[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H10891-H10892]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM ACT OF 1997

  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 3037) to clarify that unmarried children of 
Vietnamese reeducation camp internees are eligible for refugee status 
under the Orderly Departure Program.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 3037

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Justice for Victims of 
     Communism Act of 1997''.

     SEC. 2. 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 reeducation 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 or has been accepted--
       ``(I) for resettlement as a refugee; or
       ``(II) for admission as an immigrant under the Orderly 
     Departure Program.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Florida [Mr. Canady] and the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Watt] 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Canady].
  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Briefly, this is a bill which will extend and clarify an important 
State Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service authority 
that expired on September 30, 1997, which is necessary to help protect 
the victims of communism.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from New Jersey [Mr. Smith] for further explanation.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, this authority was necessary 
for longtime reeducation camp victims who had been persecuted in 
Vietnam for their pro-U.S. associations to bring their unmarried 
children with them to the United States if these children have reached 
the age of 21 during their incarceration or the long wait for an exit 
visa from the Communist authorities. A member of these former prisoners 
of conscience have refused to leave Vietnam unless they can bring their 
children with them. These families are trapped in Vietnam until the 
provision is reauthorized.
  I would just like to point out to the Members that extension of this 
authority has been endorsed by the administration, on the other side of 
the building Senators McCain, Abraham, and Kennedy, and it has the 
bipartisan support of the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hyde], the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman], and the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Berman], and I appreciate their cosponsorship of this legislation, 
and Mr. Berman and Mr. Davis, as a matter of fact, are additional 
cosponsors as well.
  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Lofgren].
  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3037. I do regret 
only that it has come up so quickly that many Members who would be here 
to speak in favor of it were not even aware that it was going to be 
brought up.
  It is important that this country, who stood shoulder to shoulder, 
stood side by side and fighting communism in South Vietnam, stand yet 
again with those who have been the victims of torture and oppression 
subsequent to the fall of the South Vietnamese Government.

[[Page H10892]]

  I know because of the many times that I have worked with refugees in 
California, trying to help their families away from the oppression, 
that people still face in Vietnam how important this measure is, and I 
commend the authors for jumping through I do not know how many 
legislative hoops to get it on this floor today.
  I would also like to bring, because she was not aware it was going to 
be on the floor any more than I was before I got the call, that the 
gentlewoman from California [Ms. Sanchez] from Orange County and I 
recently held, with others, a human rights forum and study under the 
Human Rights Caucus, and the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Sanchez] 
and I learned firsthand from the testimony how important this measure 
is. And so I am sure I join with others, including my colleague from 
California, in urging support of this bill.
  I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for allowing me to say 
these few words in support.
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I do, 
however, ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative 
days to revise and extend their remarks on the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Snowbarger). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time 
as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I will be brief so as not to prolong this debate because 
I do not think there is anybody who opposes this bill. The bill serves 
a useful purpose of extending and clarifying an important State 
Department and INS authority that expired on September 30, 1997. This 
authority was necessary to allow longtime reeducation camp victims who 
have been persecuted in Vietnam for their pro-U.S. associations to 
bring their unmarried children with them to the United States if these 
children have reached the age of 21 during their incarceration or the 
long wait for an exit visa from the Communist authorities. A number of 
these former prisoners of conscience have refused to leave Vietnam 
unless they can bring their children. These families are trapped in 
Vietnam until this provision is reauthorized.
  The extension of this authority has been endorsed by the Clinton 
administration, Senators McCain, Abraham, and Kennedy, the gentleman 
from Illinois [Mr. Hyde], the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman], the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Berman], and many others. As I say, 
there is no real objection to this bill.
  I do want to raise one point, however, that I think can go unnoticed 
in the waning moments of a congressional session. This is a matter of 
immigration policy, and because this bill was just introduced, just 
dropped within the last minutes, the bill never has had a chance to go 
through the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims of the Committee on 
the Judiciary, and so we continue to make somewhat haphazardly 
immigration policy in this country, and we yesterday on an 
appropriations bill made exceptions for Nicaraguans, Guatemalans, 
Salvadorans, other people from Communist countries, to be treated as 
refugees.
  Under this bill, we make exceptions for some Vietnamese who obviously 
are very deserving, and the thing that is troubling is that we keep 
making these exceptions, all of which we support, but we keep leaving 
out the Haitians, which a number of people rose on the floor yesterday, 
especially Representatives from Florida, to try to see why we keep 
leaving out the Haitians, who really ought to be given an exception 
similar to the exceptions that we have given, we are giving, under this 
bill, that we gave under an appropriations bill to the Salvadorans, 
Guatemalans, and others yesterday.
  Why do we keep leaving out the Haitians? And that question cries out 
for a response even though they are not people who oppose this 
particular bill. The question still is out there, why can we not find a 
bill and support for the Haitian people who came to this country under 
parole of Republican and Democratic Presidents, were given a status, 
and yet we are not dealing with them, we are ignoring them in the 
process of passing these bills?
  So having expressed the procedural concern that we are haphazardly 
and kind of case-by-case making immigration policy without this bill 
having gone through the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims or the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and having expressed a concern that nobody 
seems to be paying attention to the plight of the Haitians even though 
there is a bill which could just as easily be picked up and moved on 
the floor as this bill is being moved, I encourage my colleagues 
nonetheless to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1615

  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
expression of support for the bill. I would encourage all Members to 
vote for this important bill, which will ensure that some people will 
be spared injustice if passed by the House today.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Canady] that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3037.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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