Madam Chairman. along with my colleague from California. I rise to offer an amendment to H.R. 2022. the bill to establish categories of nationals from the Soviet Union and Indochina presumed tc be subject to persecution and to provide refugee status to certain Soviet and Indochinese parolees. I am a cosponsor of H.R. 2022. a necessary and important piece of legislation that will end the period of limbo for 4.000 Soviet emigres stranded in Italy because of August 1988 changes in United States immigration policy. The LipinskiCox amendment will add Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholics to the list of Soviet Nationals who are presumed persecuted in the Soviet Union. As confirmed by the State Department. Soviet dissidents. and private organizations. the Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches remain the most severely persecuted religions in the Soviet Union. In fact. they are the only two churches in the U.S.S.R. still outlawed. or unrecognized by the government. Granting refugee status to Ukrainian Catholics and Ukrainian Orthodox on the grounds that they are persecuted in the Soviet Union is completely consistent with my Millenium of Christianity Resolution which Congress passed last year. Pubic Law 100305 states that Congress deplores the Soviet Unions active persecution of religious believers in the Ukraine. as well as the forcible liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic Churches. Congress made that strong statement just over a year ago. and I feel it is necessary and consistent to include there Ukrainian groups in this immigration bill. Passing H.R. 2022 without including Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholics would send the wrong signal to Soviet authorities. that the United States no longer places a high priority on ending Soviet human rights violations against the Ukrainians. Things certainly have been changing in the Soviet Union. but unfortunately the benefits of glasnost and liberalization under Gorbachev have not translated into new freedom for Ukrainian Catholics and Orthodox.
Keywords matched
immigration refugee