TNAG-1537-FCO40-2101-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-third-countri-1986 — Page 6

NO.

179

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee,

thank you for the invitation and the honor to consult with you

on the President's proposed refugee admissions ceiling for

fiscal year 1987.

This is the third consecutive year that I have participated

in these consultations. These sessions were envisaged by the

Congress in the Refugee Act of 1980, which specified that our

refugee admissions are intended for refugees of "special

humanitarian concern to the United States in accordance with a

determination made by the President after appropriate

consultation with the Congress."

--

taking into

Mr. Chairman, after thoughtful consideration

account the resettlement needs of refugees of special

humanitarian concern to us the President proposes an overall

admissions ceiling of 70,000 refugees, with 66,000 to be

included in funded regional ceilings and 4,000 to be contained

in an unfunded reserve, unallocated by any region.

admissions proposal includes:

This year's

reaffirmation of the President's initiatives on

Amerasians and Vietnamese political prisoners;

an admissions level to maintain continued high

processing levels from the refugee camps in the Southeast

Asian first asylum countries;

3