LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

[Note: Due to the expansiveness of the new immigration law, we will publish a special issue of Siskind's Immigration Bulletin providing detailed information on the legislation. The issue will be released next week.]

On September 30, 1996, President Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. A number of last minute developments occurred that assured that the bill would be signed. First, the House of Representatives members of the joint House/Senate Conference Committee finalizing the bill dropped their demands for inclusion of the Gallegly provision that would have allowed states to bar illegal immigrant children from public schools. President Clinton vowed to veto the bill if this provision remained. Republican Presidential nominee Bob Dole pushed for the provision to be included in the bill. Political analysts speculated that Senator Dole hoped to force a presidential veto on the immigration bill in order to embarrass the President. The pressure on many Republican House members to pass an immigration bill was more powerful, however, and the provision was dropped. This led quickly to approval of the bill in the House by a vote of 3 to 1 margin. However, opponents of the bill in the Senate were still seeking a filibuster to delay, and possibly kill the bill.

In an unexpected development over the last weekend of September, however, leaders in the Congress and the President decided to attach the immigration bill to a major budget bill which was needed in order to keep the government operating. The overwhelming desire of the President and members of Congress to prevent another government shutdown was enough to ensure that the bill would pass. The threat of a Senate filibuster evaporated since there would be no separate vote on the immigration bill. One positive piece of news related to the bill's passage is the fact that the President was able to win some concessions from Republicans to soften provisions in the bill affecting legal immigrants. Among the last minute changes were the following:

• sponsor provisions that would have required a family sponsor to earn 200% of the poverty level were modified (40% of American families would have been barred from sponsoring relatives under this provision). The new law requires sponsors to earn 125% of the poverty level. Only the petitioner is allowed to act as a sponsor, but the petitioner may have a co-signor.

• the previous version of the bill would have required the deportation of any immigrant who used more than one year of public assistance during the first seven years after entry, including student loans and child care. This provision was deleted.

• provisions barring refugees and asylees from receiving unemployment compensation were deleted.

• the implementation of certain provisions affecting immigrants in the new Welfare Law were delayed including the bar on Food Stamps and SSI.

The final bill that passed has six major sections:

Title I: Improvements to Border Control, Facilitation of Legal Entry, and Interior Enforcement - This section includes sections increasing the number of border patrol agents and investigation officers, a new 14 mile triple fence along the border with Mexico, new civil penalties for illegal reentry, fingerprinting for apprehended aliens and authorization for INS preinspection stations in foreign airports.

Title II: Enhanced Enforcement and Penalties Against Alien Smuggling; Document Fraud - This section increases the number of crimes which subject aliens to deportation and increases the criminal penalties for alien smuggling/harboring, document fraud and false claims to citizenship.

Title III: Inspection, Apprehension, Detention, Adjudication, and Removal of Inadmissable and Deportable Aliens - This provision profoundly changes many aspects of the immigration system. The concept of "entry" is abolished and replaced by a single "removal" system, there are now a number of new grounds for inadmissibility, and many forms of relief from deportation are restricted or abolished. The penalty fee for certain adjustment of status applicants is increased from 0 to 00.

Title IV: Enforcement of Restrictions Against Employment - This section sets up pilot programs using computer-verification systems to determine employment eligibility for job applicants. There are a number of changes made to the I-9 employment verification system including the easing of requirements for employers relating to unfair immigration-related employment practices and a reduction in the number of acceptable documents which may be presented to support an I-9 form.

Title V: Restrictions on Benefits for Illegal Aliens - This section makes national policy much of what was attempted under Proposition 187 in California. Basically, illegal immigrants are barred from most public benefits, with the notable exception of children in public schools. Affidavits of Support will become legally enforceable. Sponsors of family immigrants must earn 125% of the US poverty level. These provisions go into effect immediately.

Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions - Miscellaneous does not mean unimportant. Here are some of the more important provisions in this section:

a. The definition of "refugee" is expanded to include those persecuted for resisting family planning policies (1,000 annual limit).

b. Asylum applicants barred if they have a third-country safe haven. There is now a one year limit on when an applicant can apply for asylum unless changed circumstances can be shown. There is also a lifetime bar from applying for immigration to the US if one files a frivolous asylum application.

c. The Conrad 20 Program for J-1 Physicians seeking waivers is extended. Foreign medical graduates seeking J-1 waivers must now work for three years on H-1B status before eligibility for permanent residency.

d. Foreign grade school students are barred from entering the US for five years if they enter to attend private school and then transfer to public school (states are also barred from waiving tuition).

e. Third country nationals are barred from seeking a non-immigrant visa at a consulate if they have overstayed a prior visa.

f. Fees for upcoming green card lotteries are authorized. Polish winners selected in 1995 but who were unable to adjust that year are eligible for permanent residency in Fiscal Year 1997 (October 1, 1996 through September 30, 1997).

g. Polish and Hungarian refugees paroled into the US between 1989 and 1991 are eligible to adjust to permanent residency.

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