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refugees since 1975. By the end of last year, 46,07: of them had been naluralized as U.S. citizens. They are compiling a remarkable record of achievement in our country and many are in a posi ion themselves to aid their relatives wishing to come here.
In cooperation with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) we are focusing on the panel's recommendations to help guide us to maintain an adequate program for refugnes from Indochina, and at the same time to assist those qualifying through family ties to seek admission through established immigration channels. A report on Our progress in this process is included in the documents presented to you as part of this consultation,
In reviewing these subjects we have maintained close consultations with the Congress, with the first-asylum countries of the region, with the other countries continuing to offer significant levels of resettlement (among whom Australia and Canada play the greatest role), and with the concerned international agencies.
Balanced Program
It is in this context that the president is recommending the proposed admissions ceilings for East Asia both for those in first-asylum countries and for those able to leave Vietnam by means of The UNHCR's Orderly Departure Program. As I stated during last year's consultations, we see the need for balance in this program :
"Indochinese refugee resettlement must be balanced against other, regional solutions; balanced as a fair share of an international resettlement effort; balanced in terms of its budgetary implications; balanced in terms of other
immigration and domestic policy considerations; and balanced against the need to provide resettlement to deserving refugees from other parts of the world.
The Ray Panel has proposed guidelines to help us achieve this balance in ways that respond to the needs of the refugees. We will continue to assure the first asylum states of the durability of our commitment to help ease their burden and to provide continued resettlement opportunities in the United States.
The proposed ceiling for refugees in first asylum will enable us to process those currently eligible for the U.S. program, those new arrivals who qualify under our priorily categories, and a part of the long-stayer caseload under a revitalized international initiative. The Ray Panel attached "the greatest significance" to the preservation of first asylum. Today I want to reaffirm to the nations of Southeast Asia the importance we attach to their continuing to offer safe first asylum for Indochinese refugees. In cooperation with other donors, we
will continue to do all we can to provide both resettlement opportunities and financial support for assistance needs in Southeast Asia, as recommended by the Ray Panel. We are considering some processing of refugees from among those who have been in camps the longest, and believe these initiatives can be undertaken within the proposed admissions ceiling.
Orderly Departure Program
In October 1984, I presented to this committee on behalf of President Reagan two significant humanitarian initiatives aimed at reaching special populations in Vietnam through the UNHCR Orderly Departure Program. I want to take this opportunity to reaffirm, as I did last year, our commitment to accept all Amerasian children from Vietnam. We are equally committed to resettling present and former political prisoners from Vietnam's so-called re-cducation camps, and their close family members.
The president is proposing a 8,500 ceiling for refugees leaving Vietnam directly under the ODP, the same as last year. This does not include the several thousand Vietnamese who we anticipate will come to the United States as immigrants. But this appearance of continuity does not change the fact that the ODP has encountered serious setbacks. On January 1, 1986, the Vietnamese government unilaterally suspended interviewing of new cases. Departures from Vietnam have continued at about 75 percent of the rate of last year from the pool of applicants interviewed for resettlement in the United States before interviewing was suspended. We have had three working-level meetings with the Vietnamese under UNHCR auspices, the most recent one just
last month, to try to resolve the problem. We continue to hope interviewing can resume without further unnecessary delay. Our
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