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(4) by striking out "and less the number of conditional entries and visas made available pursuant to para

graph (7)" in subsection (a) (8);

(5) by striking out "or to conditional entry under paragraphs (1) through (8)" in subsection (a) (9) and inserting in lieu thereof "under paragraphs (1) through (7)";

(6) by redesignating paragraphs (8) and (9) of subsection (a) as paragraphs (7) and (8);

(7) by striking out "(7)" in subsection (d) and inserting in lieu thereof " (6) "; and

(8) by striking out subsections (f), (g), and (h). (d) Sections 212 (a) (14), 212 (a) (32), and 244 (d) 14 of the Act (8 U.S.C. 1182 (a) (14), 1182 (a) (32), 1254 15 (d)) are amended by striking out "section 203 (a) (8)" 16 and inserting in lieu thereof "section 203 (a) (7)”.

17 (e) Subsection (h) of section 243 of the Act (8 U.S.C. 18 1253) is amended to read as follows:

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"(h) (1) The Attorney General is authorized to with20 hold the deportation or return of any alien, subject to such 21 terms and conditions as he may prescribe, to any country 22 where such alien's life or freedom would be threatened on 23 account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a 24 particular social group or political opinion.

25 "(2) This subsection shall not apply to~

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"(A) aliens who have entered the United States

in violation of this Act, unless they present themselves

without delay to an immigration officer and can show good cause for such illegal entry;

"(B) aliens who have engaged in the persecution of individuals on account of the individuals' race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion; and

“(C) aliens, who in the opinion of the Attorney General, constitute a danger to the community or to the security of the United States.".

(f) Any reference in any law to section 203 (a) (7) of 13 the Act shall be deemed a reference to section 207.

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EFFECTIVE DATE

SEC. 7. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the 16 amendments made by this title shall take effect on October 1, 17 1977.

18 (b) The repeal of subsections (g) and (h) of section 19 203 of the Act, made by section 6 (c) (8) of this Act, shall 20 not apply with respect to any individual who before Octo21 ber 1, 1977, was granted a conditional entry under section 22 203 (a) (7) of the Act (and under section 202 (e) (7) of the 23 Act, if applicable) as in effect immediately before such date. 24 (c) Section 5 of this Act shall become effective on 25 October 1, 1978:

We have this morning the Honorable Philip Habib, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Department of State, Donald Wortman-to your left?

Mr. HABIB. I presume he is arriving later.

Mr. EILBERG. I see. All right. I recognize three of your four associates; I wonder if you would identify all of them for the record. TESTIMONY OF HON. PHILIP HABIB, UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE; ACCOMPANIED BY JAMES L. CARLIN, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS; ROBERT OAKLEY, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR EAST ASIA; JOHN DEWITT, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR CONSULAR AFFAIRS; AND SHEPARD LOWMAN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS

Mr. HABIB. I identify Jim Carlin, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Humanitarian Affairs, State Department; Mr. Robert Oakley, on my left, who is Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia; Mr. John DeWitt, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs; Mr. Shepard Lowman, who works in the Office of Assistant Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs.

Mr. EILBERG. All right, Mr. Habib, do you have a statement? Mr. HABIB. Mr. Chairman, I have a very brief statement, then we'll place ourselves at the disposal of the committee.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today to support the administration's recommendation for a continuation of Federal funding to reimburse the States for welfare expenditures incurred as a result of the resettlement in the United States of the Indochinese refugees.

We have worked together on various matters relating to the Indochinese refugees from the beginning, following the fall of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos to the Communist armies in 1975. Since my last appearance before the subcommittee, I have watched with interest and gratitude as you and the members of your committee continued to grapple with this difficult and grave humanitarian problem. It is a problem which has continued longer than any of us expected and, indeed, which has grown in severity as desperate refugees seek escape from the rigors of Communist rule across the open sea in small boats. H.R. 9133—and your own identical bill, H.R. 9134-provides for continued reimbursement on a declining scale to the States for expenses incurred in the resettlement of Indochinese refugees now in the United States. While deferring to my colleague from HEW who has a more detailed justification for the proposal, this appears to me an eminently sensible proposition. Our experience clearly indicates that Indochinese refugees have made very substantial progress in the past 21 years. Some continued assistance by the Federal Government over the next few years would help complete the process of resettlement

Additionally, H.R. 9133 and H.R. 9134 provide for reimbursement to the States for welfare expenditures incurred in connection with newly arriving Indochinese refugees. As you know, following consultations with your committee, the Attorney General authorized parole for an additional 15,000 Indochinese refugees on August 11, 1977.

These refugees will be brought into the United States over about the the next 10 months, the first group of 100 boat case refugees arrived this week.

With respect to the 15,000 additional refugees to be paroled into the United States and such other Indochinese refugees as may enter under the conditional entry provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, they will be coming to this country with problems very similar to those experienced by their fellow refugees already here. Therefore, an extension of these benefits to assist in their resettlement as well would also appear fully justified.

Mr. Chairman, in closing I want to reiterate my appreciation, officially, and on a personal basis, for the humane attention you and the members of this committee have given to the problems of the refugees from Indochina.

Mr. EILBERG. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

[The prepared statement of Hon. Philip Habib follows:]

STATEMENT BY THE HONORABLE PHILIP HABIB, UNDER SECRETARY
FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today to support the Administration's recommendation for a continuation of Federal funding to reimburse the States for welfare expenditures incurred as a result of the resettlement in the United States of the Indochinese refugees.

We have worked together on various matters relating to the Indochinese refugees from the beginning, following the fall of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos to the Communist armies in 1975. Since my last appearance before the Subcommittee, I have watched with interest and gratitude as you and the members of your Committee continued to grapple with this difficult and grave humanitarian problem. It is a problem which has continued longer than any of us expected and, indeed, which has grown in severity as desperate refugees seek escape from the rigors of Communist rule across the open sea in small boats. H.R. 9133 provides for continued reimbursement on a declining scale to the States for expenses incurred in the Resettlement of Indochinese refugees now in the United States. While deferring to my colleague from HEW who has a more detailed justification for the proposal, this appears to me an eminently sensible proposition. Our experience clearly indicates that Indochinese refugees have made very substantial progress in the past 2 years, but that the resettlement process is not yet completed. Some continued assistance by the Federal Government over the next few years would not only give the refugees additional time to complete the resettlement process, but would also recognize the additional burden thrown on certain selected States by the secondary resettlement which has taken place.

Additionally, H.R. 9133 provides for reimbursement to the States for welfare expenditures incurred in connection with newly arriving Indochinese refugees. As you know, following consultations with your Committee, the Attorney General authorized parole for an additional 15,000 Indochinese refugees on August 11, 1977. These refugees will be brought into the United States over about the next 10 months the first group of 100 boat case refugees arrived this week.

With respect to the 15,000 additional refugees to be paroled into the United States and such other Indochinese refugees as may enter under the Conditional Entry provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, they will be coming to this country with problems very similar to those experienced by their fellow refugees already here. Therefore an extension of these benefits to assist in their resettlement as well would also appear fully justified.

Mr. Chairman, in closing I want to reiterate my appreciation, officially and on a personal basis, for the humane attention you and the members of this committee have given to the problems of the refugeees from Indochina.

Mr. EILBERG. Your statement, of course, invites this question, and that is: What does the future look like as far as the admission of refugees into the United States?

Mr. Secretary, I have long advocated the internationalization of the Indochinese refugee situation. I have called for an international conference to discuss this problem so long-range solutions can be devised in the international community. I would like to introduce into the record a letter I wrote to President Carter on July 12, 1977, expressing my concern with the rapidly worsening problems confronting Indochinese refugees in Thailand, as well as the boat cases in other countries in Eastern Asia. [See app. 7 at p. 235 for text of letter.]

I proposed that he take the lead in commiting the nations of the world to an international conference on the Indochinese refugees. I know that you know about this proposal because you and I have briefly discussed that concept.

My only response from the White House was a letter from Frank Moore, assistant to the President for congressional liaison, dated July 15, 1977, informing me the President had asked the National Security Council to look into the matter. No further response was forthcoming. [See app. 7 at p. 236 for text of letter. Subsequent to this hearing, another response was received which is reproduced in app. 7 at p. 236.] Yet, we continue to read the newspapers as recently as yesterday that we can expect continued numbers of flows of refugees in the months to come. Thus far no one has acted to make such a conference a realization.

I know that you as head of the task force, Department of State, present to the President the views of your Department on the options open to resolve this continuing problem. It is my understanding that this report will be available within the next few days; and I am personally glad you are handling it because you are so knowledgeable in the field.

I appreciate your ability to come here this morning with so many other duties and obligations of which I am quite well aware. Without going into detail, could you outline the general provisions and recommendations the Department of State will be making to confront this continuing problem in Thailand and Indochina?

Mr. HABIB. Mr. Chairman, the task force, of course, is not purely a Department of State affair. What we tried to do is bring together every appropriate agency in Government in consideration of the problems we are likely to face in the future. The task force report has not yet gone forward to the President. It will this week, within the next day, I expect.

The positions, the problems it outlines to the President are well known and I will try to sketch them briefly. I would like to propose, Mr. Chairman, that you let the executive branch sort out its own views; and then return to the committee, making available our studies, our conclusions, and discuss and consult with the committee, before we reach any definite answers to the problems we expect to face.

So, rather than outline for you today what we propose, I would suggest that you let us do what is normal, that is, report to the President before we report publicly.

Mr. EILBERG. Mr. Secretary, I have little doubt that because this legislation has been submitted at this very late date, that both you and I know that its progress is highly speculative, particularly considerng how late in this session of Congress it is that we are moving with is legislation, although not due to our fault. I think the members

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