Speech #1010073914

It has been cleared with both sides. This amendment is similar to an amendment that I and nine of my colleagues. including Senators KENNE:Dy and KASTEN. offered to the State Department authorization bill. It is a modified version of S. 893. a bill I introduced to grant presumptive refugee status for Soviet Jews. Soviet Evangelical Christians. and others. This amendment is based on a compromise worked out with the help of Senator KEmmmY and Senator SIMPSON. the chairman and ranking minority members of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration. Under this amendment. the Attorney General will establish categories of refugee applicants who have a strong likelihood of qualifying for admission to this country as refugees. based on wellestablished histories of persecution. These categories must include Soviet Jews. and Soviet Evangelical Christians. Vietnamese who hold letters of introduction in the Orderly Departure Program. ODP. who do not immediately qualify for immigrant visas. and other groups of refugee applicants. including Soviet Ukrainian Catholics and Orthodox. for whom such categories may be appropriate. Once a refugee applicant proves he or she falls within one of these categories. the amendment lessens the evidence that 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. The applicant may choose to qualify for refugee status by demonstrating one of several acts of mistreatment or prejudicial actions. or actions of persecution against others. or instances of mistreatment or prejudicial actions based on the request to emigrate. Included among the kinds of acts of mistreatment. or prejudicial actions. would be the inability to study or practice religious beliefs or ethnic heritage. It would also include denial of access to educational. vocational. or technical institutions for which he or she is otherwise qualified. based on membership in one of the above categories. It would also include adverse treatment in the workplace stemming from prejudicial attitudes toward members of his or her category. The refugee applicant may choose to qualify for refugee status by demonstrating acts of persecution committed against other persons in his or her category. in his or her geographic locale. or acts. regardless of locale. which give rise to a wellfounded fear of persecution. The refugee applicant may choose to qualify for refugee status by demonstrating 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. The amendment also responds to concerns that have been raised about the State Departments plans to implement its policy of processing visas in Moscow. To that end. the amendment requires the General Accounting Office to monitor implementation of the Act and report to Congress on the timeliness and length of interviews. the adequacy of staffing and funding by the State Department. Immigration and Naturalization Service and voluntary agencies. the denial rates by ethnic or religious group. the sufficiency of the proposed Soviet refugee processing system within the United States. backlogs by ethnic or religious groups. the sufficiency and means of distributing and receiving applications in Moscow. a comparison of the cost of conducting processing only in Moscow as opposed to permitting processing also in Italy. and an evaluation of efforts to phase our refugee processing in Italy. Mr. President.