Speech #1050178591

I have supported the normalization of relations with Vietnam and am blessed to have a strong VietnameseAmerican community in my district. This community is not unanimous whether or not JacksonVanik should be waived. They are unanimous. however. about concerns regarding the continuing lack of freedom of emigration from Vietnam or about continuing human rights abuses there. If the Vietnamese government allowed freedom of emigration. the President would not have needed to request a waiver of the JacksonVanik law in the first place. Some progress in freedom of emigration is reportedly being made. but serious problems remain. The Vietnamese government has made some progress with people in the U.S. refugee program. Resettlement Opportunities for Vietnamese Refugees (ROVR). clearing 12.000 ROVR applicantsabout 3000 per month for four monthsimmediately before President Clinton granted the waiver in March. Unfortunately. as soon as the waiver was granted. the approvals slowed back to a trickleabout 300 per month. There are reportedly still 4000 people we havent been given permission to interview. including some of the most compelling cases. And. while Hanoi recently eliminated an important obstacle to U.S. access to people in ROVR. deeming that ROVR applicants will no longer need "exit permits" from local security police in order to be interviewed by U.S. refugee officers. the U.S. is unfortunately still forbidden to interview anyone whose name is not on a list supplied by the Vietnamese government. Problems remain in the Orderly Departure Program (ODP). too. ODP is a refugee program for reeducation camp survivors. former U.S. government employees. and others who never left Vietnam. Thousands of people who qualify under this program have been unable