LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

The House and Senate members assigned to a conference committee to work out differences between their two versions of the farm appropriations bill say that they have agreed on a framework for a final bill.  The agreed version would restore food stamp benefits to lawful permanent residents who had lived in the US for five years.  About 360,000 people are expected to benefit.

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The Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved S. 864, which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make people who have committed acts of torture deportable.  The bill will now be taken up by the full Senate. 

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This week Democrats in Congress blasted the Bush administration for its refusal of an INS request for $52 million to fund an additional 441 agents for interior immigration enforcement, specifically, to track down people who overstay their visas.  The request was turned down by Mitch Daniels, the head of the White House Office of Management and Budget.  According to the White House, the INS still has money left over from the $500 million in funding provided since September 11th, but this has not stopped Congress from politicizing the issue.

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H.R. 4597, introduced by Rep. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), would make foreign nationals who are delinquent in the payment of child support ineligible for nonimmigrant visas.  It would also allow immigration officers to serve such people in the US with legal process to enforce their child support obligations. 

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Rep. George Gekas (R-PA), the chair of the House Immigration Subcommittee, is proposing a new, simplified oath of citizenship.  According to Gekas, the current wording of the oath makes it difficult for new citizens to understand exactly what they are pledging.  Among other things, the rewrite would replace the archaic phrase “abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty” with the more modern “absolutely renounce all political allegiance and fidelity to any foreign state or sovereignty.” 

To view the full legislative chart, please visit http://www.visalaw.com/advocacy.html.

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