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In Central America, we are encouraged by the democratic

elections in Nicaragua which have enabled thousands of people to repatriate to their homeland.

However, we remain concerned

by the large number of Guatemalan refugees who have sought safe haven in Mexico.

For Fiscal Year 1991, the proposed ceiling for refugees from Latin America and the Caribbean is 3,100, with an initial allocation of 3,000 for Cuba. As in fiscal year 1990, the admission of Cuban political prisoners is a high priority in the Latin American admissions program. In FY91, the proposed parameters of the Cuban program will be expanded to include political dissidents, religious activists, and former U.S. Government employees who meet the definition of a refugee.

Soviet Union

For many years, the United States and other democracies have advocated greater freedom of emigration for Soviet citizens, especially Soviet Jews, long a target of persecution within the Soviet Union. We consider the right to emigrate a fundamental human right, and the United States has devoted considerable effort and resources to support resettlement of those allowed to leave. The unfortunate resurgence of anti-semitism in the Soviet Union has made emigration a necessary alternative to religious and ethnic persecution.

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The proposed admissions ceiling for refugees from the Soviet Union in FY91 is 50,000. They will be accepted from all six

priorities to include groups determined by Congress to be of special concern.

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who, in accordance with

religious activists and others legislation enacted late last year, are thought to be in the most urgent need of refugee resettlement are given priority. Within these groups, except for the evangelical Christians, applicants with close family members who are U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents, refugees, parolees or asylees are given priority in scheduling interviews in Moscow.

In FY90, we set a ceiling of 40,000 funded and 10,000 unfunded numbers from the Soviet Union.

Approximately 8,000 of the unfunded numbers were utilized, and we are impressed with the contributions from the private sector that made that possible. However, based on our consultations, we do not believe the same number of privately funded numbers is practical in FY91. In fact, we re-allocated 2,100 additional numbers to the Soviet program in FY90 to accommodate the needs there which could not be met from the unfunded numbers. Therefore, for FY91, we are proposing a ceiling of 50,000 funded numbers for the Soviet Union. We do not propose to request additional funding from Congress to cover these extra 10,000 Soviet admissions.

Rather, as noted earlier, we will endeavor to incorporate these

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added numbers in our FY91 budget request by offering a reduced fare for pre-payment of transportation costs, which we believe will be attractive to many of the families of the refugees. A positive response to this offer could substantially reduce the need to finance transportation loans. Any shortfall in funds for the additional 10,000 would be reflected in fewer Soviet admissions. We have begun discussions on this program with the relevant voluntary organizations.

Private Sector Initiative

A program that we in the Coordinator's office are very proud of is the Private Sector Initiative, or PSI. The PSI is a joint, public-private program under which all the basic costs of admission and resettlement are paid for by the private sector. It has made a substantial contribution to our refugee program in FY90. By September 30, we expect to have admitted approximately 3,000 Cuban refugees, a small number of Vietnamese, and an initial increment of refugees under a new Ethiopian program. Moreover, approximately 8,000 Soviet Jews

were admitted through a separate, privately-funded program. The PSI ceiling proposal for fiscal year 91 is 10,000.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that while we consistently urge other nations to do their fair share in

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resettling and caring for the world's refugee population, the

United States will remain the world's humanitarian leader in

refugee affairs.

Thank you.

Senator SIMON. Before we hear from Commissioner McNary, I believe Senator Simpson has an opening statement.

OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR SIMPSON

Senator SIMPSON. Thank you, Mr. Acting Chairman. It doesn't take much to get a quorum here, though. Just two of us. I thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Good to see you, Larry Eagleburger. I have a great respect for this man after observing him in my time here. We are glad to have you here for this consultation in refugee numbers and the things we need to do.

I think it gets lost sometimes that the United States leads the world in providing refugee assistance and resettlement opportunities for refugees. I think to our great credit we have resettled nearly 1 million refugees now from Southeast Asia since that war ended. The war is over. It ended in 1975. We have done remarkable work on this committee dealing with Amerasian children. We did a special bill for that, totally special legislation. I assisted, worked hard for that.

At some point in time, we dilute the term "refugee," and that is very disappointing to me. We resettled more than 50,000 Southeast Asians last year alone. Then we resettled nearly 43,000 refugees from the Soviet Union in fiscal year 1990. I don't think there is any American that doesn't think we must always provide a place of succor and refuge for those whose lives or freedom are in danger because of their race or religion or political belief. And I think most Americans also share the view that we should and that we are able to provide our fair share of the needs of refugees in camps around the world. Indeed, they are there.

DISTURBING TRENDS IN POLICY

So there are several trends in our policy which I think are very disturbing in recent years. First, the normal flow of refugees was anticipated to be 50,000 persons a year. That was when I came to this Chamber. Senator Kennedy was the driving force behind the Refugee Act of 1980, and we saw what was happening with the parole, but I won't go into that history.

We have exceeded that number every year since the Refugee Act was adopted. In many of those years, the need was great, and we were doing the right thing to take numbers which were sometimes several times that of the normal flow, and I went along with that.

Now we see the refugee numbers climbing today from 125,000 in fiscal year 1990 to a requested 131,000 in the next fiscal year. The real growing concern to me is what is driving our refugee policy. How do we arrive at these numbers? What is the real need, the actual need, the honest to God, nonpolitical need for resettlement in such large numbers?

Are these all refugees of "special humanitarian concern" to us? That is the definition. Are they persons who must all be resettled in the United States? Could they sensibly and reasonably be repatriated without pressure, without loss of freedom and dignity?