Speech #1020088501

DC. DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: In accordance with The Refugee Act of 1980 (P.L. 96212). members of the Committee on the Judiciary have now consulted with your representatives on the proposed refugee admissions for fiscal year 1992. We accept your proposed numbers. but we would make the following recommendations and observations. First. the Committee will not agree in the future to set admission levels above those provided for in the budget and. in effect. dumping the responsibility on the States and local communities. This is contrary to the explicit provisions of The Refugee Act. To accommodate a 21% increase in refugee admissions over that which is in the budget of the Department of Health and Human Services. the Office of Refugee Resettlement has been forced to announce that it will only be able to reimburse States for eight months instead of the twelve months this yeardown from 36 months just five years ago. There is a serious danger that some States will completely withdraw from the refugee program and that the refugee program will suffer a serious erosion in public support. We would urge the Administration to seek a supplemental appropriations next year if it is necessary or desirable to maintain the proposed level of admissions. Second. it is clear the consultation process envisioned in The Refugee Act is not being fulfilled when it is held only days before the beginning of the fiscal year and after budgetary decisions and appropriations have already been made. We would urge the Administration to do what was in fact proposed by members last year as well as by officials involved in the refugee programhold the consultations earlier in the year at the time budgetary decisions are being made. Third. the Committee recommends that the proposed 1.000 unallocated numbers be reserved for refugees who the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees identifies as being "at risk". Often these refugees must be moved within a matter of hours. or face refoulement and imminent danger to their lives or freedom. The United States has a proud record. but we do not always respond well to individual refugees in need of urgent protection. To respond to these needs the Committee suggests these unallocated numbers be used for this purpose. and that the Coordinator for Refugee Affairs establish a permanent procedure with the Attorney General allowing Consular Officers to admit these refugees "at risk" rather than waiting months for an INS "circuit rider" to interview them. Fourth. for more than 10 years your representatives have stressed that the admission numbers are ceilings and not quotas. We have frequently observed that the congressional intent was that admissions numbers represent ceilings not to be exceeded. rather than quotas to be filled.