LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Congress reconvened this past Monday, and while its immediate immigration related goal may be involvement in the Elian Gonzalez case, there are many other, perhaps more important, immigration bills that have been pending since last fall.  Below is a list  of some of the most important of these, grouped by subject.

 - Bills to reform some of the provisions of the 1996 immigration law

S. 1940 – would limit the use of expedited removal to emergencies and provide more safeguards to assure there are no due process violations.

S. 173 – would restore relief and waivers from deportation that were available to permanent residents before 1996.

H.R. 2999 – would make small changes to the definition of “aggravated felony” for certain permanent residents, although because the criteria is so strict, it would not provide relief for many people.

H.R. 2125 – would repeal the part of the 1996 law that prevents courts from involvement in late amnesty cases.

H.R. 2121 – would repeal laws allowing the use of secret evidence in immigration proceedings.

H.R. 1485 – would restore relief and waivers from deportation that were available to permanent residents before 1996.

 - Bills to provide increased family reunifications

H.R. 2722 – would amend the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act to allow nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti to adjust status under its provisions.

H.R. 1841 – would restore section 245(i) to allow people who have been out of status in the US to apply for adjustment of status by paying a penalty fee rather than being forced to consular process.  This is very important because many people who have been out of status are barred from reentry for 3 or 10 years after leaving the US.

H.R. 1520 – would give immigrant visa priority to unmarried sons and daughters of citizens who are about to age-out, but only for a few such people, and it would cause further backlogs in family-based immigrant categories.

H.R. 36 – similar to H.R. 2722, described above.

 - High tech visas

S. 1804 – would suspend the H-1B cap for six years and provide expedited processing of petitions filed for workers with an advanced degree from a US school.

S. 1645 – would create a five-year T visa program for people with advanced degrees in high tech fields from US schools.  Employers would be required to make H-1B attestations

S. 1440 – would raise the H-1B cap to 200,000 for two years, and would exempt holders of advanced degrees earning at least ,000 annually from the cap.

H.R. 2687 – similar to S. 1645, but would require beneficiaries to earn at least ,000, and would not require H-1B attestations.

H.R. 1774 – would forbid the use of work experience gained while in unlawful status to qualify for an H-1B or employment-based immigrant visa.

 - Entry-exit system 

S. 745 – would repeal section 110, which calls for an automated entry-exit system.

 - INS reorganization

S. 1563 – would separate service and enforcement functions, but keep them within the same agency.

H.R. 2680 – similar to S. 1563.

H.R. 2528 – would create two separate agencies, one for services, the other for enforcement.

- Others 

H.R. 73 – would deny citizenship to children born in the US whose parents are not citizens or permanent residents.

H.R. 41 – would place a moratorium on all immigration except for refugees, priority workers and spouses and children of US citizens.

The full text of these bills is available online at http://thomas.loc.gov