Speech #1010049505

Mr. President. I rise strongly to support the Lautenberg amendment. which would help to restore our traditional presumption of refugee status for several groups of persecuted emigres. This amendment is needed to correct an alarming trend. which began in the fall of 1988. of denying refugee status to two groups the United States has a special interest in: Those fleeing the Soviet Union or Vietnam. The United States grants refugee status to those who have a "well founded fear of persecution" in their homeland. But the determination of this well founded fear is up to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The INS is now denying refugee status at record levels. Thousands who probably would have received refugee status a year ago. are being turned away by the INS. Mr. President. the amendment would ease the refugee determination process for those leaving the Soviet Union and Vietnam. Not only are these countries oppressive. but the United States has an historic commitment to take in persecuted groups from these countries as refugees. Members of these groups have sacrificed a great deal because of our promise to accept them. In fact. we have made a similar commitment to Laotians and Cambodians as well. and I would like to see the Senate extend this legislation to these groups. as the House has done. Lets look at the situation for Soviet refugees. For decades. the United States has denounced the official persecution of religious minorities in the Soviet Union. And for decades we have pressed the Soviets to let these persecuted groups leave the U.S.S.R. and resettle abroad. The few who were allowed to leave have always been welcomed as refugees by the United States. Although glasnost and perestroika have not eliminated religious and political persecution. they have changed Soviet emigration policy. The Soviets are finally letting Jews. Pentecostal Christians. Ukrainian Catholics. and others leave in record numbers. But instead of welcoming Soviet emigres with open arms. we seem to be saying to the Soviets: "You were right. these people werent really persecuted after all." Beginning in the fall of 1988. the INS began denying refugee status to more and more Soviet emigres. For example. the denial rate for Soviet Jews reached over 30 percent in March of this year. The same thing is happening in Vietnam. Since the fall of Saigon we have pushed the Vietnamese to allow the emigration of those who are being persecuted because of their ties to the United States or to the former government of South Vietnam. In 1980. we helped to set up the Orderly Departure Program. The ODP is a program that allows our State Department to identify those people who truly deserve resettlement in the United Statesand we have long considered such emigres to be refugees. And now that thousands of Vietnamese are leaving through ODP. the United States is not celebrating this hardwon victory over persecution. Instead. we are suddenly declaring that these Vietnamesehandpicked by uswere never really refugees. Like Soviet emigres. Vietnamese in the ODP used to receive a 90percent or better approval rate for refugee applications. But this began to change for the Vietnamese after the fall of 1988. By March of this year. the approval rate plunged to 20 percent80 percent were denied refugee status. Once again. these are Vietnamese who were affiliated with the United States or with the United Statesbacked Government of South Vietnam. Many of them paid for their affiliation with detention in the infamous reeducation camps of Vietnam. Thousands of these refugees are waiting to Join their loved ones in the United States. There is no legitimate basis for this sudden reversal of longstanding U.S. policy. The Immigration and Naturalization Service claims that it is now applying refugee laws more uniformly around the world. But a GAO study of Soviet refugees in Rome and Moscow found that the decisions of INS officers were completely inconsistent. According to the GAO. whether someone received refugee status depended on such factors as the INS officers knowledge of the Soviet Union. how long he interviewed the Soviet applicant. and what kind of questions he asked. In the case of the Vietnamese. refugee applicants are forced to make their case to the INS in Vietnamese Government buildings and in the presence of Vietnamese Government officials. In other words. the applicants are forced to discuss their persecution in front of their persecutors. Naturally. they hedge their bets. not wanting to suffer worse persecution in the event that they have to stay in Vietnam. But now if these applicants cannot convince the INS of a wellfounded fear of persecution under these conditions. they are not considered refugees. The Lautenberg amendment would simply return the INS to its practice before the fall of 1988. Under the amendment. Soviet Jews and Pentecostals. Ukrainian Catholics and Orthodox Christians. and Vietnamese registered with the Orderly Departure Program would have a lower burden of proof to establish their refugee status with the INS. The INS officer on the scene would still be able to deny refugee status to any member of these groups. if the refugee had insufficient evidence of a wellfounded fear of persecution. Mr. President. this is a reasonable policy to follow. While the relaxation in Soviet and Vietnamese emigration policies is welcome. there is every indication that the people in these specific groups continue to face fierce persecution in their homeland. The amendment simply recognizes this unfortunate fact. Mr.