(3A) PROPOSED PLANS FOR THEIR The Refugee Act of 1980 provides a comprehensive and flexible framework for refugee admissions that will make it possible for the United States to respond quickly and effectively to situations where compelling humanitarian and foreign policy concerns warrant moving refugees from firstasylum countries (and in some cases from their country of nationality) to the United States for resettlement. Because the Refugee Act eliminates the previous geographical and ideological criteria for admission, it will also enable a much larger pool of people to apply for refugee admission than were previously eligible. from around the world and the limit on our resources for absorbing refugees in this country, we must now develop criteria for assigning priority to applicants from groups determined to be of special humanitarian concern to the United States. Given the expected number of applicants The U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs will be working closely with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General to develop such criteria and other procedures necessary to implement the Refugee Act. That Act defines a refugee as a person who is persecuted or has a well founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. In admitting such persons to the United States, we expect to give preference to refugees with ties to the United States through close relatives, past employment with the U.S. Government or U.S. institutions (including training in the United States), and involvement in programs and policies supported by the U.S. Government, and to refugees who do not have such ties but who are of special humanitarian concern to the United States such as former or current political prisoners. We welcome Congressional views on such criteria and ways to ease the transition to a more equitable and rational admissions system. It will clearly take a great deal of time and careful consideration before new procedures can be put into effect. In the meantime, our policies may reflect as much historical precedence as the spirit of the new Refugee Act. Thus, differences in admissions levels and the processing of applicants from various parts of the world do not necessarily indicate the importance we attribute to particular regions or groups of people. Although we hope to move toward a more equitable geographic distribution of refugee admission numbers, we must maintain the flexibility to respond to changing refugee needs and compelling national interests in specific areas. In tandem with our efforts to develop a more rational and equitable admissions system, we will be intensifying our efforts to seek international solutions to the political causes 63-113 O - 807 as well as the humanitarian consequences of refugee problems. While we are prepared to continue taking the lead in supporting multilateral refugee relief and resettlement efforts, we believe it is imperative for other countries to do their share as well. We would hope that universal support for the principles of burden-sharing would lessen the need for the kind of massive U.S. refugee assistance we foresee for the near future. We would also hope that respect for fundamental human rights would allow people to remain in their homelands, rather than feel obliged to seek asylum elsewhere. Although we anticipate that most refugees will be processed at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) posts which have traditionally prepared refugees for movement to the United States, we do not exclude the possibility that some refugees may be processed at newly established INS posts or by State Department officers. The following sections describe plans for selecting refugees from various parts of the world, transporting them to the United States, and assisting their resettlement in this country. Under the Refugee Act, all refugees, regardless of country of origin, will be eligible for those basic services which help them become self-supporting and contributing members of society as soon as possible. In the past, these services were developed primarily with the Indochinese and Cubans in mind. The programs described in the section on the Indochinese will be accessible to all other refugees, with the exception of a few Indochinese-specific programs including educational aid to school districts with large concentrations of Indochinese children. SOVIET AND EASTERN EUROPEAN REFUGEES The majority of Soviet refugees leave the Soviet Union and enter the West by rail into Austria where those who wish to resettle permanently in Israel are processed by the Jewish Agency for Israel. The remainder are registered by several voluntary refugee agencies under contract to the United States Department of State. Refugees then go by rail to Rome, Italy, where they are maintained at less expense and are processed for admission to other Western countries, principally the United States. After the documentation process is completed, the Intergovernmental Committee on European Migration (ICEM) arranges for their flight to the United States. Other refugees from the Soviet Union, principally Armenians, are usually pre-processed by our Embassy in Moscow. They fly to Rome at their own expense, where the final steps in documentation are completed by INS. After a short stay, these refugees are flown to the United States by ICEM. Eastern European refugees are divided into two groups. Those persons in the Romanian Third Country Processing (TCP) group are pre-processed in the Embassy at Bucharest, and then fly at their own expense to Rome for a very short period of final processing by INS, after which ICEM moves them to the United States. The other group consists of refugees leaving other Eastern European countries without the permission of their governments to emigrate. They are received in refugee camps in the countries of first asylum in Western Europe, principally Austria, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, and France. When accepted in those countries for first asylum, the refugees are registered by one of the various voluntary agencies which can be most helpful in getting a permanent resettlement opportunity for the particular individual or family as quickly as possible. After such a settlement is developed and admission documentation is completed, those refugees who have selected the United States for admission and have been found to qualify are flown to the United States by ICEM. The policy of the United States has been to accept all Soviet and Eastern European refugees who wish to come to this country, subject to eligibility under the law. The Administration proposes to continue this policy. Should more Soviet and Eastern European refugees apply for admission to the United States than the proposed allocation of admissions numbers, the Administration would expect to consult with the Congress concerning additional refugee admissions and supplemental funding. |