Speech #1010216595

Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of H.R. 4300. the Family Unity and Employment Opportunity Immigration Act of 1990. The immigration bill I first introduced 2 years ago contained more generous provisions. others made their own suggestions during our Judiciary Committee proceedings which have been incorporated in the chairmans bill to various degrees. I am convinced that the bill brought before us for our consideration today is the sound and judicious result of the efforts of many concerned members. Reform of our legal immigration system is urgently needed to update laws that were last revised in 1965. What is more. legal immigration reform is directly related to our efforts to control illegal immigration. As the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy noted in its final report in 1981. we cannot expect to control illegal immigration until we also reform our system of legal immigration. I believe strongly that family reunification must remain the cornerstone of our legal immigration system. But as long as spouses and parents and children have to wait over 10 years to be reunited under our present system. illegal immigration is the inevitable result. We can only keep immediate families apart for so long. Frustrating the ability of Americans to be with their close family members betrays our core American values. That is why H.R. 4300 makes several critically needed changes in familybased immigration: First. allowing American permanent residents to immediately petition to be reunited with their spouses and minor children each year. just as citizens can. but capping the number of visas provided for this purpose at 115.000 per year. second. providing a total of 50.000 backlog reduction visas a year for 5 years in the two most backlogged family categories (second and fifth preferences): and third. barring the deportation of the spouses and minor children of aliens legalized under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. provided that the legalized alien has attained permanent resident status and has filed a declaration of intent to become a citizen when eligible to do so. I want to make special mention of how important this legislation is to our fellow Americans of Asian descent. For almost a century. United States law barred the immigration of most Asians. It was not until 1965 that Congress created the present nationalityneutral family preference categories. Only one generation of Asians has been able to enter the United States under the 1965 law and to seek the reunification of their immediate families. which is why most of the countries with the longest waiting lists are Asian. It is also why AsianAmericans will bear so much of the brunt of amendments which will be offered today to eliminate some or all of the relief the bill affords to families attempting to be reunited. At the same time. H.R. 4300 contains important provisions regarding employersponsored immigration which carefully balance the needs of American employers and workers. and provides transition visas to enhance the diversity of immigration to the United States. It is essential that we restore to our immigration system the chancewhich for all intents and purposes does not now existfor people from around the world to immigrate to the United States. Not solely because it is in their interest. but because it is in ours. To be frank. you may hear this bill castigated as special interest legislation because it is strongly supported by AsianAmericans.