There are few immigration advocates who would not consider the last three years to be disastrous. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRAIRA”), the 1996 Welfare Bill and the elimination of Section 245i of the Immigration and Nationality Act in January 1998 are three legislative developments that have seriously curtailed the rights and privileges of immigrants.
Anti-immigrant public attitudes in the early to mid-1990s are credited by some for Congress’ actions. And many are pointing to a major reversal in public opinion as a sign that efforts to remediate portions of the laws mentioned above have a real chance of success.
Hints of change are coming from many places. Immigration advocacy groups have set their sights on eliminating the onerous expedited removal provisions of IIRAIRA, easing new affidavit of support rules, expanding the new Central American/Eastern European amnesty, adding back the right to judicial review and a host of other goals.
President Clinton has already hinted at items on his upcoming legislative agenda. In his State of the Union address last month, the President stated his goal of restoring some or all welfare benefits to legal immigrants that were eliminated in the 1996 Welfare law. Specifically, the President said “I also want to thank Congress for restoring some of the benefits to immigrants who are here legally and working hard, and I hope you will finish the job this year.”
The Administration’s new budget proposes spending $2 billion to restore Food Stamp benefits to all legal immigrants. Benefits would not be restored to illegal aliens. The Administration is also said to be considering plans to restore other benefits to those in “vulnerable groups” such as families with children, the disabled and the elderly. Whether the Administration’s budget will call for benefits to be restored for people arriving in the US after the 1996 effective date of the Welfare law is not yet known.
Even INS Commissioner Doris Meissner has recently gone on record stating that the agency supports certain “fixes” to “overreaching” sections of IIRAIRA. Meissner has specifically mentioned restoration of discretionary authority in dealing with immigrants convicted of “aggravated felonies.” IIRAIRA dramatically expanded the definition to include crimes as minor as shoplifting and calls for the deportation of those convicted of aggravated felonies even if the felony occurred years or even decades ago.
House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) has vowed to create a guest worker program for Mexican workers in the United States. DeLay is especially concerned about severe worker shortages in the garment industry. Readers of this publication may recall our mention of this problem in an article in our January 1998 issue relating to an alien smuggling case at a garment factory. According to DeLay, the lack of a guest worker program is forcing many companies to move operations out of the United States.
Good news on the H-1B legislative front. During a recent visit to Silicon Valley, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of Congress’ most powerful members, promised to push for the lifting or elimination of the annual limit on H-1B visas. Last year, the annual limit of 65,000 H-1B visas was reached for the first time. Many employers found themselves having to wait for one to two months extra to start a worker’s employment. Without a raising of the limit, many people expect the limit to be reached by the middle of the summer. New visas would not be available again until October.
The Association of Professionals for Spouse Reunification is calling on its members to contact their congressional representatives and ask them to support H.R. 2664, a bill that would allow spouses of citizens and permanent residents to visit the US on tourist visas. There are now 20 co-sponsors of the bill, but most of them are Democrats. APSR is trying to persuade more Republican representatives to sign up. For more information on this important bill, go to APSR’s web site at http://www.apsr.org.
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