|
 |
     |
International Migration News - Volume #8 | |
 | |
|
Bush, Congress: Legalization
President-elect George W. Bush favors more guest workers- both professionals and farm workers. During the campaign, Bush pledged to split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into service-providing and enforcement agencies. Bush is expected to make Mexican immigration a priority, pledging to work for a "strong and constant friendship'' with Mexico, saying: "The United States is destined to have a 'special relationship' with Mexico, as clear and strong as we have had with Canada and Great Britain.'' Bush nominated a Cuban-American immigrant, Mel Martínez, to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Martinez left Cuba in 1962 as part of Operation Peter Pan, in which 14,000 children were brought to the United States and placed with foster families by the Catholic Church. Detailed analysis of exit polls suggest that Hispanics voted 62 to 35 percent for Democrat Al Gore over Republican George Bush. All Hispanic groups except Cuban-Americans (79 percent for Bush) cast most of their votes for Gore: Mexican-Americans (69 percent for Gore); Puerto Ricans (71 percent); Central Americans (74 percent); and South Americans (69 percent). Legalization. On December 15, 2000, Congress approved the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act (LIFEA) that: (1) allows an estimated 400,000 unauthorized foreigners to apply for legalization if they can prove they entered the US before January 1, 1982; (2) establishes a new V-visa program for an estimated 500,000 family members of legal immigrants who have been waiting for the INS to deal with their applications for greencards for at least three years; and (3) re-establishes the 1994-98 245(i) program for four months, until April 30, 2001, which may enable 200,000 unauthorized foreigners in the US awaiting immigrant visas to pay a $1,000 fine instead of having to leave the US and obtain their immigrant visas at a US consulate abroad. Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas) led those opposed to a broader legalization, saying: "I am as strongly committed to immigration as you can be committed to immigration. But I draw a bright line -- it is as bright as the morning sun -- and it is on one issue: People should come to America legally." About 2.7 million unauthorized foreigners were legalized in 1987-88 under IRCA. However, hundreds of thousands argued that their applications were rejected, or they were discouraged from filing applications, because the INS interpreted the general amnesty program to require "continuous US residence" too strictly. The new legislation will permit an estimated 400,000 who were continuously in the US between January 1, 1982 and May 4, 1988 to file late IRCA-amnesty applications. The spouses and children of these late IRCA-applicants may also remain in the US. The Fix 96 campaign mounted by advocates did not achieve its major goals in the 2000 Congress. The legalization was far more limited than Fix 96 wanted, subsidized medical care was not provided to poor legal immigrant women and children, and poor legal immigrants who arrived after August 22, 1996 were not made eligible for Food Stamps. Two former INS officials launched a for-profit company that aims to help potential immigrants to immigrate and naturalize. Applicants using the web-based service must pay $150 to renew a greencard and $275 for help in filling out a naturalization application. For more information: www.insgreencard.com
Edwin Garcia, "Clinton signs
new law for immigrants," San Jose Mercury News, December 22,
2000. | |
| |
|