[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TREATING LEGAL IMMIGRANTS FAIRLY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SANDER M. LEVIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 29, 1997

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, in less than 100 days many thousands of 
elderly and disabled legal immigrants in our country will lose their 
only source of financial support unless Congress acts.
  This is not about welfare reform; it is about community 
responsibility. It is not about moving young parents from welfare to 
work, but about elderly people who cannot work. It is not about people 
who came here illegally, but people who came here under our laws.
  They now find themselves disabled, most often by age and illness: 
Asian-Americans caught up in the Vietnam war, often fighting on our 
side; Arab-Americans many of whom fled the land of Sadam Hussein; 
People who, despite in numerous cases having defended their native land 
against the Nazi invaders, left because of Soviet persecution against 
Jewish families; and Hispanic-Americans dislocated by war or in pursuit 
of family reunification.
  When President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work 
Opportunity Reconciliation Act he made it completely clear that he 
would propose legislation this year to correct the provisions on legal 
immigrants; today I am introducing a bill similar to the President's 
proposal.
  As a nation of immigrants, we must face up to this issue, as the 
faces of these elderly legal immigrants come more and more into focus 
for all the Nation to see.

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