In accordance with The Refugee Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-212), members of the Committee on the Judiciary have now consulted with your representatives on the proposed refugee admissions for fiscal year 1992. We accept your proposed numbers, but we would make the following recommendations and observations. First, the Committee will not agree in the future to set admission levels above those provided for in the budget and, in effect, dumping the responsibility on the States and local communities. This is contrary to the explicit provisions of The Refugee Act. To accommodate a 21% increase in refugee admissions over that which is in the budget of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Refugee Resettlement has been forced to announce that it will only be able to reimburse States for eight months instead of the twelve months this year down from 36 - months just five years ago. There is a serious danger that some Staces will completely withdraw from the refugee program and that the refugee program will suffer a serious erosion in public support. We would urge the Administration to seek a supplemental appropriations next year if it is necessary or desirable to maintain the proposed level of admissions. Second, it is clear the consultation process envisioned in The Refugee Act is not being fulfilled when it is held only days before the beginning of the fiscal year and after budgetary decisions and appropriations have already been made. We would urge the Administration to do what was in fact proposed by members last year as well as by officials involved in the refugee program hold the consultations earlier in the year at the time budgetary decisions are being made. Third, the Committee recommends that the proposed 1,300 unallocated numbers be reserved for refugees who the U.3. High Commissioner for Refugees identifies as being at risk. Often these refugees must be moved within a matter of hours, or face refoulement and imminent danger to their lives or freedom. The United States has a proud record, but we do not always respond well to individual refugees in need of urgent protection. To respond to these needs the Committee suggests these unallocated numbers be used for this purpose, and that the Coordinator for Refugee Affairs establish a permanent procedure with the Attorney General allowing Consular Officers to admit these refugees at risk" rather than waiting months for an INS circuit rider to interview them. Fourth, for more that 10 years your representatives have stressed that the admission numbers are ceilings and not quotas. We have frequently observed that the congressional intent was that admissions numbers represent ceilings not to be exceeded, rather than quotas to be filled. However, for the first time the Administration has treated a ceiling as a quota and has proposed increasing numbers for a particular region to address a shortfall In admissions from that region in the previous year. We believe this is an unwise change in policy and in the future would encourage you to propose admissions based on current need, rather than to make up for shortfalls" in a prior year. Finally, as we discussed with your representatives at our hearing, this is a time of historic change in the world, and with the end of the Cold War it also provides an historic opportunity for the United Nations and its agencies to become more effective and involved. We are witnessing a greater willingness by governments to address humanitarian and other problems collectively through the United Nations. Whether it is the Kurdish refugee crisis, the continuing problems in southern Iraq, or the Cambodia issue, nations have joined together in looking to the U.M. as the best forum for resolving them. But if we are to expect the U.. to finally be able to do what its original Charter gave it the responsibility to do, then there is a need to strengthen the U.N.'s capacity to do so. Currently, there are major proposals to reform the U.N. Secretariat, to streamline operations, cut back on staff, and make the U.N. system more responsive to the Secretary General. We would urge the Administration to support similar action with the specialized agencies such as the UNHCR, WFP and others. In recent years, in Ethiopia and Sudan, and most recently with the Kurdish refugee crisis, we have seen major field problems in the A number of proposals U.N. response to humanitarian emergencies. for reform have been made, and we hope your Administration will In the end, it is these lead in efforts to implement them. reforms of the intentional system, more than even our generous resettlement program, which will save the lives of untold millions of refugees and displaced persons in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. |