Mr. Speaker. today I am introducing a bill to permit all aliens who have continuously resided in this country since 1976. regardless of status. the right to apply for the establishment of a registry date for their permanent resident status in the United States. I believe that this approach is a far more reasonable answer to the amnesty question than the blanket solution proposed by the omnibus immigration packages considered by this body during the past two Congresses. Unlike what we tried to do last year. this legislation has precedent in our immigration law. and it rewards those who have already become integrated into our society. We in the Congress have always recognized the fact that people enter this country through a variety of methods. and over time many of them make their home here. raise their children here. and ultimately become taxpaying contributors to American pluralism. Long ago we decided that those who lived here continously since 1924 should be directly eligible for American citizenship. and that for them. the normal 5year waiting period should be waived. The concept of a registry date was established in 1929. when immigration records were poor. and it then applied to persons who had lived here continuously since 1921. This registry date has been moved up several times since. the last time in 1965. when the cutoff date was set at June 30. 1948. In 1982. the first omnibus immigration bill contained language which would have substituted January 1. 1973 for the 1948 date. When H.R. 1510 passed the House last year. identical language was included in section 302 of title III. The legislation I am introducing today seeks to make similar changes to an outmoded eligibility date. without the added burden of an omnibus bill. In addition i seems appropriate. that 1976. the "Bicentennial Year." be chosen for the new registry date since that date recalls our earlier new found freedom as a nation. just as this new registry date will. if enacted. mark the date of a new found freedom for those immigrants otherwise eligible.9
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