Mr. President. I would like to ask the chairman of the Judiciary Committee to clarify a few changes made in the criminal alien provisions of the Senate immigration bill when the House and Senate conferees adopted the conference report on H.R. 2202. the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. These provisions are included in this omnibus appropriations measure. I know Senator HATCH was deeply involved in the development of the section on criminal aliens. as a conferee on this legislation. First. I would like to ask about a change made to the exception to mandatory detention for criminal aliens. Section 303(a) of the conference report would add to the Immigration and Nationality Act a new section providing for mandatory detention of criminal aliens by the Attorney General prior to deportation or exclusion. which was already required under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act signed into law earlier this year. That section in the conference report also includes a provision permitting release in extremely narrow circumstancesspecifically. only for criminal aliens who qualify for the Witness Protection Program under section 3521 of title 18. United States Code. in the discretion of the Attorney General.
Keywords matched
Illegal Immigration Immigration immigration Immigrant deportation