Speech #1050099635

The work authorizations were again renewed in 1996. There were a number of reasons for this phase out program. But one of its purposes. as expressly stated in agency documents. was to allow the Nicaraguans who had laid down roots here to utilize the additional time to accrue the 7 years they would need to be eligible to adjust their status to legal residents under a procedure called "suspension of deportation." In one form or another. this relief has been in existence for 40 years. In recent times. and until April 1 of this year. it was available to anybody who had been here for 7 years. was of good moral character. and whose deportation would cause extreme hardship to the person or his or her citizen or permanent resident immediate family members. The Salvadorans and Guatemalans likewise received special protection from U.S. government authorities. Their asylum claims received a less sympathetic hearing initially. As a result. the Salvadorans filed a class suit. knows as the "ABC class action. subsequently joined by the Guatemalans. in which they challenged the way in which their asylum applications were being handled. President Bushs Administration settled this suit by agreeing to readjudicate their claims. and in order to facilitate this Congress gave the class members a special "temporary protected status" in the 1990 Immigration Act. That temporary status was administratively extended in one way or another while the class members awaited their readjudications. My point. Mr. President. is that during the 1980s people fearing persecution. fearing death squads. fearing disruptions of their communities. came to America and we took extraordinary measures to make it feasible for them to stay here. even if they had been denied asylum through the official asylumseeking procedures. At every step of the way. acts of Congress or acts of the executive branch gave these refugees a very clear signal. that they would be able to remain if they played by the rules then in existence. An informal understanding developed that in the absence of some other mechanism being devised. suspension of deportation would be the means through which they would become permanent residents of this country. That understanding was undermined when last years immigration bill changed the rules for suspension of deportation. There are good arguments. Mr. President. indeed. I believe. arguments that would ultimately prevail if tested in court. that those changes were not intended to operate retroactively. That. however. was not the view of some of the leading sponsors of these changes. nor was it the initial view of the INS or the Board of Immigration Appeals. As a result. these Central American refugees--as well as refugees from other countries in like circumstancesface the realistic prospect that a retroactive change in our laws might uproot them yet again. I am happy to say that. under the negotiated arrangement with the House. this will not happen. The U.S. government will keep its word to Central Americans. Under the version of the legislation incorporated into this bill. Nicaraguans who were in the United States prior to January 1. 1995 will be permitted to adjust to permanent residenceand get green cards--if they have maintained a continuous presence here. The same right will be extended to their Nicaraguan spouses and children. In addition. Salvadorans. and Guatemalans who either applied for asylum before 1990 or were members of the ABC class action suit settled with the U.S. Government. as well as members of their families. will be entitled to receive a hearing on their claims for suspension or withholding and adjustment under rules similar to those in effect prior to the 1996 immigration law. Nothing in the amendment precludes the Government from adapting those rules further to the special circumstances of that class. Similar relief will be available to those who fled communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union by December 31. 1990. and filed an asylum claim by December 31. 1991. They too will be able to seek suspension of deportation or withholding of removal under the rules similar to those in effect before passage of last years law. This relief also improves current law as applied to the members of these groups in two other respects. First. members of these groups will be eligible to have their cases adjudicated under the more generous rules whether or not they were in deportation proceedings as of the effective date of last years immigration law. That makes good sense. There is no reason to apply the more generous rules to someone who filed an asylum application. lost on it. and was placed in deportation proceedings. while subjecting to the new rules someone who filed an asylum application at the same time and whose asylum claim has yet to be adjudicated. Second. none of these refugees will be subject to the 4.000 cap last years law placed on the number of adjustments that may be granted in any given fiscal year. Thus they will not have to wait in line for a number to become available before their application may finally be acted on. With Central Americans and Eastern Europeans being placed outside the cap. it is expected that the 4.000 ceiling will accommodate the ordinary flow of successful applicants. Should there be more favorable adjudications than 4.000 in any fiscal year. the legislation assumes the INS will continue with its present approach of only issuing conditional grants until a number becomes available. Thus no one who would be the beneficiary of a favorable adjudication would be forced to depart because of the caps having been reached. When the outlines of an agreement along these lines first emerged in the House. it included a proposal to eliminate an entire category of legal immigration. albeit a relatively small one. as the price for allowing these people to seek to stay under the rules they had been told would apply to them. Under the final version of the agreement embodied in this amendment. there will be no elimination of any legal immigration category. There will be a temporary reduction of no more than 5.000 visas per fiscal year in the "other workers" employmentbased immigration category. but only after those now in the backlog receive their visas. There will also be a temporary reduction of not more than 5.000 visas per fiscal year in the Diversity visa program. These temporary reductions will last until the cumulative total of these reductions equals the number of Salvadorans and Guatemalans who ultimately adjust to permanent residence. The numbers will be taken evenly out of the two categories.