Speech #960335679

We ought to have decent and competent medical care for all Americans. Finally. this bill experiments with respect to attracting additional tourism to the United States. It sets up a pilot project which will waive certain visa requirements for residents of a limited number of countries over a limited period of time to see whether or not this will encourage additional tourism to the United States. The bill. however. also contains strict provisions to assure that we will not be burdened with illegal aliens should such an experiment be undertaken. Hearings were held on this provision. It received substantial support from many organizations that are concerned with tourism. I think it is an important experiment. and I would hope that this provision as well as the other provisions of the bill would be adopted. Let me now briefly highlight some of the major. less technical provisions of the bill: Section 2 creates a new nonimmigrant classification for nonacademic students. This will enable INS to exercise greater control over this category of nonimmigrants and thereby minimize the incidence of abuse and misuse of student visas by nonacAdemic students and institutions. This section also allows the natural father of an illegitimate child to extend or receive the same immigration benefits as the natural mother. Section 3 eliminates unnecessary paperwork by deleting the requirement that approved third and sixth preference visa petitions be reported to the Congressa totally unproductive task. Section 4 allows the Attorney General in cases of extreme hardship to waive inadmissability for minor drugrelated activities by persons who are spouses. parents or children of citizens or permanent residents. At the current time. all types of criminal offenseswith the exception of murderare waiverable and it makes no sense permanently to bar minor drug violators who have immediate relatives here from entry to this country. Drug cases have constituted one of the largest categories of private immigration bills considered and approved by the committee for the last several Congresses. Over the years. as a member of the Immigration Subcommittee. I have witnessed the severe hardship that has resulted from current law and this is particularly the case for alien spouses of U.S. citizens who have been convicted of possesssion of small amounts of marihuana. Section 5 resolves several problems regarding foreign medical graduates.