Date: 2004-12-06
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I rise today with great delight to announce the FY2005 omnibus appropriations package that is scheduled to be approved by Congress today includes the text of legislation I authored. H.R. 2792. that reauthorizes refugee eligibility for children of Vietnamese reeducation camp survivors. The Communist government of Vietnam. by its actions in imprisoning Catholic priests. Buddhist monks. and ordinary citizens whose only crime is to speak out for freedom and democracy. is saying loudly and clearly and consistently to the United States: We want your investment dollars. and we are willing to learn from your economic system. but your values of religious and political freedom are not welcome. We need to do more to respond to this message of oppression with our own message of freedom. Human rights need to be central to our foreign policy toward Vietnam. One small step we can take is to save as many as possible of the people who are still being persecuted by the Communist authorities because of their wartime associations with the United States or simply because they share our values. Until April 1. 1995. former Vietnamese prisoners of war who were accepted for resettlement by the United States as refugees could bring their sons and daughters. even those above the age of 21. so long as they had never married and were members of the refugee parents household. On April 1. 1995. the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) changed its interpretation of the law. to exclude children who were over 21. even if they were unmarried and living with their parents. This change in policy forced a brutal choice on expolitical prisoners: either decline the opportunity to find freedom in the United States. or abandon their children in a country that has persecuted them. For South Vietnamese combat veterans and others who had suffered with their children long terms in reeducation camps because of their wartime associations with the United States. this imposed a particularly harsh burden. These children had already been without their fathers while they were in reeducation camps. in some cases for 10 or 15 years. Then the refugees were given a choice between living forever under a Communist dictatorship or leaving their children behind when they immigrated to the United States. These children are marked as members of a "counterrevolutionary family" and denied educational and employment opportunities by the government of Vietnam. They would certainly go on suffering in Vietnam because of their familys participation in the war. Recognizing these realities. Congress on three occasions has adopted the "McCain amendment." which changed the INS interpretation of the law. so that refugees who are survivors of reeducation camps can once again be accompanied by the unmarried sons and daughters. The latest extension of the McCain amendment expired on September 20. 2001. Hence. I introduced and Congress passed H.R. 1840 in the 107th Congress to reauthorize the McCain amendment through September 30. 2003. The original language did not apply to children who were mistakenly rejected before April 1. 1995. for reasons other than age. Even if new evidence surfaced that showed someone rejected before 1995 was actually the child of a refugee. families had no recourse to challenge the decision. The original language also excluded refugee sons and daughters who were denied access to an INS interview by corrupt and/or vindictive Communist officials who often serve as gatekeepers for the U.S. refugee program. My bill fixed these problems. In addition. the legislation permitted unmarried children over the age of 21 to immigrate to the United States even if the surviving parent is currently living in the United States. Mr. Speaker. today I stand here before you as this important provision has once again expired. Fortunately. with the help of Senator JOHN MCCAIN (RAZ). the text of H.R. 2792. which extends this provision until September 30. 2005. was added to the FY2005 omnibus appropriations package that we are set to approve today. H.R. 2792 is a fair and equitable bill that provides family reunification and allows us to keep our promise to the people who fought alongside U.S. troops during the Vietnam war. Their courage and valor must never be forgotten. I want to thank Senator MCCAIN for his leadership and his staff for their assistance in passing the H.R. 2792 language. Furthermore. I would like to thank the co sponsors of my bill Representatives ZOE LOFGREN. CHRIS SMITH. JIM MORAN. and LORETTA SANCHEZ who have given this issue their steadfast support.