[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H9727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A VICTORY FOR FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, today the House rejected by a convincing 
margin a motion to instruct the conferees on the Commerce, Justice, 
State appropriations bill, which would have resulted in thousands of 
legal immigrants being forced to leave the country. I was proud to join 
with the majority of Members of the House in opposing this proposal. I 
rise to express my appreciation for the vote today in this body, which 
represents a victory for fairness and justice.
  The result here in this Chamber today also shows that this body can 
work together in a bipartisan fashion on sensible and fair legislation 
to maintain the integrity of our immigration laws, while still keeping 
the doors of immigration open to those who play by the rules.
  Speaking in opposition to the motion offered by the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Rohrabacher] was a diverse cross-section of Members 
from both sides of the aisle, including both the chairman and the 
ranking Democrat of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and 
Judiciary Appropriations, as well as the chairman of the Committee on 
International Relations and the Democratic leader. Speaker after 
speaker, Democrat and Republican alike, cited the indisputable reasons 
for opposing the motion to instruct and for supporting permanent 
extension of Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 
the Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary Appropriations legislation.

  Mr. Speaker, as we heard during today's debate, Section 245(i) allows 
certain immigrants who have fallen out of status to have their papers 
processed here in the United States in order to become permanent 
residents, rather than forcing them to return to their home country to 
apply.
  Those covered by Section 245(i) must pay a $1,000 fee before 
obtaining their visa. Last year, these fees generated more than $200 
million for the INS, 80 percent of which is earmarked for INS detention 
purposes.
  Mr. Speaker, 245(i) does not change the order in which a person's 
visa is processed. Contrary to the claims made by some during today's 
debate, it does not give illegal immigrants the right to live in the 
United States.
  If we had passed the motion to instruct today, we would have torn 
families apart and deprived many families of their sole source of 
support. We would have forced the mother of children who are U.S. 
citizens to be separated from those children. We would have forced 
children who have grown up in the United States to wait out their 
applications for permanent residence in countries they barely know, and 
deprived many businesses, including small businesses of valued 
employees. We would have lost services of foreign-born doctors, 
providing much needed care to medically underserved areas, and forced 
many churches and other houses of worship to lose valued participants, 
many of whom give their services voluntarily, and we would also have 
imposed a 30 percent increase in the caseload that our embassies and 
consulates around the word must deal with.
  So I have to say, we have heard strong signals of support for 
permanent 245(i) from businesses, from churches, from professional 
organizations, labor unions and community groups. Our State Department 
has benefited from the $100 million in additional annual revenues, 
while the reduced caseload in our consular offices overseas has freed 
up additional resources for providing resources to Americans traveling 
abroad and to enhanced anti-fraud efforts.
  Given the belt tightening we have imposed on the State Department in 
recent years, it only makes sense to maintain a program that reduces 
costs and frees up resources. Mr. Speaker, I heard my colleague from 
New Jersey talk about the Statue of Liberty. We are a Nation of 
immigrants. The American dream that attracted many of our ancestors 
still has profound meaning for people from around the world, from Latin 
America to Africa, from Ireland to the lands of the former Soviet 
Union, from India to the Far East.
  We must guard against illegal immigration and punish those who 
deliberately violate our immigration laws, but we should not punish 
those who came here the right way, who played by the rules and who are 
simply the victims of an innocent mistake or a bureaucratic error.
  Permanently extending 245(i) is not only the rational thing to do 
from an economic standpoint, it was the morally right thing to do. I 
was proud to vote to defeat the motion to instruct the conferees. This 
House, Mr. Speaker, can be proud for defeating this motion and for 
supporting fair and rational immigration law once again.

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