Speech #1050084244

I rise in strong support of the Mack amendment. I. of course. therefore will oppose the motion to table. This amendment will ensure that fundamental principles of fairness are respected in regard to the cases of some 316.000 immigrants. some of them from Central America. In the Immigration bill Congress passed last year. we changed the criteria for suspension of deportation. Certain retroactive changes in that bill. at least as they have been interpreted by the INS. had the unintended effect of applying these new criteria to applications of suspension for deportation which were already in the pipeline when the bill was passed. The Mack amendment will ensure that those immigrants whose cases were in the pipeline when the 1996 immigration law took effect will have their cases decided according to the criteria in effect at the time that the law actually passed. It is only fair that we should not change the rules in midstream for these worried Immigrants. Let me take us back to the 1980s when we granted these 316.000 Central American immigrants temporary protection from deportation. We knew at that time the terrible consequences of warthe grinding poverty. human rights abuses that had driven these men. women. and. yes. children. to our shores. At that time. we told these immigrants that their protection from deportation would be permanent if certain conditions were met--that is what we told them then7 years of continuous residency. good behavior. proof of extreme hardship awaiting them in their native country. We basically said. "As long as you can prove that. then this will be permanent." When Congress changed the law in 1996. we clearly did not intend to change the rules for these people who already. at that time. were in the pipeline. We. in essence. had made a commitment to them.