Speech #1040168366

Mr. Speaker. this Member has spoken previously about. the plight of the 40.000 Vietnamese boat people languishing in refugee camps in Southeast Asia. This Member has described the damage wrought by the illconceived section 2104 of H.R. 1561. the American Overseas Interests Act. which was passed by the House of Representatives on May 24. This legislation has given these boat people. most of whom have been determined to be economic migrants rather than political refugees. false hope of resettlement in the United States directly from the camps. This false hope has led to rioting in refugee camps and has stopped a very successful program of voluntary repatriation under which more than 70.000 of these boat people have returned to Vietnam. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and many objective observers lay the blame squarely on this legislation. the House passed provisions in the American Overseas Interests Act for outbreaks of violence in the camps and for the collapse of voluntary repatriation. In an effort to break the current impasse the State Department is negotiating with Vietnam a program. called "Track II." under which any boat people who volunteer to return to Vietnam will be entitled to an interview by the immigration and Naturalization Service to determine once and for all if they qualify for refugee status under U.S. law. In this Members opinion. the Track II proposal offers some hope of restarting the voluntary repatriation program. thereby decreasing the numbers of boat people languishing in the refugee camps and diminishing somewhat the pressure for massive Involuntary returns which would lead to a humanitarian nightmare next year. In a recent State Department briefing. we learned that the negotiations with Hanoi face some serious obstacles. I would urge my colleagues to lower the congressional profile on this issue and allow the negotiations to rtin their course.