Mr. GROSS. So whether they want to become permanent residents or whether they register for the draft-which is it? Mr. PALMATIER. AS I interpret this, at the end of 1 year they must either register for the draft or request an exemption. But if they request an exemption, if I understand this correctly, they can never become a U.S. citizen. Mr. FASCELL. Do we have any figures on how many refugees have served or volunteered or had been drafted? Mr. PALMATIER. The same document speaks to that. "Specific records relating to Cuban refugees are not maintained by the military services. Therefore, it is not possible to supply the information requested." I don't have statistics but I do know, as the chairman knows, from the situation in Miami, a lot of Cubans do enter the military service. As a matter of fact, I was quite surprised during the tour of duty that I had in Vietnam to notice the number of Cubans serving specifically in the Green Berets. I think perhaps because of their language ability they are probably funneled into that type of service, not specifically for Vietnam but because of the dual language ability. IMMIGRATION ACT-CHANGE IN STATUS OF REFUGEES Mr. FASCELL. A refugee comes in under a refugee status and then, as I understand it, he is allowed to change his status; is that correct? He can change his status at any point and apply for permanent residence? Mr. PALMATIER. Most of the Cubans entering the United States come in as parolees. I don't understand all of the legal parts because I am just not an expert on it. They come in as parolees. Until 1966, the only way that a Cuban who came in as a parolee could adjust his status to that of a permanent resident was by physically leaving the United States going to Canada or Mexico where we have visaissuing posts-and then coming back in as a permanent resident or immigrant. Mr. FASCELL. Then we changed the law? Mr. PALMATIER. Yes, sir. What happened is, Mr. Fascell, that a lot of the professional people-for example, doctors, dentists, lawyers, and some tradesmen, plumbers and so on-found that because of State laws they couldn't practice here. We couldn't use their skills. Many of the State laws require that the person either be a citizen or that he be in a position to sign a document known as a declaration of intent to become a citizen. A parolee just was not in a legal position to do that. At the same time it was recognized that this was causing extreme hardships, the necessity for someone practicing medicine in Texas, sometimes the entire family, to go off to Canada-since Mexico was not issuing visas to them at the time-and then be processed for a visa and come back in again. Congress did pass a law in 1966 Mr. GROSS. They still couldn't practice medicine simply by going to Canada and coming back? Mr. PALMATIER. They could practice in many States under the supervision of an American physician. Mr. GROSS. We had last year I don't know how many private bills to qualify them for medical practice in this country. Mr. PALMATIER. That is correct, many. Depending on the State of practice. In any case, in 1966 there was an amendment to the basic immigration act which makes it possible for a Cuban who comes in as a parolee after he has been in the United States for 24 months to apply to have his status adjusted to that of a permanent resident. This is taking place at the present time. IMMIGRATION QUOTA FOR THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE Mr. FASCELL. How does that relate to the hemisphere immigration quota limit? Mr. PALMATIER. I am once again not an expert in visas. I understand that they are charged against the numerical limitation of Mr. FASCELL. 120,000? Mr. PALMATIER. Yes, sir. That went into effect for the hemisphere in 1968. They are charged against that. Mr. FASCELL. Does a refugee who changes his status under the new law get credit for the number of years he has been in the United States? Mr. PALMATIER. When Congress amended the act, I believe they said that the Cuban could get retroactive credit up to 30 months. Mr. FASCELL. He would get 211⁄2 years as against the 5? Mr. PALMATIER. That is correct, sir. Mr. FASCELL. For citizenship? Mr. PALMATIER. It was to help the backlog that existed at the time the law was passed, I assume. PUBLIC ASSISTANCE TO REFUGEES Mr. FASCELL. I think you gave us the number of Cuban refugees now receiving assistance, as I recall it? Mr. PALMATIER. That is correct. Mr. FASCELL. What was that number again? Mr. PALMATIER. It is about 62,000 at the present time. Mr. FASCELL. That is in all of the States of the Union? Mr. PALMATIER. All of the States of the Union. Mr. FASCELL. Do we have any information regarding job categories of those who have come off the assistance rolls? Mr. PALMATIER. We have some data available but it is not total. When the refugee Mr. FASCELL. Take the Center in Miami where they register for assistance. There must be some basis for determining when they come off assistance, is that correct? Mr. PALMATIER. Yes. There is no problem in that. What we have trouble doing, Mr. Chairman, is keeping track of the occupations of persons who are self-supporting. When the Cuban refugee program first started and we began the resettlement effort, we attempted to keep track of the people but we found over a period of time that it was impossible. You may have a lawyer come in and his first job in Miami, Fla., might be as a gas station attendant. Three weeks later he goes on to something else. He may then resettle in New York and get some other type of employment. It just becomes impossible to follow them. Mr. FASCELL. You do have one point of contact and that is when that person, when a refugee receiving assistance comes off of the assistance rolls? Mr. PALMATIER. Yes, sir. Mr. FASCELL. At which time you must determine whether or not he is actually employed unless he voluntarily Mr. PALMATIER. In most instances he would be employed. Once again, the way the welfare program works, we don't maintain a separate program with separate regulations and separate standards for the Cuban refugees. The welfare activity is carried out in our behalf by each State. They use the same standards of need that they do for an American citizen. If a refugee who is on welfare-the same as an American on welfare-did find employment, his case would be closed for welfare. Mr. FASCELL. So the States would have the information on employment. As the people came off the assistance rolls, they would probably have some method of determining what jobs they were holding at least at the time they came off the rolls. Mr. PALMATIER. As you mentioned, we have very good information on Miami. You are, I believe, aware of the detailed analysis that the First Research Corp., made in Miami. It was not a Government-sponsored study. They found that in 19 percent of the refugee households there, the head of the family was involved either in a profession or was a manager or owner of a business; 6.2 percent were involved in clerical work; 6.7 were sales workers; 28.6 craftsmen and operatives; 9.7 service workers; 3.5 laborers; 0.5 farmers; 3 were retired; and 1.2 percent were unemployed. That is of the total number in the Miami area. Mr. FASCELL. Could you give us a quick summary of the type of assistance which the United States makes available to Cuban refugees? Mr. PALMATIER. The charge that was put on HEW when the program started was to provide for the health, education, and welfare needs of the Cuban refugees to the extent necessary to see that they did not overburden any community where they were going. And of course Miami was the principal area at the time the program started that was really having serious problems because of the tremendous number that had come in over a short period of time. So almost immediately arrangements were made in Florida, through the Florida. State Department of Public Welfare, to provide welfare services to Cubans in Miami. Later, as the resettlement effort took place, welfare services were extended to all 50 States. I mentioned the way this works. The States use their own standards in providing assistance to Cubans, and then the Federal Government reimburses the State 100 percent for any cash payments they might make. Then we have the other service that we provide, resettlement, working through the four voluntary agencies in an attempt to get the maximum number out of the Miami area into areas where there is employment available, where the refugee can attempt to start rebuilding his life for himself and for his family. We have had to become involved in the educational business. We found, for instance, first in Miami, that the Dade County School Board in particular was being asked to really assume quite a burden in integrating these children into the school system. I wasn't here at the time, but I recall looking at some statistics. I believe one year they had 600 Cuban refugee children in the school system and the next year they had several thousand, which is really quite a burden to assume. We have found it necessary annually to provide funds to the Dade County school system in order to offset part of the extra cost they have had to incur in bringing the kids into the schools. We don't have a fixed formula that has remained constant since the beginning of the program. We have had very good relations with the school board, attempting to arrive at some type of formula based on such factors as the number of children, for instance, whose parents are on welfare, taking into account the number of children in the school system whose parents are no longer on welfare. For example, as you know, we are no longer required to provide any funds to the school system for any child who came to the United States prior to the beginning of the airlift. The community now feels that the parents of these children have become pretty well integrated, are paying taxes, and so on like everyone else. IMPACTED SCHOOL AID PROGRAM NOT INVOLVED Mr. GROSS. This is a separate program of impacted school aid, is that correct? Mr. PALMATIER. It is in a sense, that is right. Mr. GROSS. Have you found any duplication anywhere along the line in Florida or elsewhere, with the impacted school aid program, any duplication of figures by schools in Florida? Mr. PALMATIER. No, sir. Mr. GROSS. Or anywhere else? Mr. PALMATIER. No, there is no duplication because checks are used to assure that this doesn't happen. That is number one. Secondly, there are only two areas that are involved in receiving Federal funds to schools on behalf of Cuban refugee pupils. The first is Dade County, where there are a quarter of a million Cubans, some of them now American citizens, and where they have about 30,000 Cuban children in the school system. Mr. GROSS. Do you mean you don't follow them with impacted school Gross. aid anywhere else in the United States? Mr. PALAMATIER. No, sir. Mr. FASCELL. They don't qualify, do they? Mr. PALMATIER. No, sir. The only other area where it has been found necessary to provide Federal assistance to the school system based on Cuban refugee enrollment is in two small communities in New JerseyUnion City and West New York. This is because in a sense it is like a small Miami. A lot of Cubans have gone to these two small communities, to the point where, I think, during the last school year almost 50 percent of the children in west New York and Union City were Cuban children. Mr. GROSS. But in these cases the money comes directly from you? Mr. PALMATIER. From our program, that is right, sir. Funds for these school systems are included in our 1971 appropriation request. Mr. GROSS. From your program? Mr. PALMATIER. That is correct, sir. Mr. FASCELL. To clear up that point, the Cuban refugee children cannot be counted by a school system in applying for the regular impacted aid. Mr. PALMATIER. The regular impacted aid, that is correct. EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE We have also worked, once again through the Dade County Board of Public Instruction, to provide English language training to Cuban refugees of any age, so that they can become more rapidly integrated into the community. We have found it necessary to set up, from time to time, vocational training courses, once again through the Dade County Board of Instruction. As an example, in 1964 we had about 3,600 Cuban women on welfare whose children were in the United States but whose husbands were not able to get out. After doing a good analysis of the training and related needs of these women, and working with the Dade County Board of Instruction, we were able to establish vocational training courses aimed specifically at helping this particular group of women. We gave them English language training. We retrained some as secretaries. Quite a high number we were able to retrain as power sewing machine operators, because of the growing garment industry in Miami. And they are no longer on welfare, by the way. We have courses going all the time in Miami to help people upgrade their skills in order to be self-supporting. In the area of education, we have also found it advantageous to retrain some professionals from time to time. I mentioned that we have had a couple thousand doctors come to the United States. Working together with the AMA and the International School of Medicine at the University of Miami, we have set up a professional retraining course. We have put the physicians into a special course there for 3 months. It prepares them to pass the American Medical Association's examination for the foreign trained physician. We do this on a loan basis. It costs about $350 per physician. We have a loan program for the needy Cuban college student patterned after the National Defense Education Act. We have made about 11,000 loans since the program started. Mr. FASCELL. Have you had any repayment experience on those loans? Mr. PALMETIER. The repayment rate is fantastic. I think we have about 137 delinquent loans out of the total number that we have made. In most instances they have not refused to pay the money; they are delinquent because of an illness or something of that nature. HEALTH SERVICES In the area of health services, we found that it was necessary in Miami to set up a refugee health clinic, which provides outpatient services to Cuban refugees who are actually on welfare. It is operated in our behalf by the Dade County Department of Health. It was felt necessary to set up this clinic so that Cuban refugees on welfare would not add to the already overburdened outpatient clinic at Jackson Memorial Hospital. It doesn't provide services different from the outpatient clinic of Jackson Memorial Hospital, but it keeps the Cubans from adding to the large number of Americans on welfare who are already using the other facility. 47-893-70-11 |