Speech #980210740

Mr. Chairman. H.R. 1510. the SimpsonMazzoli bill. represents for the most part. a fair and responsible approach to immigration reform as it was reported by the House Judiciary Committee. The legalization provisions. in particular. are an important step forward in bringing undocumented aliens out of their shadowy. frightened existence. I am troubled. however. by the limitations on judicial review and the potential discriminatory impact of the employersanctions provision in this bill. Limitations on judicial review raise serious questions about whether we are blaming the victim. in this case Haitian. Salvadoran. and Cuban asylum seekers who have used the Federal courts to successfully combat discriminatory processing of their asylum claims. In the current atmosphere. I am concerned that limitation on judicial review in the immigration area will provide a negative precedent for courtstripping proposals in the constitutional arena. Further. I do not believe that these restrictions are necessary. H.R. 1510 establishes an independent A.L.J. system for reviewing asylum applications. This new structure should eliminate the political bias that has heretofore attended asylum processing. Thus. the number of court suits would be dramatically reduced eliminating any need for judicial restrictions in this area. I am hopeful that an amendment to strike the judicial review section of H.R. 1510 will be adopted by the House.