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[Congressional Record: October 30, 2000 (Extensions)]
[Page E2024]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr30oc00-19]
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE APPROPRIATIONS
______
HON. ANNA G. ESHOO
of california
in the house of representatives
Monday, October 30, 2000
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, when we passed the H-1B legislation recently,
it was my deep regret that Congress missed an opportunity to grant
long-awaited parity to certain groups of immigrants in our country.
Today I rise to speak against the measure currently before us because
we're heading for another missed opportunity.
Significant portions of our Nation's population have been living,
working, and raising families in the United States for many years. But
they've been living in legal limbo, fearing deportation, because they
were wrongly denied legal status to which they were entitled and which
they qualified for in the 1980's
Another group of immigrants has also been treated unfairly. In 1996
and 1997 Congress gave Nicaraguans and Cubans the opportunity to become
permanent residents, but thousands of refugees from Guatemala, El
Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti were left with only temporary residency
status. This group deserves the same opportunity to obtain American
citizenship.
The remedy for these problems, the Latino Fairness and Immigration
Act, has been kept out of the Commerce, Justice and State
appropriations bill. The Act is based on our country's basic tenet that
people in similar situations should be treated equitably. It would keep
immigrant families united through restoration of Section 245(i) of the
INS Code. It would reward them for their hard work and recognize that
they've paid their taxes and made other contributions to this country.
It would also establish legal parity for all refugees who fled
political turmoil in the 1990s.
It is important to state that because of past congressional action
and bureaucratic bungling, some who were eligible for a legalization
program enacted in 1986 are now U.S. citizens, while others are facing
deportation. If we pass the Latino Immigration and Fairness Act, we'd
be rewarding people who have played by the rules, telling them that the
U.S. Government is willing to correct its mistakes of the past, keep
their families united and exercise fairness.
What we're simply asking for is that a correction be made to an
acknowledged wrong. Congress has taken this sort of action numerous
times in the past when it has acted to legalize the residency of those
who have been in America for many years.
This fair remedy is long overdue. What has been brought to the floor
is an incomplete, inadequate measure that rewards some and denies
others. Its inadequacy and unfairness falls short of what we stand for
as a nation and what in the name of fairness should be done.
I ask my colleagues to reject the C-J-S appropriations bill for these
reasons and instead support the Latino Fairness and Immigration Act.
___________________
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