[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 153 (Wednesday, November 5, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11768-S11769]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCAIN:
  S. 1374. A bill to clarify that unmarried adult children of 
Vietnamese reeducation camp internees are eligible for refugee status 
under the Orderly Departure Program; to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations.


        THE ORDERLY DEPARTURE PROGRAM CLARIFICATION ACT OF 1997

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation that is 
basically a technical correction to language that I had included in the 
fiscal year 1997 Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act. That 
language, and the legislation I offer today, are designed to make 
humanitarian exceptions for the unmarried adult children of former 
reeducation camp detainees seeking to emigrate to the United States 
under the Orderly Departure Program [ODP]. Despite what I considered to 
have been pretty unambiguous legislation in both word and intent, the 
Immigration and Naturalization Service and Department of State 
interpreted my amendment to the 1997 bill so as to exclude the very 
people to whom the provision was targeted.
  An amendment identical to the bill I am introducing today was 
included, without objection, to the State Department authorization bill 
for fiscal year 1998. Because that bill is hung-up over an unrelated 
issue, and because the State Department ceased accepting new 
applications for the ODP at the end of September, it was imperative 
that another avenue be sought for attaining passage of this important 
legislation. I wish to reiterate that this is an uncontroversial bill, 
supported earlier this year by the Senate, and which enjoys the backing 
of the Department of State.
  Prior to April 1995, the adult unmarried children of former 
Vietnamese re-education camp prisoners were granted derivative refugee 
status and were permitted to accompany their parents to the United 
States under a subprogram of the Orderly Departure Program.
  This policy changed in April 1995. My amendment to fiscal year 1997 
foreign operations appropriations bill, which comprises part of the 
Omnibus Appropriations Act, was intended to restore the status quo ante 
regarding the adult unmarried children of former prisoners. My comments 
in the Congressional Record from July 25, 1996, clearly spelled this 
out.
  Unfortunately, certain categories of children who, prior to April 
1995, had received derivative refugee status and whom Congress intended 
to be covered by last year's amendment, are now considered ineligible 
to benefit from that legislation.
  First, prior to April 1995 the widows of prisoners who died in re-
education camps were permitted to be resettled in the United States 
under this subprogram of the ODP, and their unmarried adult children 
were allowed to accompany them. These children are now considered 
ineligible to benefit from last year's legislation.
  To ask these 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 Department's 
interpretation of the 1997 language involves the roughly 20 percent of 
former Vietnamese re-education camp prisoners resettled in the United 
States who were processed as immigrants, at the convenience of the 
United States Government.
  Their unmarried adult children, prior to April 1995, were still given 
derivative refugee status; however, the position of INS and State is 
that these children are now ineligible because the language in the 
fiscal year 1997 bill included the phrase ``processed as refugees for 
resettlement in the United States.''
  That phrase was intended to identify the children of former prisoners 
being brought to the United States under the subprogram of the ODP and 
eligible to be processed as a refugee--which all clearly were--as 
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 the ODP subprogram, was processed as an immigrant had no 
effect prior to April 1995, and their children were granted refugee 
status. The intention of last year s 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 resettled as 
migrants.
  Mr. President, I urge support for this legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.

[[Page S11769]]

  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1374

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. ELIGIBILITY FOR REFUGEE STATUS.

       Section 584 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, 
     and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 
     104-208; 110 Stat. 3009-171) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)--
       (A) by striking ``For purposes'' and inserting 
     ``Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for purposes''; 
     and
       (B) by striking ``fiscal year 1997'' and inserting ``fiscal 
     years 1997 and 1998''; and
       (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
       ``(b) Aliens Covered.--
       ``(1) In general.--An alien described in this subsection is 
     an alien who--
       ``(A) is the son or daughter of a qualified national;
       ``(B) is 21 years of age or older; and
       ``(C) was unmarried as of the date of acceptance of the 
     alien's parent for resettlement under the Orderly Departure 
     Program.
       ``(2) Qualified national.--For purposes of paragraph (1), 
     the term `qualified national' means a national of Vietnam 
     who--
       ``(A)(i) was formerly interned in a reeducational camp in 
     Vietnam by the Government of the Socialist Republic of 
     Vietnam; or
       ``(ii) is the widow or widower of an individual described 
     in clause (i); and
       ``(B)(i) qualified for refugee processing under the 
     reeducation camp internees subprogram of the Orderly 
     Departure Program; and
       ``(ii) on or after April 1, 1995, is accepted--
       ``(I) for resettlement as a refugee; or
       ``(II) for admission as an immigrant under the Orderly 
     Departure Program.''.
                                 ______