[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 98 (Friday, July 11, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1401-E1402]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WELCOME TO THE FORUM ACOREANO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 10, 1997

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year I had a 
very useful and enjoyable meeting with an organization newly formed in 
Southeastern Massachusetts. The meeting took place in Fall River, and 
the group is the Forum Acoreano U.S.A. The Forum is composed of people 
who are concerned about issues that are of particular relevance to 
Azorean Americans, of which I am proud to say there are more in 
Southeastern Massachusetts than in any other part of the country. The 
officers of the organization--President Alfredo Alves, Vice President 
Maria Pinheiro, Secretary Manuel Estrella and Treasurer Arthur 
Tavares--and their colleagues are thoughtful well informed people who 
understand both the greatness of America, and the valuable 
contributions immigration makes to that. I look forward to working with 
this important organization in achieving the combination of economic 
growth and social justice which has been the hallmark of Americans at 
our best, and I ask that the very thoughtful letter that the Forum has 
addressed to myself and all of my colleagues be printed here. It is 
particularly relevant that this be printed at this time while conferees 
are deciding exactly what should be done to correct the serious errors 
Congress made last year in adopting legislation which so unfairly 
affected our immigrant population, and their families and friends.

                                        Forum Acoreano U.S.A.,

                                    Fall River, MA, June 24, 1997.
       To the Honorable Members of Congress: We are a newly 
     created organization formed to promote and give political 
     voice to the concerns and interests of persons in the United 
     States of Acorean origin. All of our members are immigrants 
     of many years duration in the United States and we are 
     saddened and deeply disturbed by legislation passed by 
     Congress this past year which drastically alters the 
     Immigration and Naturalization Act and which curtails 
     disability and other benefits available to legal permanent 
     residents of the United States.
       Never before have we witnessed a Congress of the United 
     States take such drastic measures as those passed into law in 
     1996. Never before have we witnessed the passage of 
     legislation so purposefully aimed to undermine the most 
     vulnerable and defenseless in our country: the aged, the 
     afflicted, the infirmed, the physically disabled, the 
     mentally incompetent, the dependent child, the disabled 
     child, as well as the immigrant among us who has no power to 
     vote.
       We urge you to:
       Return full disability and other benefits to disabled legal 
     permanent residents;
       Ensure that student exchange visitor programs can continue 
     to run without mandated agency reimbursement;
       Ensure special consideration regarding the English language 
     requirement with respect with persons over the age of 65 who 
     are applying for citizenship;

[[Page E1402]]

       Preserve humanitarian relief from deportation for long-term 
     permanent residents and others who have extensive family and 
     community ties in the United States;
       Hold public meetings to better know the needs and concerns 
     of your constituents, prior to passage of legislation.
       Please consider and remember during your legislative 
     deliberations that when a long-term permanent resident is 
     deported, we have personally witnessed the following:
       United States citizen children who are minors have been 
     compelled to accompany a deported parent in order to maintain 
     the family unit;
       A United States citizen child never has the same 
     opportunities for education and economic well being in his or 
     her parent's home land as he or she would have in the U.S.
       Families have been irreparably broken up;
       Youngsters have lost parents and great emotional harm has 
     resulted;
       Aged parents have lost the solace and company of a son or 
     daughter who is deported and have no hope of seeing that 
     child again;
       Families have lost their major breadwinner and have been 
     forced to turn to public benefits for relief;
       We can not imagine why Congress would single out these 
     vulnerable groups among us and tamper with their well being 
     and their family unity. We wonder if the members of Congress 
     spoke with their constituents before passage of such far 
     reaching legislation We wonder if you remembered that we are 
     a nation of immigrants and that it is our diversity which has 
     made us strong?
       If you doubt the contribution of immigrants to this 
     country, we invite you to visit our communities in 
     Massachusetts and Rhode Island. There you will see how we 
     have transformed run-down urban neighborhoods in Fall River, 
     New Bedford, Cambridge, Somerville, Peabody, and Taunton, as 
     well as Providence, East Providence, Bristol, Tiverton, West 
     Warwick into clean, safe, updated, family neighborhoods.
       Even though some of us speak with an accent, and have names 
     that may be hard to spell or pronounce, we are nonetheless, 
     voters and tax payers, and we own businesses and property, we 
     are also educators, public officials and public servants, as 
     well as doctors and lawyers and, if you visit the factories 
     in our communities you will see that we are the backbone of 
     the work force. We are also the mothers, fathers, children, 
     brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins of legal 
     permanent residents who have been hurt by the recent 
     legislation and as such, the laws have hurt us as well.
       We urge you ladies and gentleman of Congress to remember 
     the plight of the immigrant during the deliberations of the 
     105th Congress and to ameliorate the present legislation.
       Respectfully submitted, Forum Acoreano--U.S.A. Board of 
     Directors.
     Alfredo Alves,
       President.
     Manuel Estrella,
       Secretary.
     Maria Pinheiro,
       Vice President.
     Arthur Tavares,
       Treasurer.

       

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