Speech #1010044762

For years the United States has fought for the persecuted who have risked their lives. their careers. and their wellbeingand in some cases faced years of deprivation in the gulag or work campsto come to the United Slates. Tragically. just as large numbers are finally receiving permission to leave the Soviet Union. we have changed the rules. As a result. large numbers of applicants have been denied refugee status. despite a lack of meaningful change in the condition facing them. AntiSemitism is on the rise in the Soviet Union and ancient prejudices and hatred continue to brew. Emigration from the Soviet Union has shown sharp shifts over the past several decades. In the 1970s. emigration reached unprecedented levels. as tens of thousands of Jews were granted permission to emigrate. In 1979. Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union reached over 50.000. In the first half of the 1980s. however. Soviet policy became much more restrictive. From 1983 to 1986. the number of Jews allowed to emigrate averaged 1.000 per year. Soviet emigration took another sharp upswing in 1987. when Jewish emigration increased to over 8.000. In 1988. 19.000 were allowed to leave. and this year it is estimated that this number will be at least double that number. Madam Chairman. the problem is not simply a Jewish issue. In 1988. over 1.500 Pentacostals and other Evangelical Christians were denied refugee status. and there has been a rapid increase in rejection of refugee status in the Vietnamese Orderly Departure Program. Because of the change of INS immigration policy. however. a large number of refugees faced being stranded either in their home country or in transit. Madam Chairman. the Congress must remedy the gross inequities being caused by INSs illconceived and heartless policy. I strongly supportand urge my colleagues in the Congress to supportH.R. 2202. This legislation will return the presumption of refugee status to Soviet Jews and other persecuted minorities. It will also allow those entering the United States under parole status to adjust their status to refugee through reapplication.