Speech #1040167523

Mr. President. yesterday my good friend and colleague from Wyoming. Senator SIMPSON. made some comments. and particularly made reference to the socalled Lautenberg refugee program. Though Senator SIMPSON and I agree on some things and disagree sharply on some things. there is. on balance. mutual respect and I might even say affection. So where we disagree on this issue. it is because of a perspective on the issue. However. during his presentation on the floor. he used references such as the socalled Lautenberg refugee bill. He used adjectives like derelict or deficient. that this bill was no longer of any value. and I Just would like to clear the record. Current law. under our immigration code. facilitates the granting of refugee status for certain historically persecuted groups. The existing law forinally recognizes the historic experiences of certain persecuted religious minorities in the Soviet Union and Indochina. and the pattern of our denial of refugee status to members of those minorities entitles them to a relaxed standard of proof in determinations about whether they are refugees. The law lowers the evidentlary standard required to qualify for refugee status for Evangelical Christians. for Jews from the Soviet Union. certain Ukrainians. and some categories of Indochinese. Once a refugee applicant proves that he or she is a member of one of these groups. he or she has to prove a credible basis for concern about the possibility of persecution. Refugee applicants normally must establish a wellfounded fear of persecution. The law has had a real and positive impact on refugee adjudication for persecuted individuals. In his comments to the Senate yesterday. Senator SIMPSON said that there is evidence that members of the Russian mafia are using the program to enter the United States. I want to be perfectly clear that the refugee program was not intended to enable criminals to enter our country. It was not designed to facilitate entry into the United States by those not qualified under the description of refugee status. Further. Mr. President. in my former life I was in the computer business and still have a lot of contact there. I have seen many of these people who have come. under the refugee exclusion. into the design and programming phases of the computer industry. many of them entrepreneurs. I have met those who. in a very short period of time. have learned enough of the English language to practice law and become physicians. So we dare not accept one generalization that those who are using the program are principally members of the Russian mafia. that the gangsters are using this. because if they are. then it is not the fault of those who are coming. It is my understanding that under United States law an applicant should be denied refugee status if our Government knows that he is a criminal. or for some reason or other is excluded from entry into the United States. So where does the responsibility lie? It lies with the INS or the State Department. They have to do a better job in weeding those people out based on current law. The refugee program was intended to help historically persecuted religious minorities. certainly not criminals. My friend. the Senator from Wyoming. also said the program is no longer necessary because we have good relations with Russia and that the program has been abused. As a matter of fact.