secretary Gorbachev to allow thousands of people to leave the Soviet Union. Yet. no sooner were the gates of the Soviet Union flung open. when the doors of America were slammed closed on those fleeing persecution. No one anticipated the tide of refugees that have flowed from the Soviet Union. As a result of the large numbers. budgetary constraints initially led to a temporary suspension of refugee visa processing at the American Embassy in Moscow. Families were left stranded. Then. the administration reversed longstanding policy that presumed that Soviet Jews and Evangelical Christians were refugees. This policy reversal has resulted in arbitrary denials of refugee visa applications for Soviet citizens. and has divided thousands of families. My office alone has received hundreds of appeals to reunite Soviet families where certain family members have been denied refugee status. and others. from the same household. have been granted permission to come to the United States. Finally. in an attempt to accommodate the swelling numbers of Soviet refugees. the administration cut back on the number of refugee visas available to the Indochinese. Pitting one deserving group of people against another who seek safe haven in our country is unacceptable. This is not the showing of compassion worthy of a kinder. gentler nation.
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refugee visas visa refugees