primarily for reasons of family reunifica- tion-an approach consistent with the panel's recommendations.
The difficulty with immigrant visa procedures-as we all know-is the wait- ing period which many must face. It is important to begin the process at the earliest possible date. Consequently, I wish strongly to recommend that you urge all former refugees in your states desiring to sponsor their relatives for admission to the United States to do two things:
First, bring their personal status up to date. Those who have been in the United States for 1 year are required to report to the Immigration and Naturali- zation Service (INS) for adjustment to permanent resident alien status; those who have been in the United States for more than 5 years are eligible to apply for citizenship.
Second, file the necessary docu- ments with INS. There is no reason for them not to start as early as possible to complete forms and assemble required documents.
To those of you from mutual assist- ance associations and voluntary agencies-if you do not have staff exper- tise in immigration procedures, acquire it. One of the greatest services you can perform for the refugees is to provide informed counseling on the whole spectrum of immigration procedures.
Repayment of Refugee Transportation Loans
I would like to comment about the repayment of refugee transportation loans. As most of you know, the bureau pays the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration (ICM) in Geneva for the cost of reduced fare transportation to the United States. ICM issues loan notes which are signed by each adult refugee confirming their agreement to repay the amount in full.
As a result of close collaboration among ICM, the resettlement agencies, and the State Department during the past few years, the amount of collections has shown substantial improvement. Last year, about $13 million was repaid by refugees. Since 1952, when the loan fund was first established, through 1985 approximately $58.5 million was repaid by refugees, and of this amount nearly $34 million was repaid since 1983- reflecting the positive result of the spe- cial program to increase repayments.
While a portion of these repayments is used to offset costs incurred by the voluntary agencies in collecting the loans, the major portion is returned to ICM to cover the transportation of cur- rent refugee admissions. In these days of serious budget limitations flowing
from the Balanced Budget and Emer- gency Deficit Control Act (Gramm- Rudman-Hollings), the repayments take on even more importance than before. The early and increased repayment of refugee loans can make a truly signifi- cant difference in the number of refugee admissions the Department can finance in the future. Your assistance in explain- ing to refugees presently in the United States how important it is to repay these loans could be critical.
The UNHCR Orderly Departure Program
I have been asked to talk about the UNHCR Orderly Departure Program (ODP). You will recall that the uncon- trolled exodus of boat departures from Vietnam in 1978-79-which resulted in so much needless human suffering and death-prompted the international com- munity to seek agreement from Hanoi to an orderly system of departure. The result was a Memorandum of Under- standing signed in June 1979 by the UNHCR and Vietnam, creating the Orderly Departure Program from Viet- nam. Since then, the ODP has provided for increasingly larger numbers of Viet- namese a safe means of leaving Vietnam as an alternative to the perilous, clan- destine flight by boat or overland through the mine-infested fields along the Thai-Cambodian border. Over 100,000 Vietnamese have been able to leave Vietnam safely through this program-approximately half to the United States and half to the nearly 30 other participating countries.
Despite the unilateral Vietnamese suspension of processing new cases since January 1 of this year, departures from Vietnam in 1986 have remained close to what they were in the comparable period last year. This is because there is a sufficient pool of interviewed U.S. applicants to permit departures for the time being to continue. We are trying to persuade the Vietnamese to resume processing before any permanent damage to the program is done.
For the future, beyond the present suspension, we believe that the only way the ODP can continue to expand significantly is by increased use of the immigration route to bring about family reunification. All family reunification sponsors in your states-no matter what the stage of processing of their family's applications-should be advised to file immigrant visa petitions with the INS for family members. In the future, polit- ical and budgetary constraints probably will limit the refugee route to cases of special humanitarian concern to the United States-individuals who clearly face persecution because of their ties to the United States but who cannot qual- ify for immigrant visas. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Vietnamese refugees in
the United States have now been here long enough to qualify for U.S. citizen- ship. As citizens, they should be urged to file immigrant visa petitions if they want their relatives to join them.
The Amerasian Children
There is a special humanitarian concern in this country for the children of American fathers and Vietnamese mothers-the Amerasians-born in Viet- nam during the American presence. Most of them live with their mothers and other close family members, although some are orphans or have been abandoned. The difficulties of life endemic in today's Vietnam are even worse for Amerasian children who face special hardships because of their mixed racial background. Since September 1982-when the Vietnamese authorities accepted our proposal to permit ODP processing of Amerasians, their mothers, and other close family mem- bers for departure from Vietnam- approximately 3,500 Amerasian children and 4,900 family members have departed for resettlement in the United States for a total of 8,400 persons.
Last evening, I shared a traditional Vietnamese meal at the International Institute with some of these Amerasian children and their mothers whom we have resettled in St. Louis through the institute-a truly remarkable and impressive civic organization for which this community is justifiably proud. I heard firsthand from these Amerasians of their difficult life in Vietnam and how hard they and their mothers are now working-in the institute's day or even- ing English classes, at public schools, and in factories-so they can say with pride and confidence, at home here in St. Louis.
In September 1984, Secretary Shultz announced to the Congress on behalf of President Reagan that the United States would accept for admission, through the ODP over a 3-year period. all Amerasian children and their qualify- ing family members presently in Vietnam-reaffirming that they are of particular humanitarian concern to the United States because of their ties to our country. I have had the honor to head the U.S. delegations to these negotiations in Geneva since 1982 and to present the President's initiative to the Vietnamese delegation in 1984. The initial Vietnamese response to the pres- dential initiative for the Amerasians was encouraging. However, the present unilateral Vietnamese suspension of all processing in Ho Chi Minh City-if not lifted-will soon cause the departure of Amerasians to drop sharply. The Viet namese informed us earlier this year that they had identified an additional
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