Mr. President. I am especially pleased that this bill includes the text of S. 2267. a 2year extension of the law I wrote which makes it easier for certain historically persecuted groups of refugee applicants to enter the United States as refugees. That law was enacted as part of the fiscal year 1990 Foreign Aid Appropriations Act. It sunsets on October 1. 1990. and the provisions In this bill will assure that the law will continue in effect for the next 2 years. The law we approved last year formally recognized that the historical experience of certain persecuted minorities in the Soviet Union and Southeast Asia. and a pattern of arbitrary denials of refugee status to members of these minorities. entitled them to a temporarily relaxed standard of proof in determinations about whether they are refugees. It lessens the evidence required for Soviet Jews. Soviet Evangelical Christians. religiously active Soviet Ukrainian Catholics and Orthodox. and certain categories of Vietnamese. Laotians. or Cambodians to qualify for admission to the United States as a refugee. Once a refugee applicant proves he or she is a member of one of these groups. he or she only has to prove a "credible basis for concern" about the possibility of persecution. Refugee applicants normally must prove a "wellfounded fear of persecution." The law also provides for the adjustment of status from parolee to permanent resident for nationals of the Soviet Union. Vietnam. Laos. or Cambodia who entered the United States on or after September 1. 1988. and before September 1. 1990. as parolees. Under this 2 year extension. parolees in the specified groups who entered the country after August 15. 1988. and before September 1. 1992. will qualify for this adjustment of status. This law is working as intended. It has replaced an arbitrary and slow process of refugee adjudication in the Soviet Union and Southeast Asia with a stable. consistent and fair process. It has meant that people terrorized by longstanding hatred and persecution in their native lands are not further traumatized by a system that does not recognize their suffering. or makes arbitrary distinctions between people who have suffered similar fates. I am pleased that the 2year extension of this law is included in this bill. I am also pleased that this bill includes the text of S. 3019. the Iraqi Embargo Compliance Enforcement Act. which I introduced on September 11. 1990. This language bars U.S. military or economic aid to any country that violates the United Nations embargo against Iraq. except if the President certifies to Congress that: First. it is in our national interest to provide such aid. second. the aid would be used to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees in that country. third. the aid will directly benefit the needy people in such country. or fourth. the government is making a good faith effort to comply with the embargo. Press reports in September indicated that Iraq had received shipments of food from Yeman. Jordan.
Keywords matched
Refugee refugee refugees