966 pt.2

CUBAN REFUGEE PROBLEM

HEARINGS

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH REFUGEES AND ESCAPEES

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE

EIGHTY-NINTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

+65-5C5

PART 2-NEW YORK, N.Y.

APRIL 13, 1966

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

CONTENTS

Statements of-
Chater, Rev. E. W., All Saints Church, Harrison, N.Y.; accompanied
by Rev. William Tolley, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, Yonkers,
N.Y.; Rev. Julio Delgado, Hunts Point Presbyterian Church, New
York City; Maria Garcia, Kemel Cereceda, and Enrique Cento___
Esparza, Raul; accompanied by Dr. Carlos Theye, interpreter...
Frutkoff, Robert, office manager, apparel industries, New York State
Employment Servict..

Ginsberg, Mitchell, commissioner of welfare, New York City...
Grimes, Harold, resettlement officer, International Rescue Committee;
accompanied by Dr. Manuel Urrutia and Sun Yen Lee...
Kennedy, Hon. Robert F., a U.S. Senator from the State of New York-
Potocek, Msgr. Cyril, resettlement director, Catholic archdiocese of
New York; accompanied by Rev. Daniel G. Babis, diocese of Rock-
ville Center; Rev. Joseph F. Hammond, Catholic Charities of
Brooklyn, and Santiago Smith_.

Soskis, Philip, executive director, New York Association for New
Americans; accompanied by Mrs. Regina Perez----
Thomas, John F., director, Cuban refugee program, Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare..

Appendix

1. Letter to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from James R. Dumpson, former commissioner of welfare, New York City, March 21, 1966___

2. Letter to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from John B. King, executive deputy superintendent, Board of Education, New York City, May 12, 1966-

3. Letter to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from Joseph P. Clifford, attorney, April 19, 1966...

Page

182

152

160

148

200

139

173

192

165

209

209

210

III

CUBAN REFUGEE PROBLEM

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 1966

U. S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON REFUGEES AND ESCAPEES
OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,

New York, N.Y.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in the Loeb Student Center, at New York University, Senator Edward M. Kennedy (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senator Kennedy.

Also present: George S. Abrams, general counsel; Dale S. de Haan, research consultant; Mrs. Theresa Greenly, secretary.

Chairman KENNEDY. The subcommittee will come to order.

We are delighted to be in New York today, and particularly pleased to be holding this hearing in the beautiful surroundings of New York University's Loeb Student Center. I want to thank Dr. James Hester, who is the president of New York University, and the other school officials and students for their generous help and cooperation.

Today's hearing marks the fifth in the current series held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Refugees on the subject of Cuban refugees and resettlement programs. It marks the first hearing the subcommittee has held in a resettlement area since the fall of 1963 hearings at Grand Rapids, Mich., and Minneapolis, Minn.

I think it would perhaps be well to summarize some of the results of our hearings in Washington thus far.

It is clear that the number of Cubans desiring to come to the United States is in the hundreds of thousands. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare currently has applications covering between 750,000 and 950,000 Cubans. Evidence before the subcommittee showed that as of some months ago, over 200,000 Cubans had filed in Cuba for exodus.

It is also clear that the government of Fidel Castro is currently experiencing considerable difficulties with the economy of the country and with Castro's control over the Cuban people. There is a growing disenchantment with the revolution in Cuba. The State Department has attributed the deterioration of Cuban society to several factors: the failure of the economy to provide the Cuban people with the better life they were promised; Cuba's high degree of isolation from the world community, especially the nations of Latin America; and perhaps the most important, the greater control and organization of Cuban society-the inevitable result of the totalitarian state. Recent purges of Cuban schools, the Agricultural Ministry, and parts of the armed forces, and a growing number of important de