[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 200 (Friday, December 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S18684]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE REFUGEE PROGRAM

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, yesterday my good friend and colleague 
from Wyoming, Senator Simpson, made some comments, and particularly 
made reference to the so-called 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 so-called 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 formally 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 evidentiary 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 well-founded 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, I was stunned when I 
heard the Senator from Wyoming describe Russia as our best friend. I 
would say that is hyperbolic at least. Russia, our best friend? We want 
them to be a good friend, we want them to be an ally, but certainly one 
cannot say that they are now our best friend and that they are behaving 
like a democracy as we know it. And although he describes the program 
as being discredited, the fact is that it has served as a useful 
opportunity for those who are very concerned about what is going to 
happen and what has taken place in terms of their relationship with 
Russia and the former Soviet Union countries.

  There is still a tremendous amount of instability in that area, and 
although antiSemitism is no longer officially State sponsored, its 
roots run deep throughout the culture and its effects are felt in 
incidents across Russia and many of the other former Soviet Union 
countries. And now we are all made abruptly aware that on this coming 
Sunday, when elections are going to be held in Russia, there is a 
strong belief that those who are most likely to win seats are members 
of the Communist Party, avowed reformists. But the fact is we know that 
if people are looking fondly back to electing Communists to Government, 
with it goes a standard that has been set by those people for decades 
in that area. And so those who have been harassed in the past, who are 
likely to run into problems are very worried about what the future 
holds.
  So if there are some who seek to abuse the program, as Senator 
Simpson claims, it is the responsibility of our Government to weed out 
that abuse. We do not stop collecting taxes in this country if someone 
abuses the Tax Code. What we do is we go after them vigorously. And the 
same thing is true here. Our Government should eliminate the abuse if 
there is any in the program. It is not a reason to say that a program 
that has helped legitimate refugees is discredited.
  Mr. President, the House version of the State authorization bill 
includes a 1-year extension of this program, a program that has 
provided a useful escape valve for historically persecuted people who 
come to this country and make a contribution to our society. In light 
of existing instability in the former Soviet Union, I believe that this 
program ought to be extended for another year. What it takes is our 
conferees in discussion to agree with the House.
  I hope that will take place to give this program another year to work 
until we see what the conditions are going to be like in Russia in 
particular and some of the other countries of the former Soviet Union.
  I yield the floor.

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