Speech #890137981

Mr. President. during the discussions of this bill in the subcommittee. I raised the proposal. included in the bills which I introduced in the last Congress and in this. of the establishment in the Department of State of a Board of Visa Appeals to review visa determinations made by our consuls and vice consuls overseas. The present state of the law puts the consul in the position of being the final authority on the issuance or denial of the visas. A system of advisory opinions by reviewing authorities exists. but the review is limited to questions of law. and an alien who may have been wrongfully denied a visa has no recourse of appeal on the substantive decision of issuance or denial of the visa. At the present time the decision relating to the issuance of a visa to an alien is made by a consular officer. If a consul wishes to refuse a visa. he may ask for an advisory opinion from the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs of the State Department. These opinions are considering binding on officer as to questions of law but not as to questions of fact. Still the consular officer makes the final decision. and the disadvantaged alien has no recourse. The Presidents Commission on Immigration and Naturalization in 1953 urged that visa matters be subject to review by such a Board. The Board which I proposed would consist of three members who would be appointed by the Secretary of State. They would have no other duties. even though employees of the State Department. The Board would have jurisdiction to review any determinations denying. withdrawing. or revoking a visa or an extension of a visa whose issuance is subject to the direction of the Secretary of State. as well as any determination as to the application of any rule or regulation of the Department relating to immigration. The Board may accept or decline any cases referred to it. The -Secretary could direct the Board to refer certain cases to him or the Board could refer cases on its own initiative to the Secretary for review. The Attorney General has given his assurances that he will investigate what means there are within his Department and the Department of State to provide some relief. and that this matter will be again considered next year with respect to further legislation to correct certain procedural aspects of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The report on H.R. 2580 at page 26 makes clear the intent of the Attorney General to study the creation of a Board of Visa Appeals. Another proposal which the Attorney General has indicated will receive consideration is the establishment of a 10year statute of limitations on deportation proceedings. The proposal. it has been agreed. will. because of this further consideration by the Attorney General. not be raised on the floor. The act already provides that the Attorney General may. at his discretion. suspend deportation proceedings in the case of aliens who have been physically present in the United States for 7 years or. in the case of certain serious offenses. 10 years. An amendment which I offered in the subcommittee and am asking be printed today would not change this provision. but rather establish a limit to 10 years after the occurrence of conduct which makes a lawfully admitted alien deportable during which the Immigration and Naturalization Service may institute deportation proceedings. This 10year period would appear to provide sufficient time to conduct a full investigation and institute proceedings. Under this amendment the statute of limitations would apply only to aliens who had entered the United States lawfully. Further. it would apply only to those aliens who remained continuously in the United States for the 10year period following the acts for which they are deportable. Thus. for example. an alien could not engage in deportable activities and then leave the United States to evade the Immigration and Naturalization Service and have the 10year statute of limitations running at the same time. Mr. President. as I have said there are two matters in the bill which give me special concern. The numerical limitation on immigration from the Western Hemisphere. and the time to commence deportation proceedings against those who have been admitted for lawful residence into the United States. I believe these two matters. at least. should be before us should we think it advisable to deal with them. Therefore. I submit for printing in the RECORD amendments which would deal with these subJects to establish a clear legislative record on these issues. One. to establish a 10year statute of limitations on deportation proceedings for lawfully admitted aliens. and the other. to eliminate the Western Hemisphere limitation of 120.000.