Speech #980219463

They had not really gotten on our shores. Under those conditions. the Government uses a process called exclusion. There are certain things that are handied a little differently for exclusion than they are for deportation. and they should be. but under the current laws that exist. only those who are stowaways on boats and those who are stowaways on planes and alien crewmen who jump ships can be handled in what is known as a summary fashion. The McCollum amendment. as passed. advocates and allows for the processes to work that were intended in this bill and were crafted originally in the original SimpsonMazzoli bill on summary exclusion to allow the Immigration Service when somebody comes in. like getting off a boat at the shoreline setting foot on our shores. to allow the Immigration Service to apprehend them while they are still on the beach and have an Immigration officer query them about: First. do they have any documents that would give them color to be here rightfully. second. do they have a claim for political asylum. and if they do have the documents or they do have a claim for political asylum. or third. if they have any other basis for being here that they claim. then they are brought into the process. If they have any documents or any claim for asylum. they are brought into the process and they are given a right to hearings before an administrative law judge. But under the bill. before the McCollum amendment was adopted. there were rights given to an alien to have an administrative law judge hearing even if the alien had no documents and no claim for asylum. There was an extra step. a procedure given where these people would have to be warned or given their rights to counsel and be told that there could be a redetermination by an administrative law judge if they did not agree with this decision. even though they had been checked already by the Immigration Service. even though they have not set foot on our shores. but are just beginning the process of trying to cross our border. and even though they had no documents. no claim to asylum. and no other basis for coming into the United States. What my amendment did and what I urge the Members to protect. what my amendment did was to say that that second step does not have to be taken. that somebody who has not crossed our borders yet. is just in the process of being apprehended. should be treated as he would be treated if he came to a consuls office across the seas somewhere or if he were a stowaway or if he were an alien jumping ship and summarily excluded. In other words. to insure that we have the capacity to handle and deal with future Mariel boatlifts. we need to have effective and workable summary exclusion.