Speech #970223881

I think we should harken that there are far stronger protections already in place in this land. the most important being not "the law." which can always be changed. but rather the cultural elements which underlie the law. including the values and traditions of our form of government. which are part of the American character. There is no "slippery slope" toward loss of liberties. only a long staircase where each step downward must be first tolerated by the American people and their leaders. In an attempt to further deter the violation of U.S. immigration law and to reduce the harmful impact of such violations when they do occurthrough reducing the time illegal aliens are able to remain in the country after apprehensionS. 2222 contains improvements in exclusion. deportation. and asylum adjudication procedures. The bill provides a summary exclusion proceeding without an appeal for those who enter the country without documents and who are not claiming asylum. For all cases involving asylum. the bill provides for extensive administrative consideration. within the Justice Department but outside of the Immigration and Naturalization Service: First a full due process hearing on the record before a specially trained immigration judge and then. if desired. an administrative appeal to a newly created U.S. Immigration Board. Consistent with the practices of most other countries. there will be no right of further review on the merits of an asylum claim. The constitutionally guaranteed right to seek a writ of habeas corpus will. of course. be available in order to remedy any violations of procedural due process. In addition to tightening of asylum proceedings the bill streamlines the adjudication procedure for both deportation and exclusion. In exclusion cases not involving asylum and not subject to the summary exclusion procedure. an administrative hearing and appeal will be available as in asylum cases. In deportation. the procedure will be the same except that judicial review of the decision of the Board will be available. As a result of the measures discussed and the increased resources that we anticipate will be devoted to enforcement by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. illegal immigration should be reduced substantially. We fully recognize. I think. the possibility that substantial adverse economic impact might occur on certain employers who have. quite lawfully. become dependent on illegal foreign workers. We feel that we deal properly with this problem in the bill. First. the prohibition on the employment of illegal aliens will not applythis is a key part of the legislationto those who are hired before the bill is enacted. Second. the legalization or amnesty program will legalize many currently Illegal workers. Third. the certification of the Department of Labor which must be obtained for certain jobrelated visa categories. is modified in order to allow for a more efficient and accurate determination as to when a foreign worker is needed. Finally. the H2 program is modified so that employers who are able to demonstrate a genuine need for a foreign worker for temporary services or labor will receive an approval within a reasonable length of time. In addition to reducing illegal immigration. S. 2222 is intended to modify legal immigration so that it will better serve the national interestby increasing control over the number admitted and by amending the selection criteria. Although "immediate relatives" of U.S. citizens will indeed continue to be exempt from numerical limitations. the number available for the family reunfication preference categories would be determined by subtracting the number of "immediate relatives" admitted in the prior year from the cap of 350.000 in that category. therefore. and increase in the number of "immediate relatives" will be compensated for by a reduction in the visa numbers available for other family reunification categories. A similar approach will link the numerically exempt "special immigrants" with the independent preference categories. The limit will be the cap of 75.000 in that entire category minus the number of "special immigrants" admitted in the prior year. So the effect of these changes is that at least for the next 10 to 30 years. the total of all new immigrants. excluding refugees. will not exeed 425.000. which is approximately the current level. S. 2222 also makes several changes in the current criteria for allocating numerically limited immigrant visas. The family preference categories would not include what is now referred to as the fifth preference. There is an amendment pending to modify that. I think it may be acceptable. We will deal with that later in the debate. But what we want to recall is that what we were trying to do is reserve for closer relatives the limited visas available for family reunification and to allow an increase in immigration opportunities for those who have no close relatives in the United States but do have skills that will benefit the American people as a wholethe socalled "seed immigrants." those who had already received fifthpreference status and where on the waiting list as of March 1. 1982. will be protected and applications processed. For these same reasons. the second preference will be narrowed somewhat to cover only spouses and minor children of permanent residentsmore properly meeting the definition of "the nuclear family". The percentage of family reunification visas allocated to this category is. therefore. greatly increased. The highest priority independent preference category is reserved for aliens with exceptional ability in the sciences. arts. professions. or business. This is the present third preference with certain modifications: "Business" is added to the fields covered and "exceptional ability" is required of members of the professions. There is also a new independent category for substantial investors in the U.S. economy who create jobs for U.S. Citizens and permanent residents other than their own relatives. In addition to the changes with respect to immigrants. S. 2222 amends certain nonimmigrant categories as well. For example. the bill amends the current H2 temporary worker program in order to establish a special procedure for seasonal workers in agriculture. Mr. President. last. but certainly not least. in the controversy department. there is legalization or amnesty. S. 2222 provides for the legalization of illegal aliens into two categories of legal status. An amendment will be presented to modify the provisions in the bill. and I think that may become quite acceptable. First. aliens who have continuously resided illegally in the United States since before January 2. 1978this is under the billwill qualify for permanent resident status. not citizenship.