LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – ADVOCACY UPDATE CENTER

Congress is back from its August recess, and the busiest time of the legislative year is upon us.  September is always an important month, and immigration advocates will be hard at work lobbying on several bills.  A number of immigration organizations are holding lobby days in mid-September.  They include the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the National Immigration Forum, and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.  Greg Siskind, editor of this publication, will attend and report back in our next issue. 

There are only a few new bills to report on since Congress was out of session most of last month.  Two are described below and others elsewhere in this issue.  

H.R. 2642, the Anti-Atrocity Alien Deportation Act, introduced by Bob Franks (R-NJ) would make commission of torture grounds for inadmissibility, as well as grounds for removal.  The bill would also establish an Office of Special Investigations that would investigate aliens accused of torture, as well as genocide and participation in the Nazi regime.  This office would also be authorized to remove, denaturalize and prosecute any offenses it may investigate.  

H.R. 2722, the Central American and Haitian Adjustment Act of 1999, introduced by Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and 27 other Representatives, including 6 Republicans and 21 Democrats, would amend the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) to provide nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti the treatment NACARA already gives Nicaraguans and Cubans.  The bill would also extend the application period from 2000 to 2003.  NACARA has often been criticized for the fact that it gives a presumption of hardship upon deportation to those who fled Communist regimes while requiring those who fled right-wing dictatorships to prove hardship.  Passage of this bill would certainly go some way toward removing these discrepancies. 

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Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.