Koch Says State Department Stand on Emergency Visas is Offensive

Rep. Edward I, Koch said that he was “incensed” at the State Department’s decision not to support his bill for 30,000 emergency visas for Soviet Jews. He was especially angry, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today, at the comment in a letter to him from David M. Abshire, Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations, that the Department was “reluctant to single out one Soviet minority, in spite of its special problems, as the subject of such a request.” The Koch bill has 118 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives; a similar bill in the Senate, Introduced by Sens, Birch Bayh, Democrat of Indiana, and Clifford P. Case, Republican of New Jersey, has 35 co-sponsors. The total of 156 sponsors represents 29 percent of Congress. Abshire sent a similar letter today to Rep. Emanuel Celler, Democrat of New York. Koch said the State Department position “shocks me.” He called the “wait-and-see” attitude “cavalier” and the “most offensive attitude” taken by the Department in his political experience. Koch said the position indicates the Department does not want to “antagonize the Soviet Union on other matters,” an allusion to current negotiations on Vietnam, Berlin, the Middle East and nuclear weapons, and the issue of China. “They really don’t give a damn about the Jews,” who he said were “on the block” in the Soviet Union.

Regarding Abshire’s contention that the legislation was unnecessary because the Attorney General has parole authority to let in increased numbers of refugees, Koch remarked that “I don’t know if the Attorney General will in fact do it” for Soviet Jews as he has been doing for Cubans and as was done after the Hungarian revolution of 1956. On the other hand, Koch asserted, if Congress approves emergency visas it will see to it that Soviet Jews are aided. The State Department policy in this issue, Koch said, reminded him of 1940, when Jews escaping Nazi Germany sought refuge in the U.S. “and the State Department turned them away.” But although “it is so outrageous what they are doing,” he said, he will continue to work for passage of the legislation. In a formal statement issued later today, Koch added: “This country must make it absolutely clear that we are willing to accept any Soviet Jews who might wish to come here. Special harassment to which Jews are subject requires special attention at this time. A stated policy which recognizes this presents an open invitation and a challenge to the Soviet Union to grant Jews their freedom to emigrate. Furthermore, our position should be an example to other countries as well as a force of moral persuasion.” Koch noted that the 10,200 conditional emergency visas available annually have been oversubscribed in recent years.