where. There are about 2,000 monks. They have their own profession. There is a special problem dealing with them. But the Dalai Lama has certain resources which he is now investing. He has a trust fund from which there will be returns that will be utilized to assist refugees.

We are saying that for refugees who came out of Tibet in 1959 we ought to try to wind up our participation in the program, while at the same time realizing that there will still be a problem. However, the resources of the host governments, plus help from international organizations and voluntary agencies and the Dalai Lama's trust fund should be adequate to cope with the residual job which is still to be done. I would not want anyone to assume that by the end of 1967 all of the Tibetans will have been resettled in a manner which would suit them individually.

TERMINATION OF THE VIETNAMESE REFUGEE PROGRAM

Mr. CONTE. That poses another question. Earlier this year, before this committee, I expressed concern over the Vietnamese refugee program. I hope that, as you embark on this program, you are looking forward to an end of the program and we do not come upon the same pitfalls and the same mistakes that we encountered in the Palestinian refugee program. We must plan now so that we will not be saddled with this after the conflict is over for any length of time. Here you have an ideal condition. You have people all of the same race and all of the same country. We ought to be able to get them back into their villages and hamlets very quickly, so that they do not get accustomed to the life of the refugee camps and not want to return to the hamlets and the villages.

Mr. FALK. Our office and our bureau do not have any active responsibility for the program in Vietnam. It is carried out through AID. They will undoubtedly be testifying on this and you will get some rather extensive information on their plans.

NAMING THE JOHN F. KENNEDY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Mr. CONTE. We can pursue it at that time. In closing I want to concur with the chairman in regard to this hospital that is going to be built in Hong Kong. I strongly feel, and I cannot be emphatic enough, that this should be named the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital. I supported the chairman when he brought this up lası year. We should stand pat on this. I cannot forget when I went to Jordan and inspected the Palestinian refugee camps, not on one occasion but many, and found that, through these hearings, we were contributing about 80 percent

Mr. FALK. Seventy percent.

Mr. CONTE (Continuing). Seventy percent of the support of the refugees, but there was not one sign in those camps of the U.S. contribution. When you walk into the largest camp, the only sign you will find is on the water pump. There is a huge plaque attesting to the fact that there was a $35,000 contribution made by the Swiss Government. I am sure that every refugee in that camp thinks the whole camp is being run by the Swiss Government. There was not a trade school, which I fought for and we got out there, there wasn't a dis

pensary, which we operated, nor the hospitals, which we had, with one sign on it that it was part of an American program. I think this is wrong. I do not feel that we should go beating our chest and beating the drums that we are out helping people. I think that is wrong too. But I think if credit is to be given it should be given to the donor and not to someone else. If we are going to name this the Kennedy Hospital, you know and I know, there are enough Kennedys out there to make Smiths look anemic in the United States by contrast, and there should be no doubt that it is the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital.

IMPACT OF REFUGEES ON INDIAN ECONOMY

Mrs. HANSEN. What impact have these refugees and their resettlement had upon the Indian economy as a whole? Have they created problems for underemployment there or have they contributed in the agricultural area where it is necessary or is this a genuine part of the total Indian economic problem?

Mr. FALK. I think they have actually made a contribution. First of all, they have been working in areas-for instance, on roadbuilding in high altitudes where you could hardly get an Indian to go and work and in agricultural settlements where they have had to chop down the jungles to get something started. Some of their handicrafts have been marketed but there has been no indication of a competitive problem and overall it has been a constructive development.

Mr. PASSMAN. I want to thank the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts for again supporting me in my contention that the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Hong Kong, in the British crown colony, should be identified as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital.

I think we are all pro-British-we have indicated that by the tremendous amount of aid we have given the British in the past and at this time we are making great sacrifices in men and in wealth, trying to maintain the freedoms of not only our own great country, but that. also of United Kingdom. You have to associate the two together.

I can't believe, if this thing is properly presented by the U.S. consul general in the British crown colony of Hong Kong to the present Governor of the crown colony, that there could be any objections.

You gentlemen, in your statement—and I think it is worth repeating-I will quote, if I may, your statement toward the bottom of page 9 that "these funds are channeled into places readily identifiable to the general public of Hong Kong as American contributions."

Mrs. HANSEN. The entire committee is supporting you today.
Mr. PASSMAN. It is unanimous.

Thank you very much, gentlemen.

62-633-66- -24

TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 1966.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

WELFARE ADMINISTRATION

ASSISTANCE TO REFUGEES IN THE UNITED STATES

WITNESSES

DR. ELLEN WINSTON, COMMISSIONER OF WELFARE
JOSEPH H. MEYERS, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF WELFARE
ROY L. WYNKOOP, EXECUTIVE OFFICER, WELFARE ADMINISTRA-
TION

JOHN F. THOMAS, DIRECTOR, CUBAN REFUGEE PROGRAM
HENRY A. NEIL, JR., DEPUTY DIRECTOR, BUDGET DIVISION,
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

Mr. PASSMAN. The committee will come to order. Today we will consider the budget request for the Cuban refugee program, or I believe it is officially known as "Assistance to Refugees in the United States" to make it a little more all inclusive. request is coming through the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare budget.

The

We have before us Dr. Ellen Winston, Commissioner of Welfare, accompanied by Mr. Joseph H. Meyers, Deputy Commissioner of Welfare; Mr. Roy L. Wynkoop, Executive Officer, Welfare Administration; Mr. John F. Thomas, Director, Cuban refugee program; and Mr. Henry A. Neil, Jr., Deputy Director, Budget Division.

I believe, Dr. Winston, you have a prepared statement?

Dr. WINSTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. PASSMAN. Please proceed.

GENERAL STATEMENT

Dr. WINSTON. When I appeared before this committee last spring, we requested an appropriation of $32,265,000 to meet the costs of a program in which the number of new refugees and their needs were decreasing. At that time only 5,000 new Cuban refugees were coming in per year.

Castro's decision to permit the exodus of Cuban nationals who wanted to seek asylum in the United States and the U.S. decision to receive these refugees required us to request a supplemental appropriation of $12,600,000.

The Swiss Embassy in Havana, representing the interests of the United States in Cuba, and the Cuban Foreign Ministry exchanged notes establishing means for the orderly movement of Cuban refugees directly to the United States beginning December 1, 1965. Priority for the movement of immediate relatives of persons in this country was agreed to. The priorities were established as follows: parents of unmarried children under the age of 21, spouses, unmarried children under the age of 21, and brothers and sisters under the age of 21. When humanitarian consideration warrants, close relatives who reside in the same household as the immediate relatives are included.

On December 1, 1965, Cuban refugees began arriving in Miami at the rate of two plane loads a day, 5 days a week. The procedure for the selection of the refugees is as follows:

The relative in the United States initiates his request for the movement of his relative in Cuba by submitting a form to the Cuban refugee center in Miami. This is a simple one-page form which calls for the name and address of the U.S. claimant and the name, date of birth, address, and relationship of the persons in Cuba being claimed. These forms are classified at the center according to priorities set forth in the agreement with Cuba.

The information on the forms is reduced to data processing cards to facilitate the collating and verification being done by several Federal agencies.

As of March 18, 1966, 11 lists have been received from the Cuban Government of persons who may be permitted to leave Cuba. These lists contain 28,933 names. These names are checked against our lists and passed on to other Federal agencies for further clearance. From the consolidated lists, 13,251 refugees have arrived in the United States on the airlift during the period December 1, 1965, through March 18, 1966.

The chartered planes make two trips daily: one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. On the outgoing plane, U.S. Immigration and Public Health authorities are on board to check in the passengers at Varadero Airport, Cuba. When an incoming plane lands at the Miami International Airport, the passengers are placed in busses and moved to the Opa-Locka airbase where they are processed by the U.S. Public Health officers, the Immigration and Naturalization Services staff and the U.S. Customs authorities. They are then moved into a second building in which they are processed through the Dade County public health team, the Cuban refugee program registration team and counseled by representatives of one of the four voluntary agencies working on the resettlement of the refugees.

Those refugees who are to join their relatives outside of Miami are then moved to Freedom House which is a Health, Education, and Welfare installation near the Miami Airport. The refugees are fed and housed overnight at this installation while arrangements are being worked out to get them moved as quickly as possible to their destinations. Those refugees who are joining relatives in Miami are normally picked up by the relatives when their processing has been finished. We are receiving refugees at the rate of about 4,000 a month, and 73 percent of them are resettled within a few days away from Miami. To date there has been no sizable buildup of refugees in the Miami Dade County area.