 LEGISLATIVE UPDATE ADVOCACY CENTER
There has been little movement on previously introduced bills from this session of Congress, but a number of other important bills have been introduced. Here are some of the latest:
House Bills
H.R. 2091, introduced by Judy Biggert (R-IL) and supported by Eliot Engel (D-NY), Sue Kelly (R-NY), Heather Wilson (R-NM), Donald Manzullo (R-IL), William Lipinski (D-IL), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), and Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) would extend Temporary Protected Status to nationals of Montenegro, Macedonia, and Albania. To be eligible under the bill, the foreign national must have been continuously physically present in the US since March 24, 1999. The applicant must also be otherwise eligible for admission to the US as an asylee or refugee. Applicants are not eligible if they have been convicted of a felony or two misdemeanors in the US, or if in another country they engaged in the persecution of others, committed a serious nonpolitical crime, or are suspected of terrorism.
H.R. 2121, The Secret Evidence Repeal Act of 1999, introduced by Rep. David Bonior (D-MI) and supported by Tom Campbell (R-CA), Bob Barr (R-GA) and John Conyers (D-MI). This bill would ensure that no alien is denied an immigration benefit, deported, or otherwise deprived of liberty based on evidence kept secret from the alien. The bill calls for review of cases of current detention based on secret evidence, review that would be conducted after the secret evidence is withdrawn from the record. The same sort of review would also apply to applicants for immigration benefits whose applications were denied on the basis of secret evidence. The bill does not fully define “secret evidence,” but does list information classified for national security reasons as a form of secret evidence that would be prohibited.
H.R. 2125, The Legal Amnesty Restoration Act of 1999, introduced by Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) and supported by Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Carrie Meek (D-FL), Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX), Solomon Ortiz (D-TX), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Barney Frank (D-MA), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Jose Serrano (D-NY), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), and Grace Napolitano (D-CA). This bill would repeal section 377 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which eliminated judicial review of certain applications for permanent residence filed under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
H.R. 2226, introduced by Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), would create a law calling for “strenuous work and sparse living conditions” for aliens convicted of a felony following reentry after deportation based on a prior felony conviction. Given the conditions in prisons across the US, this bill seems to be motivated by little other than ill will and a desire to gain favor with voters by continuing to lash out at immigrants.
H.R. 2287, The Fairness to Immigrant Veterans Act of 1999, introduced by Jose Serrano (D-NY) and supported by Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Patsy Mink (D-HI), Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), Lane Evans (D-IL), Carlos Romero-Barcelo (D-PR, Delegate), Ed Pastor (D-AZ), Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Barbara Lee (D-CA). This bill would ensure that immigrants who served in the US military are eligible for discretionary relief from detention, deportation, exclusion and removal. The bill would also provide judicial review of applications filed by immigrant veterans.
The House of Representatives affirmatively voted on an amendment to the annual spending authorization for the Defense Department that would authorize US military personnel to be used to assist the INS and Customs Service in its work along the US-Mexico border. The provision is extremely controversial; the same plan was in effect in 1997 but was stopped after a US Marine shot a US citizen. The Defense Department is opposed to the plan, saying it would create no military benefit. This same sort of legislation has passed the House each year since 1997 but has failed to secure Senate approval.
Senate bills
S. 1227, The Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act of 1999, introduced by John Chafee (R-RI) and supported by John McCain (R-AZ), Bob Graham (D-FL), Connie Mack (R-FL), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), and James Jeffords (R-VT). This bill would amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to give States the option of providing Medicade coverage to legal immigrant pregnant women and children. Receipt of benefits under this law would not be used to classify an immigrant as a public charge. If passed, the new law will take effect on October 1, 1999, and would apply to immigrants who have arrived after August 22, 1996 without requiring presence in the US for five years as is now required to receive public benefits.
See also the article later in this issue regarding the expected introduction in the Senate of a bill to bring back National Interest Waivers for physicians working in medically underserved areas.
State bills
We reported a few months ago on the proposal in the Colorado legislature that would make female genital circumcision a state crime. This bill has been passed by both houses of the state legislature and been signed by Gov. Bill Owens, and is now a law.
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