Speech #1050120068

Mauldam President.. I offer an amelndmellnt that Is basically a technical correction to language that I hall Included In the Fiscal Year 1997 Ounlibus Consulidated Appiropria.lonl Act. That lunguago. uni tike Amendment I offer today. are designed to make humanitarian exceptions for the unlllalrlud adulL iihhen of forme rtseducation camp detainees seeking to emigrate to tile United States under the Orderly )epart1ure Irogram. IAspile what I considered .o hiave been pretty unambiguous legislation in both word ant inlont. the Immilgration anti Naturalization Se.vice and lDeparlaneni. of State Interpreted my amendment to the 1997 hill so as to exclude the very peplille Co wiloli Ile provsion was targoted. This amendment was accepted .as part. of the State Department Authorizaltlon hill for flscal year 1998. which has not passed Into law. It Is. therefore. necessarv to Include this langullge In ihe iI0niergency Supplemental in order to permit the State Department to begin to process the backlog of cases that accmulated yllac the In.alnli exlirar.on last. year. Prior Co April 1995. the adull. uninarried children of former Vietnamese rueducation camp lrisOllers were granted derivative refugee status and were permitted to accompany their parents to the United States under a subprogram of the Orderly Departure Program (eW). This policy changed in April 1995. My amendment to PY1997 Foreign Opeations Appropriations 1ill. which comprises part of the Omnibus ApprupriaIons Aol.. was Intended to restore the Status quo ante regarding the adult unmarried children of former prisoners. My comments lin the CONORESSIONAL RECORD from July 25. 1906. clearly spelled this out. Unfortunately. certain categories of children who. prior to April 1995 had received derivative refugee siatus and whom Congress intended to be covered by last. years amendment. are now considered Ineligible to benefit from that legislation. First. prior to April 1995. the widows or prisoners who died In ieeducti~lon nrmps were permitted to be resettled In the U.S. under this subprogram of the ODP. and their unmarried adult children were allowed to accompany them. Those children are now considered ineligible to benefit from last years legislation. lo ask Lhese widows to come to the United States without their children is equal to denying them entry under the program. Many of these women are elderly and in poor health. and the presence of their children Is essential to providing the semblance of a family unit with the care that includes. The second problem stemming from INS and the State Departments Intelpretation of the 1997 language Involves the roughly 20% of former Vietnamese reeducation camp prisoners resettled in the United States who wore processed as immigrants. at the convenlnce of the U.S. Government. heir unmarried adult children. prior to April 1995. were still given dorivaLive refugee status. however. the position of INS and State is that these children arc now ineligible because the language In the FY1997 bill included the phrase "processed as refugees lt. restielnaen. li t le United Stes." That phrase was Intended to identify the children of former prisoners being brought to the United States under tie subprogramn of the ODP and eligible to be processed as a refugee--which all clearly weroas distinct from the children of former prisoners who were not being processed for resettlement In the United States. The fact that a former prisoner. eligible to be processed as a refugee under ti O3P subprogram. was processed as an immigrant had no effeel. prior to April 199.5. and their children were granted refugee status. The intention of the 19196 legislation was to restore the status quo ante. including for the unmarried adult children of former prisoners eligible for and included in this subprogram but resnntilnd as llligrants. This amendment will correct tie problem once and for all. and I urge Its support.