Speech #1020068827

Yet. even with the many positive steps taken among our nations. we still have a lot to accomplish. While a significant number of Soviet Jews have left for new countries. mostly Israel. the doors still remain partially closed for two major reasons. First. changes In the Soviet passport law cast an uncertain future on Soviet emigration. Before the change. Soviet citizens who wished to leave the Soviet Union were required to obtain exit visas. While the process of obtaining these visas was long and complicated. It Is now unclear how cumbersome the new law will be by comparison. Now. the Soviet Government is assigning International passports Instead of the exit visas. However. it is too early to tell how Soviet Jews will be affected by this new law in the long run. The second reason Is a result of U.S. emigration policy. While world events have transformed our relationship with the Soviet Union. changing events has not caused our country to alter its archaic quota system. Soviet JewIsh emigration remains at 50.000 per year. even as hundredsofthousands of Jews are trying to leave. While this number was satisfactory during the cold war when few Soviet Jews were able to leave the Soviet Union. the number Is far too small for today. Furthermore. Soviet Jews that wish to enter our country must meet one of two major requirements If they want to emigrate within months and not years. They must either be closely related to their sponsor--parent. sibling. child. spouseor must face direct persecution. Even with these strict criteria. the Immigration and Naturalization Service Is now handling over 10 times the number of requests It landled 2 years ago. Mr. Speaker. throughout the cold war era. our Government called upon the Soviet Union to stop its ruthless persecution of Jewish citizens and allow them to emigrate to the United States. While thousands of Soviet Jews had applied for exit visas each year. almost all of them were denied emigration by the Soviets. With the arrival of glasnost came a new hope that the Soviet Jews would be freed from this oppression and be allowed to emigrate to the United States. Clearly. we must reassess our policy after we have pressured the Soviet Government for so many years to reform their emigration policies. In 1990. Israel received 1 million requests for emigration from Soviet Jews while settling over 100.000 throughout their small country. For many years. Congress. at the urging of many Americans. has actively pushed the Soviet Government to relax Its policies.