Speech #1010049499

Mr. President. this amendment is a compromise worked out with the help of Senator KENNEDY and Senator SIMPSON. the chairman and ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration. I want to thank them for their help in this matter. Under this amendment. the Attorney General will establish standard profiles of refugee applicants who have a strong likelihood of qualifying for admission to this country as refugees. based on wellestablished histories of persecution. These standard profiles must include Soviet Jews. Soviet Evangelical Christians. Soviet Ukrainian Catholics and Orthodox. Vietnamese who hold letters of introduction in the Orderly Departure Program [ODP] who do not immediately qualify for immigrant visasODP Vietnameseand other groups of refugee applicants for whom such standard profiles would be appropriate. Once a refugee applicant proves he or she falls within one of these standard profiles. the evidence he or she must present to prove the persecution or wellfounded fear of persecution qualifying him or her for admission to the United States as a refugee is lessened. The applicant may qualify for refugee status by demonstrating: First. acts of mistreatment. or prejudicial actions against him or her personally such as. but not limited to: Inability to study or practice religious beliefs or ethnic heritage. denial of access to educational. vocational. or technical institutions for which he or she is otherwise qualified. based on membership in one of the standard profiles. adverse treatment in the workplace stemming from prejudicial attitudes toward members of his or her standard profile. Second. acts of persecution committed against other persons in his or her standard profile. in his or her geographic locale. or acts. regardless of locale. which give rise to a wellfounded fear of persecution. Third. instances of mistreatment or prejudicial acts based on his or her personal request to depart the Soviet Union. including. but not limited to. loss of home. job. or educational opportunity. The amendment provides for the adjustment of status to permanent resident status of Soviet nationals and ODP Vietnamese who entered the United States on or after September 1. 1988. and before September 1. 1990. as parolees. provided they have been physically present in the United States for at least 1 year. It also provides that decisions made to deny applications for refugee status must be in writing and state. to the maximum extent feasible. the reasons why the application was denied. Finally. the amendment provides that those who fall within the standard profiles established by this act who were denied refugee status between August 15. 1988 and the date of enactment of this act are eligible to reapply for refugee status under the terms of this act. Why Is this bill necessary? With the enactment of the JacksonVanik amendment in 1974 and the signing of the Helsinki accords in 1975. the United States made it clear that one major goal of United States foreign policy was the relaxation of Soviet emigration policy. So. until late in 1988. all Soviet Jews. and most other Soviet refugee applicants were assumed to have a wellfounded fear of persecution. automatically qualifying them for refugee status. The United States made similar assumptions about Vietnamese in the Orderly Departure Program. who have had close ties to the United States. and faced harsh persecution in Vietnam because of such ties. However. in August 1988. Just when the Soviets decided to loosen the barriers to Soviet emigration. former Attorney General Meese changed the standard by which Soviet and other prospective refugees were evaluated. Instead of the longstanding presumption that Soviets were refugees. he ordered the INS to require that each applicant establish individually that they had been persecuted or had a wellfounded fear of persecution. This change in standard made it much. much harder for Soviets and Vietnamese to qualify as refugees. Soviet Jews went from a denial rate of 7 percent in 1988 to about 38 percent for March. and 21 percent in June. In the Vietnamese Orderly Departure Program [ODP]. which had a historic rejection rate of under 10 percent of those applying. the rejection rate reached 80 percent in March. These unprecedented rejection rates occurred despite the fact that these applicants faced and continue to face harsh persecution in their native lands. Many of these refugees are now stranded. either in their home countries or in transit. with no place to go. 4.000 of them are waiting on refugee row in Ladispoli. Italy. having been denied refugee status by the United States. Many have taken great risks to simply apply to come to the United States. Today. they wait without hope. after living in fear and suffering persecution simply for being Soviet Jews.