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[Congressional Record: September 28, 2000 (House)]
[Page H8432-H8433]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr28se00-80]
STOP SPLINTERING FAMILIES; START APPLYING AMERICAN FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my colleagues for
taking a step forward and unanimously passing H.R. 5062, an important
step toward restoring fairness to families split apart by 1996
legislation that was billed in this House as immigration reform.
I encourage the Senate to quickly follow the House of
Representatives' lead. We must stop deporting hard-working legal
immigrants, Mr. Speaker, who are raising stable families only because
they committed a minor infraction years and years ago.
We must stop hauling away parents away in the middle of the night in
front of their children, and we must stop denying these people now in
detention the most basic constitutional rights that we in America
believe everyone should have.
{time} 1400
These practices, Mr. Speaker, are the direct result of the 1996 so-
called immigration reform law. The 1996 law removed the authority of
immigration judges to take into account a person's contributions to our
society as well as their misdeeds. It removed Federal judges' oversight
of the immigration process.
It allowed Immigration and Naturalization Service deportation
officials to pick up someone after they applied for citizenship, put
them in detention in the middle of the night without their relatives
knowing where they were, and hold them without bail.
H.R. 5062 will stop these immoral practices. It will restore judicial
oversight of these matters that involve long-term legal permanent
residents who paid their debt to our society, in many cases on this a
short probation or a suspended sentence, only to have the 1996 law
reclassify their misdeed as an aggravated felony.
H.R. 5062 stops this. It restores justice and fairness to immigration
proceedings. Many, many families in my district applaud this action.
For example, it would help Aida. Her father had always been a good
provider, but was picked up by the INS, handcuffed in front of his
family, and deported. Now the family, which had been paying taxes, had
to move into reliance on welfare. Aida's father can now apply to come
back into the country and have a judge review his case under our recent
action.
Mr. Speaker, this is America where actions have consequences but
where we have a system of checks and balances to ensure that no branch
of the Government can run roughshod over our rights.
So to my colleagues in the Senate, I urge quick passage of H.R. 5062.
It would rollback the un-American provisions of the 1996 law by
eliminating
[[Page H8433]]
most of the so-called retroactivity provisions so minor crimes from
decades ago are not counted against those who are in this country
legally. It allows those who have been deported to appeal to return to
the United States.
H.R. 5062 is a real positive step forward. It will help hundreds if
not thousands of families in my own district and around the Nation. We
need to restore fairness so that our pledge of allegiance truly means
with liberty and justice for all.
____________________
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