San Diego (special) -- The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) has been sending "community alerts" to Jewish Federations and Jewish Family Services across the country, warning of the Clinton Administration's proposal to reduce the U.S. quota for refugees from the former Soviet Union in favor of bringing more refugees here from Bosnia.

Martin A. Wenick, the HIAS executive vice president, says the administration's proposed course of action would result in fewer Jewish refugees being able to come to the United States from the former Soviet Union next fiscal year (beginning Oct. 1) than are coming in the current fiscal year. 

Rather than aiding Bosnians at the expense of citizens of the former Soviet Union, Wenick says the administration should increase the overall number of refugees who will be admitted to the United States from 78,000 a year to 84,000 a year and thereby accommodate both groups.

When the administration estimated last year how many refugees would be admitted to the United States from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, it came up with a preliminary number of 48,000-- 61.5 percent of the annual allotment of 78,000 refugees from throughout the world, Wenick said.

It was anticipated that 30,000 would come from the former Soviet Union and 18,000 would come from Eastern Europe, primarily Bosnia, Wenick said during a telephone interview from New York City.

However, more Eastern Europeans than expected and fewer citizens of the former Soviet Union than anticipated had completed the required paperwork to become refugees in the current fiscal year, Wenick said. 

So many Bosnians applied for refugee status that the United States upped its refugee quota for Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union from 48,000 to 49,500, he said.

Of the 49,500 settling in the United States this year, about 17,000 are Jews from the former Soviet Union, 10,000 are Christians from the former Soviet Union, and 22,500 are Bosnians. 

For the upcoming fiscal year, the administration proposes reducing from 78,000 to 75,000 the number of refugees from around the world for whom funds will be allocated. 

The remaining 3,000 spaces would be authorized but left unfunded -- meaning Congress would have to pass another bill to use those 3,000 spots.

The quota for Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union would be reduced from 49,500 to 46,000, under the proposal. The number of Bosnians who will be admitted to the United States will increase from 22,500 to 25,000, while the number of citizens of the former Soviet Union will drop from 27,000 to 21,000.

Wenick said the shortfall of 6,000 for the former Soviet Union will greatly impact Jews and evangelical Christians who have wanted to leave but who have been hampered by a variety of factors out of their control.

After United States immigration officials authorize a citizen of the former Soviet Union to come to the United States, that citizen must get an exit visa from authorities in the republic in which he lives -- whether it be Russia, Belorus, Uzbekistan, Ukraine or others. 

In some cases, exit visas have been slow in coming -- with the average wait being a year, but some being as long as a year and a half. Wenick said in some cases exit visas are being denied, even though the citizen is seeking to be reunified with an immediate relative in the United States.

"We are getting reports now-- we are checking to verify them -- that people in Uzbekistan have been denied exit permission based on the idea that there is no discrimination against Jews and therefore there is no reason to emigrate," Wenick said. 

"I want to stress that we haven't verified this, but we have received calls from relatives who heard from their relatives there who are now awaiting documentation."
HIAS facilitates the resettlement of Jews from the former Soviet Union, while World Relief is the agency serving the Christians. The two groups work together on common problems.

Wenick said the administration's proposal is going through the normal "consultative" process in the Congress, with the Judiciary Committees of both the House and the Senate having jurisdiction. In the Senate, the subcommittee on immigration is headed by Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., and in the House by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Tex.

Abraham, whose own family immigrated to the United States from Lebanon, is critical of the proposed reductions. He recently chaired a panel on immigration at Ellis Island to demonstrate the positive impact immigrants have had on American society. Among the panelists were an American astronaut from Costa Rica, a Jew from a Lithuanian shtetl who immigrated in 1921, and a Hungarian Jewish woman who developed a handbag accessory industry in New York with her husband.

Smith is apparently less sympathetic to expanded quotas for refugees, Wenick said.

Californians serving on the respective committees include Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Franciso. Wenick wants Jews to write to Abraham, Smith, Feinstein and Pelosi on the issue, as well as to any other member of Congress in whose districts they reside or with whom they have a relationship.

"People need to be aware of the fact that there is a continuing need for the program," he said. "As a community we have a responsibility: let's not make the same mistakes we did 60 years ago."

Wenick was asked about a report last week from the Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption that the number of Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union making aliyah is dropping by about 16 percent, perhaps because of an improving economy.

The HIAS official said the two situations are not parallel. Refugees in the American pipeline are waiting to be reunified with family members living in the United States, he said. 

Refugees who want to go to Israel may or may not have relatives living there. By virtue of being Jewish, they are eligible to make aliyah under Israel's Law of Return.