Speech #970212506

Mr. Speaker. on July 14. Representative JULIAN DIXON sponsored a special congressional briefing on his bill . which I have cosponsored. to repeal the sec. tion of the immigration law being used to exclude foreign lesbians and gay men from our country. Mr. Gordon. a former general counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. and now professor at the Georgetown University Law School. was the lead witness at the briefing and is universally recognized as one of the most learned authorities on immigration law in our country. During his testimony. Professor Gordon pointed out an unacceptable feature of the SimpsonMazzoli immigration reform and control bill. specifically provisions which would effectively end Federal judicial review of administration decisions relating to the exclusion of aliens. no matter how arbitrary such a decision may be. As a black Member of Congress. I am particularly sensitive to any legislation which would restrict the jurisdiction of Federal courts in their ability to protect minorities. Section 123 of the SimpsonMazzoli bill provides thatNot withstanding any other provision of law. there shall be no judicial review of a final order of exclusion or a final order respecting an application for asylum. nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the rights of habeas corpus under the constitution. This is clearly a courtstripping provision. one that has caught the attention of those of us who have been concerned about the lack of due process accorded to Haitian asylum applicants who have only received fair hearings in the Federal courts. There is no qjestion in my mind that section 123 has been inspired by those who seek to exclude access to due process on the part of the first large group of black refugees to our country. the Haitians. I point this out to make the point that courtstripping provisions such as those represented by section 123. threaten the rule of law and the protection of rights under law of all minorities. At this point.