U.S. Not ‘Niggardly’ on Soviet Refugees, State Dept. Declares

WASHINGTON —  A senior State Department official today vigorously denied that the Bush Administration is being “niggardly” in setting a new policy on dealing with thousands of Soviet refugees seeking entry into the United States.

The official, Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, also suggested that Western Europe, Canada and Australia could do more to help ease the burden on the United States by taking in more refugees.

Eagleburger was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee after Administration officials had been subjected to withering attack by a House Judiciary subcommittee.

Congressmen had said that plans to cope with an increasing flood of Soviet Jews and others now able to leave the country under Moscow’s liberalized emigration policies were inadequate.

“I resent the implication (in the House and in the press) that we have some heartless, niggardly, conservative approach to the problem,” Eagleburger said.

Trying to Be Generous

He said the United States is trying to be as generous as possible. But he said U.S. resources are limited, adding that other countries also have an obligation to accept some of the refugees. He specified Western European nations, Canada and Australia.

He said that there is a new era in Soviet emigration and that it has never been claimed that the United States has an obligation to accept everyone who wants to leave.

The Administration is proposing to admit 50,000 Soviet refugees in the year starting Oct. 1, out of total admissions of 125,000 worldwide.

The Soviet total, however, is already exceeded by the number of Jews and others who have applied for refugee status and officials say that up to 150,000 more may seek to leave next year.

Eagleburger said the Administration’s first aim is to clear the backlog of Soviet citizens who have already left the Soviet Union and are waiting in camps in Vienna and Rome.

Simpson Hits ‘Gimmickry’

He said none of the thousands of refugees stalled in a camp outside of Rome will be denied entry. The camp cost the United States $34 million in the current fiscal year, he said.

After Oct. 1, the United States will no longer give refugee status to Jews who leave the Soviet Union on Israeli visas and then opt to come to the United States.

In the future, applications will be processed only at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, backed up by a special office in Washington.

In statements out of step with those of other committee members, Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) criticized the “gimmickry” of a refugee admission system that gives priority to Soviet refugees.

Supporting case-by-case decisions on refugees rather than automatic granting of refugee status, he said, “It’s unconscionable to me to jump to the head of the line persons who are not refugees, not to mention providing them all the benefits they receive which immigrants do not now receive.”