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From: Aliza Becker <alzbec@interaccess.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-ESL:5173] National Immigration Forum Update
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National Immigration Forum
Date: October 6th, 2000
To: Forum Associate E-mail List
Latino and Immigrant Fairness List
From: Maurice Belanger
Re: Update on the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act
On October 3rd, the Senate passed S. 2045, the American Competitiveness
in the Twenty-First Century Act (the H-1B bill). The vote in the Senate
was 96-1, with only Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) voting against.
The bill then moved over to the House, where it was approved within
hours by voice vote. During the 40-minutes of debate allowed, Rep. John
Conyers (D-MI) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) spoke about the need for the
Latino and Immigrant Fairness (LIFA) provisions. Lofgren raised the
issue of the President's threat to veto the Commerce-Justice-State
Appropriations bill
unless the LIFA issues were included. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) spoke
against the Senate bill. His own bill on H-1B visas--one that was
opposed by the high-tech industry--had passed the House Judiciary
Committee. No amendments
were permitted in the House, and the debate and voice vote took place
several hours after members were told by the House leadership that there
would be no further votes for the day. Few members were present for the
debate and vote on the bill.
FEINSTEIN BACKLOG REDUCTION BILL PASSES AS AMENDMENT TO H-1B BILL
The H-1B bill contained as an amendment a bill previously introduced by
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the Immigration Services and
Infrastructure Improvements Act. The Feinstein bill would authorize
appropriations for an "Immigrant Services and Infrastructure
Improvements Account," which would provide funds in addition to
application fees dedicated to reducing backlogs in application
processing. Actual funding for backlog reductions, however, would
depend on annual Congressional appropriations.
The bill also contains a "Sense of the Congress" that immigration
benefit applications should be processed within 180 days, with the
exception of certain non-immigrant visas, which should be processed
within 30 days. The bulk of the bill contains new requirements for the
INS to report to Congress on its processing backlogs.
MENDING FENCES WITH REPUBLICANS
As for the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act, the White House continues
to express support for the bill. With their actions on the Floor of the
Senate last week, and the letter to the President promising to sustain a
veto on the Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations bill, Democrats have
strongly signaled the President that the issue is important to them.
Now, some
effort must be directed towards repairing relations with potentially
sympathetic Republicans, who may have been put off by the sharply
partisan debate that occurred over the H-1B bill. Gaining some
Republican support is crucial at this point. House Immigration
Subcommittee Chair Lamar Smith is dedicating all of his efforts in the
remainder of this session to making sure that LIFA goes nowhere. For
example, he has taken the unusual step of issuing a subpoena to the
Attorney General in an effort to get INS data that he claims will show
that after the last amnesty program in 1986, illegal immigration
"doubled." Senate Republican leaders need to hear from some in their
own caucus who support LIFA. This will help soften expected
opposition to including LIFA in the end-of-the-year budget agreement
that will be worked out between the President and Congressional leaders.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Congress is now expected to remain in Washington until October 20th. In
the remaining two weeks, it will be important to continue to remind the
White House that the issues contained in LIFA are important. Those of
you who have Republican Senators or Representatives, especially if they
may be potentially sympathetic, should reach out, explain the issues,
and try to
gain support. If you need advocacy materials to help you make the case,
contact the Forum. (You can also download materials related to LIFA
from our website at:
http://www.immigrationforum.org/CurrentIssues/legalization.html.)
==============================
Maurice Belanger
Senior Policy Associate
National Immigration Forum
E-Mail: mbelanger@immigrationforum.org
Web: http://www.immigrationforum.org
--
Aliza Becker
Phone: (773) 267-0746
Fax (773) 478-5091
E-mail alzbec@interaccess.com
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