Speech #1090070430

Federal disaster declarations have been issued which cover 90.000 square miles of affected areas. More than 71.100 federal personnel have been deployed. 122.000 people are housed in shelters throughout the 50 states and the District of Columbia. and 509.000 households have received $1.1 billion in disaster assistance. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Immigration. Border Security. and Claims. I also am concemed about the impact the hurricane has had on the foreign nationals who were residing in the disaster area. I rise today in support of a bipartisan bill that was introduced by my colleague Congressman F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER which would provide relief to these disaster victims too. the Immigration Relief for Hurricane Katrina Victims Act of 2005. I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of this bill. I want to thank Congressman SENSENBRENNER for his leadership on this issue and for his willingness to work with me and with my colleague. Congressman JOHN CONYERS. in drafting the provisions of the bill. The Immigration Relief for Hurricane Katrina Victims Act is an example of what can be accomplished when we work together. Among other things. it would provide special immigrant status for aliens who were the beneficiaries of immigrant petitions or labor certification applications pending on the date of Hurricane Katrinas arrival. It also would provide special immigrant status for the grandparents of orphans in cases where both parents died as a consequence of the hurricane and one of the parents was a citizen or a lawful permanent resident. It would provide nonimmigrant status for aliens who were disabled. or whose spouse or parent died or was disabled. as a consequence of Hurricane Katrina. It would provide that the spouses and children of citizens who died as a consequence of the hurricane would continue to be considered "immediate relatives" for visa petition purposes. It would provide further that the spouses. children. and unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents who died as a consequence of the hurricane while a visa petition was pending in their behalf. would continue to be eligible for the preference classification they would have had if the deaths had not occurred. The Immigration Relief for Hurricane Katrina Victims Act would provide relief for nonimmigrant students and exchange program participants by giving them enough time to enroll in a new program. The Immigration Relief for Hurricane Katrina Victims Act also would provide a variety of fixes for administrative problems. For instance. it would extend the deadline for notifying the Department of Homeland Security regarding a change of address. It would allow the Secretary of Homeland Security to postpone employment eligibility requirements for employers for a 90day period when a natural disaster has been declared.