H.R. 5013, the Securing America’s Future through Enforcement Reform Act of 2002, or SAFER Act, introduced by Rep. George Gekas (R-PA), would make substantial changes to many areas of immigration law. It would call for 50 new positions to investigate immigrant smuggling each year from 2003 to 2010. It would also increase the criminal penalties for smuggling, and would also clarify that those rendering emergency assistance to migrants should not be prosecuted. It would call upon the State Department to stop issuing visas to nationals of countries that are not taking sufficient steps to combat smuggling. The number of Border Patrol agents would be increased by 1000 each year from 2003 to 2010. The bill calls for a report on the number of agents that would be needed to fully secure the US-Canada border. It would also authorize the Army to perform border enforcement duties.
The number of immigration inspectors at ports of entry would be increased by 250 each year from 2003 to 2010, and would require countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program to issue passports containing biometric identification. The law would require all visa applicants to be interviewed. It would also reorganize the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that covers grounds of inadmissibility. The law would create a special $100 fee that would be required with almost every application. This fee would be deposited in a fund used to combat document fraud.
The bill calls for the implementation of an entry-exit tracking system at all land ports of entry no later than October 26, 2004. If the INS does not have the student tracking system implemented by January 1, 2003, it would no longer be authorized to issue student visas. Schools that fail to provide required information about foreign students would lose the ability to participate in foreign student exchange programs. All noncitizens would be required to register and be fingerprinted if they remain in the US for more than 30 days. Annual reregistration would be required of permanent residents, and nonimmigrants would be required to register every three months. The INS would have to be notified of address changes within 10 days.
The bill would expand the use of expedited removal to cover people who are engaged in terrorism or any other activity deemed to endanger US national security. It would also make a significant modification to asylum law. Currently, most courts will grant asylum to people who were persecuted for multiple reasons, so long as one of the reasons was a protected ground. This bill would require the persecution to have been solely on the basis of a protected ground.
The bill would make any final conviction a conviction for immigration purposes regardless of whether it is later vacated. It would also make murder, rape, and child sexual abuse deportable offenses regardless of the sentence served and regardless of whether the offense was classified as a felony or misdemeanor. It also creates a definition of “serious human rights violator,” and makes those who have engaged in such violations deportable and ineligible for refugee status, asylum or protection under the United Nations Convention against Torture.
The bill would mandate certain standards for birth certificates, drivers licenses and Social Security cards. It would also call for the creation of an employment eligibility verification system and an increase in the number of investigators assigned to unauthorized employment cases and to investigating visa overstays. Criminal penalties for unlawful entry, visa overstays and marriage fraud would be increased.
The Board of Immigration Appeals would be required to issue decisions not more than 180 days after the appeal is filed. The Board would also be required to accept findings from an Immigration Judge unless they are clearly erroneous. The bill would eliminate the review of asylum cases by federal courts, and the ability of immigrants to pursue a writ of habeas corpus following a deportation order.
The bill would create a citizenship verification program for use in determining eligibility to vote in federal elections. It would also establish an Office of Citizenship within the INS to encourage immigrants to become naturalized and calls for a study of current naturalization requirements.
Nationals of countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism would be made ineligible to receive an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa except for those granted to foreign government representatives.
The bill would dramatically cut legal immigration numbers. Non-immediate relative family based immigration would be cut from 480,000 to 87,934. It would eliminate the “other worker” category of employment-based immigration, and would also terminate the diversity visa lottery. The US would not be allowed to accept any more refugees than any other country. This will substantially decrease the number of refugees resettled in the US. In 2000, more than 70,000 refugees were admitted to the US. Canada had the next highest total, with about 13,000.
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