Speech #1050063955

Mr. President. today I am honored to join my colleague and friend Senator CONNIE MACK in introducing the Immigration Reform Transition Act of 1997. This is a bipartisan. humane solution to concerns that were raised by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Thousands of families. hardworking. lawabiding. taxpaying individuals who had followed every rule and regulation up to the passage of the immigration bill last year now live in fear of deportation. Working together. and working swiftly. Congress has the opportunity to correct this injustice. The families that we are helping came to our Nation in the 1980s. Our own Government encouraged them to flee the Communist regimes and civil unrest of Central America at that time. Our Nations foreign policy gave them a safe haven. our Immigration Service allowed for their work authorization and they settled in to our American society. Ten or fifteen years later. these families have homes here. They have U.S. citizen children. They have jobs. they pay taxes. and they make tremendous contributions to our local communities. The Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 severely restricted the avenues of relief that were traditionally available to aliens who have resided in the United States on a longterm basis. Then. on February 20 of this year. the Board of Immigration Appeals interpreted a section of the immigration bill as applying. in all essence. retroactively. Forty thousand Nicaraguans in Miami alone who. under the old law. would have qualified for suspension of deportation. would now be deportable because of Boards decision. Families would be torn apart. Closeknit communities would evaporate. Businesses would suffer. In my heart. I dont believe this was the intent of Congress when the immigration bill was passed last year. Janet Reno made an important step toward fairness and justice on July 11. when she agreed to review the Board of Immigration Appeals decision. I supported her action. and appreciate her help in finding a humane and reasonable solution to these concerns. In her July 11 press release. the Attorney General informed Congress that legislative action would be necessary to fully resolve this specific issue.