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PA NO. 196
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U S. refugee assistance in first asylum nations is made more
icient by combining it with the resources of other nations through international refugee assistance organizations. We concentrate our refugee program resources on these international assistance programs, spending about twice as much on the 99 percent of refugees who remain overseas as we do to resettle the refugees admitted each year to the United States.
REFUGEE ADMISSIONS POLICY
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Our refugee admissions policy reflects the oft quoted words of Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty. To the "poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, we want to offer the same opportunities for a new home in a new land that were extended to our own forefathers. The Refugee Act of 1980 defines whom we may admit as refugees. Each year we must make choices concerning which refugees we will admit and in what numbers. These decisions follow naturally from our refugee admissions policy, which provides resettlement when repatriation or local resettlement is not possible or first asylum is not secure.
There are four significant objectives of our admissions policy. First, each year, in cooperation with the UNHCR, refugees who face perilous protection problems in their countries of first asylum are resettled quickly and quietly. Released political prisoners, as from Cuba, are also resettled. We hope soon to begin resettling large numbers of Vietnamese reeducation center detainees as well.
Second, our willingness to resettle refugees encourages other nations to maintain responsible policies of first asylum. This applies not only in Southeast Asia, but also in Western Europe, which has a long tradition of offering asylum.
Third, we have a special, ongoing commitment to offer resettlement to refugees overseas who have family in the United States or close ties here through employment or education. Whenever possible, we save refugee admissions numbers by channeling family reunion cases through regular immigration channels. The long waiting periods for immigrant visas and the difficulties under which refugees exist overseas, however, do not allow for easy switching of refugees onto an immigrant track.
The fourth objective of our admissions policy is to deter refugees from jeopardizing their own safety by ensuring an orderly flow of refugees through special negotiated direct departure programs. Such programs also ensure that persons who do not qualify for refugee admission are not stranded in a third country.