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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The Clinton Administration has announced its proposed immigration budget for the 1996 fiscal year. Though the proposes budget is not binding on the new Congress, the INS is slated to receive a .6 billion, a 24% increase in its budget for this year. The budget increases substantially funding for enforcement of immigration laws including enhanced border security, employer sanctions and deporting criminal aliens. 1,055 new INS and Customs Inspectors will be hired and more Border Patrol agents will be added (with the goal of having 7000 border patrol officers by the year 2000). The budget also calls for a /vehicle and .50/pedestrian border-crossing fee. The budget calls for the hiring of 365 new INS investigators to investigate worksites in seven states (California, Texas, Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Florida and Illinois) and worksites for certain industries that historically have hired many illegal workers. 202 Department of Labor investigators will also be hired. 8 million is allocated to expand efforts to deport criminal aliens. The administration has stated that its goal is to triple the number of aliens deported in 1993 from 37,000 to 110,000 by 1996. One of the more controversial elements of the administration’s proposal is to cut off public benefits to illegal aliens. However, unlike Proposition 187 in California, the proposal makes exceptions for emergency medical services, access to public education, disaster assistance and programs like universal immunization which promote public health.