[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 16, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H7352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROCEDURAL JUSTICE FOR NICARAGUANS AND OTHER CENTRAL AMERICANS: THE 
                           CASE FOR H.R. 2302

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Diaz-Balart] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, on June 24 the U.S. District Court for 
the Southern District of Florida granted a preliminary injunction in 
favor of thousands of Central American immigrants in Georgia, Alabama, 
and Florida. The court in its decision concluded that the Immigration 
and Naturalization Service violated the due process rights of thousands 
of Nicaraguans and others bringing suits.

                              {time}  2215

  The court stated that an interpretation of a statute that has the 
effect of barring completely access to the courts irrespective of the 
merits of a person's claim is violative of due process. A retroactive 
application of the Immigration Reform Act of 1996 violates due process 
by barring persons completely from even applying for suspension of 
deportation.
  I firmly believe that U.S. District Judge James King captured in his 
decision the essence of a key issue that is before Congress: Due 
process of law for immigrants. Legislation that I have introduced, the 
Technical Revisions Act, H.R. 2302, in conjunction with legally 
compelled administrative action will restore due process of law to 
Central American refugees. The administration, however, must also 
contribute toward ensuring that Central American immigrants will 
receive procedural justice.
  I would like to commend the Attorney General for her decision in July 
to set aside the Board of Immigration Appeals' ruling in the case of N-
J-B; however, at this urgent time I renew my appeal to her, to her good 
will so that she will act in accordance with her existing authority to 
completely reverse the N-J-B decision. Given the persistent 
demonstration of support for that result and the substantial equities 
involved, I am hopeful she will render this reversal in the near 
future.
  At this time, Mr. Speaker, I want to also urge very especially and 
personally that the Attorney General issue a parole for a young lady at 
the Krome Detention Center in south Florida, Cindy Zuyen Martinez, a 
19-year-old Nicaraguan young lady who has been unfairly detained for 
over 10 months. It is Cindy's 20th birthday on Friday, and I would hope 
and expect that the Attorney General, with using her good will and her 
good offices and the power of her office, would issue a humanitarian 
parole to Cindy Zuyen Martinez before her birthday this Friday.
  We in Congress, Mr. Speaker, cannot let the misdirected retroactive 
effects of the 1996 Immigration Act destroy whole families. In case 
after case, the Supreme Court has noted that the presumption against 
retroactive legislation is deeply rooted in our jurisprudence and 
embodies a legal doctrine centuries older even than our Republic. 
Consistent with that tradition, I do not believe that a majority of the 
Members of Congress ever intended that those provisions should apply 
retroactively to our immigrant communities.
  By way of example, a distinguished Member of this Congress, my fellow 
colleague from Florida, Mr. Peter Deutsch, who voted for the 1996 act, 
testified in Federal Court that he never contemplated that the new law 
would be implemented to operate against those who had sought relief 
under prior existing rules.
  I have introduced House bill 2302 to seek to clarify the ambiguities 
in the 1996 Immigration Act and to eliminate arbitrarily harmful and 
retroactive effects of that law. My bill is a technical corrections 
bill to the 1996 Immigration Act. It merely ensures that immigrants 
receive a fair hearing, Mr. Speaker.
  Refugees from Central America came to the United States for 
protection from Civil War and, in the case of our Nicaraguan brothers 
and sisters, from political persecution. Countless Nicaraguans fought 
courageously in the Nicaraguan resistance to defeat communism in their 
homeland. During the Civil War, and after it formally ended in 1990, 
many resistance members sought refuge in the United States based on the 
Federal government's pledge they would be able to remain as long as 
they compiled with their application procedures for suspension or 
asylum.
  Nicaraguan families acted accordingly and patiently waited to have 
their applications considered, many sacrificing their family savings to 
pay for legal representation during their long pending asylum 
processes. In some cases our courts have even certified these delays 
have been the fault of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
  Our Nation owes a great deal of gratitude to our Nicaraguan brothers 
and sisters, and I think it is our moral obligation and a requirement 
of elemental fairness that at the very least these refugees be 
considered under the rules in existence when they filed their 
applications.
  Since these refugees were admitted to the United States, I have 
witnessed in South Florida how they have made significant social, 
economic and cultural contributions to my community. They have built 
businesses, created jobs, they pay taxes, and these hard working 
families now have children, many of them who are native born American 
citizens. My bill ensures that these refugees will be able to obtain 
basic procedural justice in recognition of their historically unique 
and important circumstances.
  Mr. Speaker, we will continue to work with all intensity until we 
prevail. This issue requires it.

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