Speech #1040267250

I think this is a good bill. It cannot please everybody. but it pleases a lot of people and I think it ought to pass. I am pleased to speak in support of the conference report on H.R. 2202. because I believe it will facilitate major progress in addressing one of our Nations most urgent problems--illegal immigration. In reconciling House and Senate versions of this landmark legislation. we provide for substantially enhanced border and interior enforcement. greater deterrents to immigration related crimes. more effective mechanisms for denying employment to illegal aliens. and more expeditious removal of persons not legally present in the United States. The most difficult matter for the conferees to resolve concerned public education benefits for illegal aliens. Because public education is a major State function. the House had recognized the interests of each individual State in issues involving public school attendance at State taxpayer expense. In that connection. we appreciated the fact that concerns about the welfare of unsupervised children and adolescents might lead many States to continue providing free public education to undocumented aliensand we did nothing to discourage such choices at the State level. The compromise House and Senate conferees initially developed. both gave expression to the ight of a State to choose a different course and extended important transitional protections to current students. Because of an explicit veto threat from the President. however. we subsequently decided that it would be preferable to address this entire issue in the context of other legislation rather than place at risk the many needed enforcementrelated provisions of this bill. The conferees also struggled with the issue of how to fairly and expeditiously adjudicate asylum claims of persons arriving without documents or fraudulent documents. We recognized that layering of prolonged administrative and judicial consideration can overwhelm the immigration adjudicatory process. serve as a magnet to illegal entry. and encourage abuse of the asylum process. At the same time. we recommended major safeguards against returning persons who meet the refugee definition to conditions of persecution. Specially trained asylum officers will screen cases to determine whether aliens have a "credible fear of persecution"-and thus qualify for more elaborate procedures. The credible fear standard is redrafted in the conference document to address fully concerns that the "more probable than not" language in the original House version was too restrictive. In addition. the conferees provided for potential immigration judge review of adverse credible fear determinations by asylum officers. This is a major change providing the safeguard of an important role for a quasijudicial official outside the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The conference document includes a House provision I offered in the Committee on the Judiciary to protect victims of coercive population control practices. Our lawwhich appropriately recognizes persecution claims in a number of contextsmust not turn a blind eye to egregious violations of human rights that occur when individuals are forced to terminate the life of an unborn child. submit to involuntary sterilization. or experience persecution for failing or refusing to undergo an abortion or sterilization or for resisting a coercive population control program in other ways. A related wellfounded fear clearly must qualify as a wellfounded fear of persecution for purposes of the refugee definition. Our modification of the refugee definition responds to the moral imperative of aiding victims and potential victims of flagrant mistreatment. We also take a public stand against forcible interference with reproductive rights and forcible termination of lifea stand that hopefully will help to discourage such inhumane practices abroad. This omnibus legislation includes a number of miscellaneous provisions that are responsive to a range of problems. For example. certain Polish applicants for the 1995 diversity immigrant program reasonably anticipated being able to adjust to permanent resident status. by facilitating their adjustment in fiscal year 1997 we effectively rectify a bureaucratic error. We also recognize the equities of certain nationals of Poland and Hungary who were paroled into the United States years agoand thus entered our country legallyby affording them an opportunity to adjust to permanent resident status. I welcomed the opportunity to seek appropriate conference action in these compelling situations. This omnibus immigration legislation makes major needed changes in the Immigration and Nationality Act. The primary thrust of the conference document is to respond in a measured and comprehensive fashion to a muitifaceted breakdown in immigration law enforcement. I urge my colleagues to support it.