[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 75 (Friday, May 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5650-S5651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         A CRACKDOWN ON IMMIGRANTS IS RESTRICTING SCHOLARSHIPS

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I cast one of the few votes against 
the immigration bill that passed the U.S. Senate recently. And I did it 
because part of the bill simply goes too far. We are in a period in 
which there is a great deal of mean-spirited and anti-immigrant 
sentiment, a mean-spiritedness and sentiment that does not serve the 
Nation well.
  For example, my amendment to permit people who are illegal 
immigrants, and who are going to become citizens, to get student aid 
that is available to all American citizens, is just common sense.
  We want these future citizens to be productive members of our 
society.
  The bill that passed the Senate not only denies them that assistance, 
but can be the basis for deportation if they receive that aid for one 
year.
  Two items have appeared recently that should cause us to reflect a 
little more.
  One is an op-ed piece in the Chicago Sun Times, by a member of the 
editorial board, Tom Sheridan.
  The other is an article titled ``A Crackdown on Immigrants Is 
Restricting Scholarships'' by Dirk Johnson that appeared in the New 
York Times. I ask that both articles be printed in the Record after my 
remarks.
  Both suggest that we are being short-sighted in what we are doing.
  I urge my colleagues to read these two items if they have not done 
so.
  The op-eds follow:

                           Foreign Treasures

                           (By Tom Sheridan)

       First, an explanation. I'm half-Irish on my father's side. 
     Third generation. My mother's ancestry is more muddled, 
     though European. My wife is half-Italian (third generation), 
     with the rest mostly German.
       With that mix, our kids would be a diverse lot. But we also 
     have children who are Filipino (first generation) Hispanic 
     (second generation) and Asian.
       What I've done to enrich the Sheridan family gene pool is 
     nothing less than remarkable. It's the same way families--and 
     Nations--are enriched: Each of us has ancestors who came from 
     somewhere else.
       All of which makes me very impressed with people becoming 
     U.S. citizens these days. And damn glad I was born here and 
     didn't have to take the citizenship test. I might not pass 
     it.
       A study question for the citizenship test: How many changes 
     or amendments are there to the U.S. Constitution? Do you 
     know? Without looking?
       There's a lot of public yelping these days over 
     immigration--legal and no-so-legal. Illegal immigration is 
     just that--illegal--and should not be tolerated. Congress is 
     right to clamp down on it.
       But we seem to have confused the two. It has given us a 
     sense of public schizophrenia. On one hand, the folks in 
     Congress have passed legislation making it harder to 
     immigrate--even legally. On the other hand, Immigration and 
     Naturalization Service people are working doubly hard to help 
     people become citizens.
       Bills rolling through Congress would slow the immigration 
     process. Included in the measure passed by the Senate this 
     month are provisions to sharply limit federal benefits 
     available to legal residents, even as they pursue the process 
     of becoming citizens.
       It means that legal immigrants couldn't apply for a student 
     loan, a tuition grant (even based on merit) or federal job-
     training assistance. The penalty is deportation. Even if a 
     legal immigrant gets help, and later seeks citizenship, the 
     reward would be deportation.
       Should we tolerate legal residents who perform acts of 
     terrorism against the United States, or threaten its society 
     with acts such as drug-smuggling? Of course not. But under 
     the recent Terrorism Act, a legal resident who has been a 
     successful member of society

[[Page S5651]]

     for years and ran afoul of the law would be deported.
       That's hardly a welcoming gesture. It would make me wonder 
     whether our nation, which has traditionally embraced all 
     classes of people, really wanted me.
       It screams election-year propaganda: ``Look everybody; look 
     how tough we are.'' Such tough talk is phony. But only three 
     senators, including Illinois Sen. Paul Simon, saw it that way 
     and voted against it.
       All of which brings me to the act of becoming a citizen, 
     which more than 19,000 people did through the Chicago INS 
     office last year. Five times that many will take the oath to 
     support and defend the United States this year.
       Test question: What amendment addresses or guarantees 
     voting rights?
       Citizenship USA, an INS project, took over 18,000 square 
     feet of the old Sears store on State Street on April 30. 
     Workers are processing at least 800 people a day to work 
     through a backlog of citizenship applications. In the 12-
     month period ending this fall, INS officials expect that an 
     amazing 60,000 new citizens will have been naturalized in 
     Chicago. That's wonderful.
       The next celebration of citizenship will take place May 24 
     in the International Amphitheater, where 10,000 new citizens 
     from scores of nations around the world will be sworn in.
       Question: Why did the Pilgrims come to America?
       Answer: For religious freedom. And a better life.
       That's something we should keep in mind when we put up 
     roadblocks to the process that enriches us as a nation. 
     Immigration certainly enriched me.
                                                                    ____


         A Crackdown on Immigrants Is Restricting Scholarships

                           (By Dirk Johnson)

       Edgar, WI, May 9.--Vying to attend a prestigious camp for 
     patriotic young Wisconsin scholars, one student's resume 
     sparkled above the rest: a 16-year-old who earned straight 
     A's, played violin, spoke French and displayed an interest in 
     government.
       But the girl, Pang Thao, a junior at rural Edgar High 
     School, has been rejected by the camp's sponsor, the American 
     Legion Auxiliary, because she is not a United States citizen, 
     even though she will become one in a matter of months.
       ``Rules are rules, and unfortunately she's not a citizen,'' 
     said Eileen Knox, a spokeswoman for the Auxiliary. ``There 
     are lots of American-born girls who are still waiting in the 
     wings, hoping they can be chosen.''
       The rejection of Pang, who immigrated with her parents when 
     she was two months old, follows a similar incident in Texas 
     earlier this spring. The Houston Stock Show and Rodeo awarded 
     a $10,000 scholarship to a Texas honors student, only to 
     withdraw the prize after learning the winner was not a United 
     States citizen.
       When it comes to anger toward immigrants and their 
     children, a growing sentiment by almost any measure, 
     Americans usually complain about unskilled and illiterate 
     newcomers putting a drain on budgets and services.
       But the rejection of the two young scholars, immigration 
     advocates say, illustrates a wellspring of resentment against 
     those who can compete, perhaps too well.
       ``On the one hand, we encourage assimilation and 
     achievement,'' said Lucas Guttentag, a lawyer who specializes 
     in immigration for the American Civil Liberties Union, ``and 
     we say we want immigrants to learn the values of American 
     society. But then we turn around and exclude these people 
     from the very institutions that imbue those values.''
       The tough immigration bill passed overwhelmingly by the 
     Senate, for example, would deny college financial aid to 
     legal immigrants who are not citizens.
       For Pang, the talk of policy and politics can be reduced to 
     something very basic. ``There are a lot of people out there 
     who don't like me,'' she said the other night, while on break 
     from her job as a waitress at here parents' restaurant. 
     ``They don't know me. But they don't like me.''
       In fact, Mr. and Mrs. Thao were among the thousands of 
     Hmongs driven by Communist forces from Laos for helping the 
     United States in the Vietnam War.
       Pang is an exceedingly polite teenager who seems to bend 
     over backwards to avoid sounding like a complainer. But she 
     hears plenty of the stereotypes about minorities: ``They get 
     more welfare. They don't pay taxes. They're not loyal to 
     America.''
       She has found herself saying in a flash of defensive anger: 
     ``Man don't you understand, I'm here because of you. I'm here 
     because my relatives and my ancestors helped the Americans in 
     the war.''
       Her parents, Long, 38, and Chong Thao, 38, delayed starting 
     the citizenship process until last year. ``It is hard to let 
     go when you come from another country,'' said Mrs. Thao. 
     ``It's a part of you. But over time, we understand. This is 
     our home country now. We are Americans.'' They run the Thai 
     Cafe in a strip mall in Wausau, a city of 37,000 in central 
     Wisconsin with a sizeable Hmong (pronounced mung) population. 
     Pang works nights and Saturdays.
       Mrs. Thao also works full time as a caseworker for the 
     Marathon County Welfare Department. In addition, the family 
     raises ginseng in the fields around their farmhouse here, 
     about 20 miles west of Wausau.
       The family, with six children, struggles financially. But 
     the parents remember life in the refugee camp in Thailand. 
     ``The refugee camp was hell,'' Mrs. Thao said. ``Not enough 
     food. Poor sanitation. Hot. A lot of sick children. Many 
     died. We were lucky.
       Pang and her parents have been careful not to criticize the 
     American Legion. And they have expressed gratitude to the 
     University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, which recently invited 
     Pang to participate in an international conference there in 
     June, as a consolation for her rejection at the Legion camp, 
     Badger Girls State.
       Those who defend the citizenship rule noted that favoritism 
     for citizens goes back to the nation's founders. They point 
     to the constitutional requirement that the President be born 
     in the United States.
       ``Citizenship means something,'' said Mrs. Knox, of the 
     Legion Auxiliary. ``On Election Day, you cannot go to the 
     polls and say, `Well, I'm going to be a citizen next week.' 
     ''
       The disappointment in the Thao family has been keen, 
     although Pang, the oldest child, bristles at the notion of 
     people feeling sorry for her. ``I'm not complaining,'' she 
     said. ``I'm not whining, and I don't need anyone's pity.'' 
     More than anything else about the citizenship issue, she 
     said, she is bothered by the views of those who believe being 
     born in the United States is a virtue. ``I really dislike 
     this idea of some people being superior over others,'' she 
     said. ``Most of the people here are just a mix of 
     nationalities from somewhere else. The difference between me 
     and you is the color of our skin and our background. And 
     that's it.''
       At the time of the application for the camp, it appeared 
     the citizenship approval might be granted in time. But the 
     shut-down of some Government offices in the Washington budget 
     dispute delayed citizenship applications and doomed those 
     hopes.
       ``It's all right, Mom, it's really no big deal,'' Pang had 
     said, knowing how badly her mother felt.
       The students and teachers at Edgar High School, where 
     minorities can be counted on the fingers of one hand, have 
     supported Pang, said Mark Lacke, the school principal.
       ``She is a very bubbly, smart, popular girl,'' said Mr. 
     Lacke, who had pressed the Legion to reconsider. If the 
     Legion would not budge, Mr. Lacke asked if it would be 
     possible for Pang to attend the camp as an observer, rather 
     than as a delegate. The principal said he would drive the 
     girl there himself, and the school would pay her expenses.
       ``They got back to me and said there was no latitude,'' he 
     said. ``There should have been some forum for an appeal 
     here.''
       Pang, who will attend the University of Minnesota after she 
     graduates from high school next year, plans to study 
     architectural design. ``The best schools are in the East, but 
     they're really expensive,'' she said.
       As Pang helped her harried parents clear tables and deliver 
     orders, she spoke of the financial pressures at home, vowing 
     to claim a piece of the American dream.
       ``After college,'' she said, ``I'm going make big bucks, 
     help my little sister get in to one of those Eastern 
     schools--one of us has got to.''

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