Speech #1050075905

We in Congress. Mr. Speaker. cannot let the misdirected retroactive effects of the 1996 Immigration Act destroy whole families. In case after case. the Supreme Court has noted that the presumption against retroactive legislation is deeply rooted in our jurisprudence and embodies a legal doctrine centuries older even than our Republic. Consistent with that tradition. I do not believe that a majority of the Members of Congress ever intended that those provisions should apply retroactively to our immigrant communities. By way of example. a distinguished Member of this Congress. my fellow colleague from Florida. Mr. PETER DEUTSCH. who voted for the 1996 act. testified in Federal Court that he never contemplated that the new law would be implemented to operate against those who had sought relief under prior existing rules. I have introduced House bill 2302 to seek to clarify the ambiguities in the 1996 Immigration Act and to eliminate arbitrarily harmful and retroactive effects of that law. My bill Is a technical corrections bill to the 1996 Immigration Act. It merely ensures that immigrants receive a fair hearing. Mr. Speaker. Refugees from Central America came to the United States for protection from Civil War and. in the case of our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. from political persecution. Countless Nicaraguans fought courageously In the Nicaraguan resistance to defeat communism in their homeland. During the Civil War. and after it formally ended in 1990. many resistance members sought refuge in the United States based on the Federal governments pledge they would be able to remain as long as they compiled with their application procedures for suspension or asylum. Nicaraguan families acted accordingly and patiently waited to have their applications considered. many sacrificing their family savings to pay for legal representation during their long pending asylum processes. In some cases our courts have even certified these delays have been the fault of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Our Nation owes a great deal of gratitude to our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. and I think it is our moral obligation and a requirement of elemental fairness that at the very least these refugees be considered under the rules In existence when they filed their applications. Since these refugees were admitted to the United States. I have witnessed in South Florida how they have made significant social. economic and cultural contributions to my community. They have built businesses. created jobs. they pay taxes. and these hard working families now have children. many of them who are native born American citizens. My bill ensures that these refugees will be able to obtain basic procedural justice in recognition of their historically unique and important circumstances. Mr. Speaker. we will continue to work with all intensity until we prevail.