Speech #1040067457

and the refugee groups have expressed fears that the provision would increase the chance for violence in refugee camps by giving the 47.000 asylum seekers false hope for resettlement in the United States when the countries where the camps are located are unlikely to give us access to them and. even if they did. many of the asylum seekers would not be eligible for resettlement. The bill would cause the absolute collapse of voluntary repatriation through which 72.000 Indochinese have already returned home without evidence of persecution. Now asylum seekers who can demonstrate that the negative screening decision of the UNHCR was mistaken can request reconsideration from U.S. officials or other resettlement countries in Vietnam. Finally. for my colleagues who have an interest in refugee issues in other parts of the world. you should understand that this section would reduce the funds available for other refugee programs. such as for bona fide refugees from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. by earmarking $30 million dollars to resettle economic migrants from Vietnam. Cambodia. and Laos. Moreover. by conditioning use of these funds on unmeetable conditions. it is likely that the funding would disappear completely and not be available for any refugee programs. In closing. let me reiterate what the BereuterObeyLamar Smith Amendment would do. It would: Stop the resettlement of Indochinese economic migrants in the United States. Make full refugee funding available for bona fide political refugees. for example from the former Soviet .Union and Eastern Europe. Prevent a new outflow of boat people from Indochina seeking entry into the United States. Allow the international voluntary repatriation program to proceed with U.S. assistance and under close U.S. monitoring. Assist U.S. nongovernment agencies monitoring the migrants who have returned home to ensure that they are not persecuted. Maintain U.S. refugee policy that only bona fide political refugees enter as refugees. Support an international consensus on refugee determination and processing that prevents the United States from having to bear the full brunt of refugee programs all over the world. Stop yet another example of refugee decisions being made without regard to costs for local communities to educate. train and assist the refugees. I request your support for the BereuterObeyLamar Smith amendment to the refugee provisions of H.R. 1561