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From: Aliza Becker <alzbec@interaccess.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-ESL:5438] National Immigration Forum Update
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Subject: Immigration Policy Update
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 18:02:10 -0500
From: "Maurice Belanger" <Mbelanger@immigrationforum.org>
To: <mauriceb@erols.com>
National Immigration Forum
Date: January 16, 2001
To: Forum Associate E-mail List
From: Maurice Belanger, Tara Young
Re: Immigration Policy Update
----------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
Following is the text of the Policy Update sent by the Forum on January
12.
1) Congress Reconvenes
2) FAIR and the Michigan Election
3) Public Interest Parolees Get to Adjust Status
4) Increase in ESL/Civics Funding Approved
5) LIFE Act Implementation
----------------------------------------------------
CONGRESS RECONVENES
The 107th Congress has convened, and is in the process of organizing
itself.
On the House side, committee chairmen have run up against the term
limits
that Republicans placed on themselves six years ago. The new Chairman
of
the House Judiciary Committee is James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). We don't
yet
know who will chair the immigration subcommittee in the House.
Candidates
are: Bob Barr (R-GA), Christopher Cannon (R-UT), Steve Chabot (R-OH),
and
Elton Gallegly (R-CA, who in 1996 sponsored an amendment to the
immigration
bill that would bar undocumented children from public education). On
the
Senate side, the Immigration Subcommittee may be chaired by Sam
Brownback
(R-KS), who as a representative in the House in 1996 was a leader in the
effort to preserve legal immigration.
A nomination for the new Immigration Commissioner is not expected for
some
time. The nominee for Attorney General (the INS Commissioner reports to
the
Attorney General), former Senator John Ashcroft, does not have much of a
record on immigration, but in the record that exists there are troubling
signs, according to Congressional staff sources. While Sen. Ashcroft
has
voted in the past few years in support of legal immigration—increasing
the
number of H-1B temporary non-immigrants, for example—he has repeatedly
voted
against making the 1996 welfare reform bill less harsh in its treatment
of
immigrants. He is also on record as voting against the Leahy Amendment
to
eliminate expedited removal. His record in other areas indicates that
he
will probably take a hard line on due process issues. His confirmation
hearings will take place the week of January 15th.
Other than confirmation hearings, Congress will not begin work in
earnest
until February.
In the meantime, here are a few items to finish wrapping up the last
year's
extended term.
ANALYSIS OF FAIR'S IMPACT ON THE MICHIGAN SENATE ELECTION
For the past four years, Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) used his
chairmanship of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee to promote the
positive
side of immigration. For that, he earned the wrath of immigration
restrictionist groups, lead by the Federation for American Immigration
Reform (FAIR). They launched a million-dollar-plus advertising campaign
in
Michigan to defeat Senator Abraham, accusing him, among other things, of
giving away American jobs by sponsoring legislation to increase the
number
of skilled non-immigrant workers. Sen. Abraham was defeated in his bid
for
re-election by Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Stabenow.
Cause and effect? Not according to prominent Democratic pollster
Celinda
Lake. At a panel discussion on the immigrant vote sponsored by the
National
Immigration Forum in November, she noted that FAIR's ads did have some
effect on Abraham's campaign in the early stages, because FAIR started
their
advertising long before anyone else took to the airways against Abraham.
However, during the course of the campaign, Abraham recovered from
FAIR's
smear tactics. Stabenow edged out Abraham, in the end, for reasons
unrelated to immigration. Michigan voters leaving the polls on Election
Day
indicated that they were motivated by concerns about social security,
HMOs,
and issues promoted by labor unions that were running ads closer to
Election
Day.
* New Publication on the Immigrant Vote Available Soon
A copy of the transcript of the Forum's panel on the immigrant vote
(mentioned above) will be available for purchase in late January. Forum
Associates may obtain a copy for $15; non-Associates for $20. For a
copy,
contact the Forum.
* ADL Releases Report on FAIR
While FAIR was campaigning against Abraham, the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL)
issued a report on FAIR, cataloguing the nativist leanings of FAIR and
its
supporters. Among other things, the report, Is FAIR Unfair? concludes
that
FAIR's actions demonstrate "how advocacy can cross the line into a
divisive
and troubling tendency toward scapegoating the foreign born."
Among the ADL's findings:
Ø "There are today, as in the past, some individuals and organizations
whose
anti-immigration position is marked by mean-spirited distortions,
nativist
bias, anti-foreigner fear-mongering and even overt racism."
Ø "Critics of FAIR have accused the group of engaging in old-fashioned
nativism and xenophobia in its single-minded pursuit of immigration
control,
and of using racism to promote its message."
Ø "[FAIR] expressed approval of China's forced abortion policy."
Ø "The group has been accused of anti-Hispanic and anti-Catholic bias,
based
on comments made by some of its leaders."
If you are interested in receiving a copy of this report, contact the
Forum.
REFUGEES FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA WIN CHANCE TO ADJUST STATUS
The Fiscal Year 2001 Foreign Operations, Export, Financing, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, signed by the President in November,
included
an amendment that will allow certain persons from Southeast Asia, who
have
been in the U.S. in a temporary status since the early 1990's, to become
permanent residents.
While hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asians have been resettled here
as
refugees, some (most with family members already in the U.S.) were
admitted
as "Public Interest Parolees." Parolees, unlike refugees, cannot adjust
to
permanent residence after a year in the U.S. These individuals are in
limbo
until an immigrant visa becomes available through a family sponsor, a
process that can take many years depending on the category of family
visa
the person is eligible for. The new law allows them to adjust their
status
without waiting for their family immigrant visa to become available.
There
are approximately 15,000 to 20,000 potential beneficiaries of this law.
However, there is a ceiling of 5,000 persons who will be able to adjust
to
permanent residence under this provision of law. Accompanying
conference
report language does suggest the possibility that this ceiling will be
raised if needed, and the sponsor of the restrictive ceiling, House
Immigration Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX), will no longer be Chair of the
Immigration Subcommittee beginning this year. Regulations specifying
the
application procedure have not yet been published.
FUNDING FOR ESL CIVICS INITIATIVE TRIPLED
The President's budget contained $75 million in funding for English
language
instruction linked to civics and life skills education targeted to
immigrants preparing for U.S. citizenship. Part of the budget package
that
Congress passed at the end of the year included $70 million of the $75
million requested for this initiative. The $70 million represents
nearly a
tripling of last year's $25 million appropriation. The funding will be
allocated to states with the largest numbers of immigrants (65%) and to
states with the largest recent increases in their immigrant population
(35%). However, every state, regardless of its immigrant population,
will
receive a minimum of $60,000 in new funding for English Language and
Civics
instruction.
LIFE ACT IMPLEMENTATION
In the aftermath of the passage of the LIFE Act, there has been
significant
confusion in immigrant communities across the country. How the act will
be
implemented is not clear yet, and there are significant hurdles. The
part
of the law dealing with Section 245(i) should be relatively
straightforward,
since the INS has recent experience with it. However, the LIFE Act says
that persons must have been in the U.S. "on" the date of enactment.
Advocates are urging the INS to be flexible in how applicants will show
this. Regarding the section dealing with "late legalization,"
regulations
are supposed to be published within 120 days (that would be April 20),
though it is unclear how this will be accomplished. It is unclear when
regulations will be published to implement the new V and expanded K
visas.
In the meantime, there is more basic confusion as to who the law applies
to,
with widespread rumors casting the LIFE Act as a new amnesty program.
In
the coming days, the Forum will be circulating materials explaining the
law,
in hopes of lessening some of this confusion.
==============================
Maurice Belanger
Senior Policy Associate
National Immigration Forum
E-Mail: mbelanger@immigrationforum.org
--
Aliza Becker
Phone: (773) 267-0746
Fax (773) 478-5091
E-mail alzbec@interaccess.com
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