Speech #990262504

Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to present to my colleagues in the House H.R. 4823. an immigration efficiency package assembled by the members of the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee. This bill enjoys the support of a large majority of the subcommittee and is eagerly awaited by the Immigration Service. It is a package of various noncontroversial amendments to the immigration law designed to improve the efficiency of the Immigration Service. prevent abuse of immigration benefits. and deter immigration fraud. Some of the provisions are as follows: Title I of H.R. 4823 deals with the entry and adjustment of status of immigrants and nonimmigrants. It provides for. among other things. the admission of employees of multinational corporations as special immigrants. It requires members of the professions to have an appropriate college degree or significant experience to be eligible to immigrate. In addition. it allows surviving spouses of U.S. citizens to petition for immigration within 3 years of the citizen spouses death. and revises the requirements for sponsoring Amerasian children to come to this country. Title I also revises the law governing the admission of aliens engaging in trade or investment in this country. treats certain bus drivers as crewmen for purposes of entry to this country. establishes a visa waiver pilot program and provides immediate permanent resident status to aliens admitted as refugees. Title II deals with the law of exclusion and deportation. It waives certain grounds of exclusion for close relatives of U.S. citizens and for sole surviving siblings of U.S. citizens. Title II would also require deportation of an alien who has not engaged in the occupation for which a third or sixth preference petition was granted. Title III strengthens the enforcement capabilities of the Immigration Service. It deters immigrationrelated marriage fraud and places restrictions on future entry of aliens engaged in fraud and misrepresentation. In addition. Title III increases the levels of fines. collected by the Immigration Service that were originally enacted in 1952. Finally. it clarifies the Immigration Services policy on detention of aliens. Title IV contains various provisions dealing with transfer of citizenship and naturalization. Title V requires the Immigration Service to establish a system to collect and distribute statistical information on immigration issues. It provides equal treatment for natural fathers and deletes several outdated references from the Immigration Act. H.R. 4823 is a good. sound bill and goes a long way toward improving the implementation of the Immigration Act. The majority of the subcommittee support this bill as does the administration. I urge my colleagues to support H.R.