[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 59 (Tuesday, April 15, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2284-H2289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RELIGIOUS WORKER VISA EXTENSION ACT OF 2008
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 5570) to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to
eliminate the sunset in the special immigrant nonminister religious
worker visa program, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 5570
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Religious Worker Visa
Extension Act of 2008''.
SEC. 2. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT NONMINISTER RELIGIOUS WORKER
PROGRAM.
(a) Regulations.--Not later than December 31, 2008, the
Secretary of Homeland Security shall issue final regulations
to eliminate or reduce fraud in the special immigrant
categories described in subclauses (II) and (III) of section
101(a)(27)(C)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(C)(ii)).
(b) Extensions.--
(1) In general.--Section 101(a)(27)(C)(ii) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(C)(ii))
is amended by striking ``October 1, 2008,'' each place such
term appears and inserting ``January 1, 2010,''.
(2) Conditional further extension.--
(A) In general.--Section 101(a)(27)(C)(ii) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1101(a)(27)(C)(ii)), as amended by paragraph (1), is further
amended by striking ``January 1, 2010,'' each place such term
appears and inserting ``January 1, 2016,''.
(B) Conditional effective date.--The amendment made by
subparagraph (A) shall take effect on March 1, 2009, but only
if the Secretary of Homeland Security has complied with
subsection (a).
(c) Report.--Not later than September 30, 2010, the
Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security
shall submit to
[[Page H2285]]
the Congress a report containing the results of a study of
the effectiveness of the regulations described in subsection
(a). The report shall also include an analysis of a random
sample of non-minister special immigrant religious workers,
before their second anniversary of being admitted, to
determine whether they are still employed by the religious
organization that petitioned for them, and if not, the
reasons for their departure from such employment.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.
General Leave
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Michigan?
There was no objection.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Members of the House, this week we are honored by a visit from His
Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and are reminded of the good work that
people of faith do all around the world. I am pleased to bring before
the House at this time the Religious Worker Visa Extension Act of 2008.
This measure would reauthorize the Special Immigrant Non-Minister
Religious Worker Program, which also allows non-minister religious
workers to obtain special immigrant status in the United States so that
they may do the work required of their faith. If we don't act, the
program will sunset at the end of September of this year.
Non-minister religious workers are people of faith who are called to
a vocation or who are in traditional religious occupations with a bona
fide nonprofit religious organization in the United States. Examples of
those called to a vocation include nuns, monks, and sisters. Examples
of those in religious occupations include missionaries, counselors,
translators, religious instructors, cantors, and other pastoral care
providers.
The program provides up to 5,000 special immigrant visas per year
that religious denominations or organizations in the United States may
use to sponsor foreign nationals to perform religious service here.
Once granted, this type of visa allows religious workers to immigrate
permanently to the United States.
Since it was first enacted in 1990, the program has been extended
four times, most recently in 2003. Working with the ranking member of
our committee, Lamar Smith, we're making changes in the program for the
first time to address potential fraudulent uses of the program. None
other than our Immigration Subcommittee Chair, Zoe Lofgren of
California, has led the way in fashioning these proposals.
First, the bill requires that the Department of Homeland Security
issue regulations by December 31 of this year to eliminate or reduce
any fraud in the program. Then it extends authorization for only 15
months if the Department of Homeland Security fails to issue those
regulations. This would enable Congress to better consider other
possible avenues to address possible or potential fraud in the program
if that proves necessary. If the department does issue the regulations,
the authorization is extended for 6 more years, for a total of a little
over 7 years. Finally, the bill requires the Inspector General to
report on the effectiveness of the regulations by September 30, 2010.
With these significant anti-fraud provisions we have worked together
with our Republican colleagues to add, I am confident Congress will be
equipped with the information it needs to determine whether further
action to prevent fraud in the program is warranted. And if it is, we
do not hesitate to take such appropriate action.
So I hope that we will receive unanimous support on this bipartisan
legislation.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise to address the legislation as so eloquently laid out by the
chairman of the full Judiciary Committee. And, first, I would like to
remark that I appreciate the cooperation in the negotiations that have
taken place between Ranking Member Smith and the chairman of the
Immigration Subcommittee, Ms. Zoe Lofgren, as well as Chairman Conyers.
And this is the right spirit to deal with a religious visas extension
type of a bill, and the timing of this is perfect as well for it to be
the very week that Pope Benedict XVI is arriving tomorrow morning here
in Washington, DC, and I think a lot of our activity will be suspended
while we commemorate the glorious day.
I have looked at a number of the statistics throughout this, and I
have some reservations about what has transpired with the religious
worker visas over the last several years, and I expect to take up some
of those issues a little bit later in the debate.
But as the gentleman who is more eloquent in laying out this entire
case is to my right, I would be very happy to yield 3 minutes to the
ranking member of the full Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of Texas. First of all, I want to thank the gentleman from
Iowa (Mr. King), who is the ranking member of the Immigration
Subcommittee, for yielding.
I am happy to have played a part in the creation of the Religious
Worker Immigrant Visa Program back in 1990. These visas enable American
religious denominations, large and small, to benefit from committed
religious workers from other countries.
However, I have also long been concerned about the high level of
fraud that has been evident in this visa program. Like Mr. King, I feel
regulations can only go so far in preventing fraud and we do need
additional statutory changes in the program.
The Office of Fraud Detection and National Security at the Department
of Homeland Security has conducted a Fraud Benefit Assessment. It found
that of 220 religious worker visa cases selected at random, 33 percent
had ``a finding of fraud,'' the highest of any visa program.
Fraud involves everything from bogus churches and bogus jobs to
``religious workers'' who are found driving taxis soon after they
arrive here.
So I especially appreciate the steps that the chairman of the
Immigration Subcommittee, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, has taken to
address these concerns. She agreed that we would extend the expiring
religious worker green cards for 7 years as long as the Department of
Homeland Security issues long-needed regulations to address some types
of fraud. In addition, she agreed to have the Inspector General
complete a report on the effectiveness of the anti-fraud regulations.
The Inspector General also will conduct an audit to determine to what
extent religious workers continue to work for the religious
institutions that sponsor them.
Madam Speaker, although the bill does not contain all of the
provisions I would have liked, I want to express my thanks to Ms. Zoe
Lofgren for her comity in drafting this legislation, which I support.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I recognize now the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Zoe Lofgren), Chair of Immigration, without whose
inordinate leadership we would not have been able to arrive at the
accommodations and agreements that is in the bill that is now before
us, and I yield to her such time as she may consume.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. I thank Mr. Conyers, Mr. Smith, and
Mr. King.
Madam Speaker, I am proud to be the author of H.R. 5570, the
Religious Worker Visa Extension Act of 2008.
Immigrant religious workers add vitality and depth to communities of
faith throughout America. They provide much-needed help to people of
all faiths. America is a great and diverse land. Our religious
institutions, our churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, cathedrals,
face daunting challenges today. They must reach out to more people from
more countries and cultures than ever before. Religious workers serve
these communities well and ably to the benefit of their communities and
their many faiths. I have no doubt that religious communities in
America will continue to have the need to find devoted people of faith
to help them meet the needs of their members.
[[Page H2286]]
{time} 1330
In Jewish community schools across the country, highly skilled
religious instructors from Israel plant the fertile seeds of faith in
our children. Mormon missionaries from around the world come to the
U.S. to serve their community and deepen their faith. In Catholic
dioceses around America, nuns from around the world provide needed
community services and teach our children well. Muslim imams call their
communities together to promote their faiths and a greater
understanding of their beliefs. Protestant churches of every
denomination benefit from the touches of religious workers in their
diverse communities.
The call to faithful service in the United States will continue to
grow as this Nation becomes more diverse. Because of this growing need,
I introduced this bill. It follows my efforts in years past from the
105th and 106th Congress to permanently reauthorize the special
immigrant nonminister religious worker visa program. I called those
bills the Mother Theresa Worker Act in honor of her great service which
inspired us and benefited the world.
I believed then as I believe now, that the special immigrant
nonminister religious worker visa program represents an important and
even critical piece of our immigration laws and that it should, like
other religious worker programs, not sunset.
After four successive reauthorizations of this program in 1994, 1997,
2000 and most recently in 2003, each without a single substantive
change in the program, I again introduced a bill to permanently
reauthorize the program. However, as part of the process of putting the
bill through the regular order and subjecting it to the robust
discussion inherent in the legislative process, I offered an amendment
worked out with the minority in the subcommittee to significantly
reduce the potential for fraud in the program.
As mentioned by the chairman of the full committee, it requires DHS
to issue its regulations. It limits the reauthorization to 15 months.
If the department fails to issue regulations, it requires the Inspector
General to issue a report on the effectiveness of the regulations. And
rather than the permanent extension, as I had sought, Mr. Smith and I
worked out a compromise of 7 years of the regulations that are
authored.
Finally, after additional discussion with the minority over the last
several days, we have agreed that the Inspector General's report should
also contain an analysis of a random sample of nonminister special
immigrant cases to determine whether they are still employed by the
religious organization that petitioned for them, and if not, the
reasons for their departure from such employment. I am confident that
these steps will make the issue and concern of fraud unnecessary
because we will eliminate that problem.
I had an exit interview, if you will, with the director of the USCIS
last week. Dr. Emilio Gonzalez is going back to his family in Florida.
And he told me that with the initiation of site visits, which is
something that should have happened long ago, the actual number of
applications for this visa has dropped significantly, which is an
interesting phenomenon.
So I think that we are well underway in eliminating any problems with
the program so that our country can enjoy the richness that religious
workers bring to our communities.
I thank the chairman for yielding to me.
Mr. CONYERS. I would like now to recognize the distinguished
gentlelady from Texas, Sheila Jackson-Lee, who has worked on
immigration as long as anyone on our committee, and her industry and
cooperation have been very effective in bringing us together this
afternoon. And I yield her as much time as she may consume or as much
time as I have left, whichever is the longest.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. To the distinguished chairman, let me thank
you for the litany and list of achievements of human rights that you
have achieved on this floor. And I appreciate the leadership of my
subcommittee Chair, Ms. Zoe Lofgren, on many hard issues that have come
to her attention over the time of her tenure as chairperson. And as a
member of the subcommittee, I am grateful for her leadership. And
working with the minority, I thank them on this instance for the
cooperation on H.R. 5570. It is an especially unique and important
legislative initiative as we make note not only of the many religious
leaders in this Nation, but as we make note of the visit of the Aga
Khan that, who has spent time in the State of Texas and his followers
who have had the privilege of seeing him for the first time in 10 years
in the United States, someone who has funded major humanitarian efforts
around the world, and of course, the people of New York and Washington,
D.C. have the privilege of hosting the Pope in these coming weeks and
certainly in Washington.
Religion is special, and is special to this Nation. This legislation
is a special immigrant visa which allows qualified religious workers to
immigrate to the U.S. and later become citizens if they so chose and
meet the qualifications. The other is a nonimmigrant visa which allows
qualified religious workers to entry temporarily and perform services
in the U.S. for a prescribed period. It has already been noted that the
actions of these religious workers may find themselves in parishes,
mosques or synagogues, or really simply in the community, as Mother
Theresa was in India. Both of these visas may be granted to both
ministers and nonminister religious workers.
Yes, there is humanitarian work to be done in the United States. They
work in some of our most impoverished communities. And they are sincere
in their social and religious humanitarian work. The bill has come
under closer scrutiny because of the allegations of abuse and fraud
among the foreign petitioners. But I am glad that this bill will
provide for a 7-year extension of the program, and it will require DHS
to promulgate regulations to eliminate fraud.
We must work together with the Department of Homeland Security, and I
do appreciate the work of Dr. Gonzalez to impress upon them that their
task is, in fact, to secure America and that they must move quickly on
these regulations. If the regulations are not in place by December 31,
2008, to reduce fraud, the program will only be extended for 15 months
through January 1, 2010. But if DHS can get the regulations in place,
it is automatically extended to January 1, 2016.
I think this is a great start. But I ask my colleagues to consider
the expansion of this bill, one to authorize it permanently, but also
to look at a small area of which I hope to write legislation on, and
that is the insistence that the religious person coming must be of the
same religion of that which the person is petitioning for.
I had this circumstance in my district. Grace Community Church is a
church with thriving multiple ministries that wanted to bring a young
man and his family, a bilingual pastor, to speak to their Spanish
congregation and to minister to our Hispanic community in Texas. It was
a very, very tough task to address the question of the denials that he
received because he was not the same religion of Grace Community
Church. He had the same faith. He believed in a higher power. He wanted
to do missionary work. The church was legitimate. It had long years in
the community. The father of the young man had worked with the pastor
of Grace Community Church. But yet we could not get a visa except for
the gracious reconsideration of the Department of Homeland Security.
We must reduce fraud. But we can't reduce faith. And when individuals
come and want to be missionaries even in this land, we should recognize
and grant the opportunity. We can reduce fraud by making sure the
institutions exist, the time frame is a time frame that is credible,
the individuals are credible, the time that the visa is issued is
reviewed, if you will, or overseen by the Department of Homeland
Security. But actually, we should encourage those who wish to come to
this Nation for good reasons and those who come under this visa are
doing so.
So in conclusion, I do want to note that we are celebrating the
authorization of this bill this week for very special reasons. But we
are also celebrating it because we believe that those who want to do
good should be granted the opportunity. As we go forward on this
legislation, I am hoping that we will look at some of the small
fractures that keep good people from
[[Page H2287]]
coming to the United States, worshiping, practicing, serving and
working with a great church like Grace Community and others who may
wish to bring individuals who may not have the same religious
affiliation but have the same belief in the greater goodness and the
greater power.
Let me yield back by asking my colleagues to support H.R. 5570. And I
thank my colleagues for the great work that they have done.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of
H.R. 5570, the ``Religious Worker Visa Program Extension Act of 2008'',
introduced by the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration,
Representative Zoe Lofgren.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill. The religious worker visa
program allows U.S. religious denominations to fill critical religious
worker positions for which there are no qualified candidates in the
U.S. with qualified religious workers abroad. The program provides for
two types of visas.
The one is a special immigrant visa, which allows qualified religious
workers to immigrate to the U.S. and later become citizens if they so
choose and meet the qualification. The other is the non-immigrant visa,
which allows qualified religious workers to enter temporarily and
perform services in the U.S. for a proscribed period. Both of these
visas may be granted to both ministers and non-minister religious
workers.
This bill has come under closer scrutiny recently because of
allegations of abuse and fraud among the foreign petitioners. H.R. 5570
would provide for a seven-year extension of the program and it would
require DHS to promulgate regulations to eliminate fraud. If the
Department of Homeland Security does not issue regulations to eliminate
or reduce fraud in the religious worker program by December 31, 2008,
the program is only extended for 15 months through January 1, 2010. If
the Secretary of Homeland Security issues the regulation then the
program is automatically extended until January 1, 2016.
While I support this bill, I would have liked to have this bill be
expanded so that a religious worker does not have to work for a
religious institution of the same denomination. Presently, a religious
worker must be of the same religion as the institution by which the
worker is employed. Recently this has created problems.
Pastor Riggle from Grace Community Church in my district in Houston,
Texas contacted my office concerning Dr. David Scarpeta who needed a
religious worker visa to work in his church. USCIS initially denied Dr.
Scarpeta's religious worker petition because Dr. Scarpeta was not a
member of Pastor Riggle's church.
In my view, Dr. Scarpeta should not have been excluded from the
religious worker program merely because he was not a member of the
church that was sponsoring him. This is inconsistent with religious
work as I know it in this country. Often religious workers from
different denominations and religious workers from different
denominations work together in the religious vineyard.
Because I thought the law as interpreted was draconian and far too
limited in its application, I worked tirelessly with USCIS to ensure
that Dr. Scarpeta would be able to work for Grace Community Church.
Through my efforts, I was able to get resolution of that case and now
Dr. Scarpeta is an active member of the Grace Community Church.
Madam Speaker I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
examine this bill and recognize that it benefits the religious worker
and Americans. I fully support what Representative Lofgren and the
Subcommittee on Immigration, of which I am a member, have done in the
area of immigration.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I want to make sure that I am on record here as
supporting religious worker visas. And one of the things that was well
publicized during the Reagan administration was our ability to exchange
students and business relationships and all parts of our culture with
the rest of our world and bring people into the United States to get a
feel and for us to learn from them and for them to learn from us. And I
very much support that approach, and it has been important from the
standpoint of promoting peace throughout the world.
I find that whenever you get to know people, you find out that people
are human everywhere with the same values, the same interests and the
same ideals at our core. We have different religions sometimes, we have
different economics, different clothing, different food, different
building structures and different climates. That all comes together as
components of who we are as nations and nationalities. But inside of
us, we are all one people. And that is my belief, and it is my profound
commitment to continue to support the religious workers' visa.
Now I get to the ``or what?'' And that is that I have seen a
significant amount of fraud in these applications. And I want to point
out that where we will be welcoming Pope Benedict XVI here in
Washington, D.C., and as I look through the statistics on the Catholic
religious workers' visas, the fraud rate is very, very low as a
proportion to the overall applications. So there is no implication in
my remarks with regard to Catholics in particular, and many other
denominations from that standpoint.
But the special immigrant religious worker visa program was created
in 1990 and has been a magnet for people not only to come and share
their faith with us, but also a magnet for people to be able to utilize
the program in the system that it wasn't intended for.
The State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs in September 2005
in their Fraud Digest reported that ``religious worker visas are known
as some of the most difficult to adjudicate.'' The Fraud Digest then
goes on to discuss various cases in which people were prosecuted for
fraudulent use of the program. So, for instance, in 2004 a Venezuelan
national was convicted in Virginia of visa fraud. He had filed 179
fraudulent petitions for religious ministers. In addition to creating
fraudulent certificates of ordination, diplomas and other supporting
documentation, he also obtained a valid 501(c)(3) tax exemption from
recognized religious organizations without their knowledge.
The Immigration Subcommittee has long been aware of fraud in their
religious worker visa program. In 1997, a GAO investigation was
requested by our subcommittee. The State Department conducted a field
inquiry. They did that to get the views of consular offices as to the
level and type of fraud. And in 41 percent of the 83 responding posts,
some type of fraud or abuse was acknowledged. And the State Department
also noted that under the program's regulations, almost anyone involved
with a church, aside from the explicitly excluded occupations of
cleaning, maintenance and support staff, arguably could be qualified as
a religious worker. So this was an open door. And I recognize the
chairlady of the subcommittee acknowledged that we need to tighten that
up a bit. And that, I think, is the biggest reason why, in that
particular quote from that report.
In 1999, the GAO released a final report. The agency noted that the
types of fraud often encountered in the processing of religious worker
visas ``involved petitioners making false statements about the length
of time that the applicant was a member of the religious organization
and the nature of the qualifying work experience.''
The report went on to say that evidence uncovered at that time by INS
agents suggested that ``some of these organizations exist solely as a
means to carry out immigration fraud.'' That is what we should be
guarding against. That is what we hope to be able to do with their new
regulations that will be written as a result of the bill.
At his motion, I would be happy to yield to the chairman of the full
committee, Mr. Conyers.
Mr. CONYERS. Thank you very much, Steve King, ranking member.
Am I getting from your remarks that you are implying that Protestants
commit more abuse than Catholics in this particular program?
Mr. KING. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, no good deed goes
unpunished.
I'm simply complimenting the Catholics without reference to
Protestants. However, I do have some data I could bring out perhaps a
little later in the debate.
Mr. CONYERS. Did you say yes or no?
Mr. KING of Iowa. I said, ``No good deed goes unpunished.'' I
complimented the Catholics and didn't remark with regard to the
Protestants.
Mr. CONYERS. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. KING of Iowa. I thank the chairman for his levity in this debate
and I reclaim my time.
{time} 1345
Madam Speaker, most recently, in July of 2006, the U.S. Citizenship
and
[[Page H2288]]
Immigration Services Office of Fraud Detection and National Security
conducted a fraud benefit assessment on the Religious Worker Visa
program. They selected 220 cases at random and found an astounding 33
percent fraud rate. That means one out of three was fraudulent. That is
their finding.
In 32 of the fraudulent cases, the religious institution either did
not exist or only existed on paper, and 39 of their fraudulent
petitions included fraudulent supporting documentation or material
misrepresentations within a document. Other instances of fraud included
cases where the petitioner could not be located or connected to any
religious entity and where the petitioning religious entity was unaware
that the petition had even been filed and was unaware of the
beneficiary.
Now that this Nation is involved in a global war on terror, we must
be extremely vigilant, Madam Speaker. We must protect the safety and
welfare of American citizens. We can't do that with an immigration
policy that includes programs ripe with fraud.
Another example would be in 2003 Mohammed Khalil and three of his
sons were arrested in connection with submitting false applications to
bring over 200 individuals to the United States using the Religious
Worker Visa program. Prosecutors revealed that Khalil made statements
to an undercover witness professing allegiance to Osama bin Laden. He
also allegedly stated, ``Hopefully another attack in the United States
will come shortly.'' These are the kind of people that we don't need in
this program. We must be ever vigilant.
This program needed some improvements before it was ready for
reauthorization. Historically it has been reauthorized as a 5-year
reauthorization. The initial proposal was to reauthorize it to make the
program permanent. I appreciate the negotiations that have taken it
down to a 7-year reauthorization. I would have preferred it be
substantially less.
However, information that has been made available to me after such
time as we took action on the bill in the Judiciary Committee gives me
some hope that USCIS, the U.S. Citizenship Immigration Services, has
already taken some steps that likely would have reduced the percentage
and certainly reduced the number of fraud cases.
As I look at the verbal report from Director Emilio Gonzalez, the
2005 Religious Worker Visa applications were something slightly above
4,000 out of the 5,000 cap that is in the authorization. That was 2005.
So that would be the year by which we have seen the highest percentage
of fraud in the reports that I have seen, Madam Speaker.
In 2006, the applications, by the report language that I received, is
3,048. So we have seen these numbers going down, presumably because of
the increased scrutiny on the Religious Worker Visa applications. Then
by 2007 we only saw, and this is by a verbal report from the director,
454 Religious Worker Visa applications. That is a dramatic 80-some
percent reduction in the number of visa applications. I think it is
safe to conclude that a significant amount of this, Madam Speaker, is
the result of increased scrutiny on the part of USCIS.
We need to be taking a particular look still, and I intend to sit
down with Director Gonzalez and talk this through so I can get a full
understanding of the decisions they made, the timing of their decisions
and how that might have affected the Religious Worker Visa
applications.
But as I look through their report, I see a couple or three places
that we should be looking. One is the special registrant countries.
These are the countries that required extra scrutiny post-September
11th, and we know which countries those are. They are listed in the
report. That happens to be the source of, depending how you want to
evaluate the information, those countries that made those self-attested
reports show that either 70 percent, 73 percent or 80 percent were
fraudulent in the special registrant countries category.
Then the non-affiliated groups, the groups that are not affiliated
with a religious denomination, showed 63 percent fraud. That is worthy
also of significant scrutiny, and I am hopeful that this has been
addressed. And those numbers I believe also are shrinking. Then I
looked at, for example, the countries of origin. There was one county
that had 100 percent fraud of the report that was issued. That was
Jamaica.
So these are things that I think are red flags. I intend to sit down
and have this conversation with Director Gonzalez and get a better feel
for it. But that is the statistics we are dealing with today as this
bill to reauthorize and extend for 7 years Religious Worker Visas is
before this Congress.
Then I would submit also that there is something that is actually
missing in our policy. A nation that should be a nation that believes
in free trade and smart trade also should believe in free and smart
trade of our religious workers. I believe that we should have
reciprocity. For us to welcome religious workers from countries that
will disallow American religious workers from going to their countries
and particular religions that come from America to go to those
countries, I think is a great big gap in our oversight.
Recognizing the time of this legislation and the inability to offer
an amendment in a closed rule, I have drafted a bill, and I have that
bill with me today and I won't be able to introduce it unless there is
a request for unanimous consent, and I don't intend to do that, but
this bill is the Religious Worker Reciprocity Act of 2006.
What it does, it just extends reciprocal immigration treatment to
nationals of the United States who are seeking resident status in order
to work in religious vocation of other countries. In other words, it
would simply say you send your religious workers here, we want to be
able to send our religious workers there. I think that is the intent.
And I would ask for support of that across the bipartisan effort, and
particularly those that have taken particular interest in this issue.
But I will be introducing that legislation in a subsequent day.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to
the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Zoe Lofgren), the chairwoman of
the Immigration Subcommittee.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much
time remains.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Michigan controls 6
minutes and the gentleman from Iowa controls 4\1/2\ minutes.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I just want to make a
couple of comments. I think it is important to note that the various
analyses of this program back in the nineties and early in this century
actually preceded reauthorization when Republicans were in the
majority. We had a reauthorization with no changes at all in 1994,
1997, 2000 and 2003. So this is the first time we have actually had
changes in the bill to address the issue of fraud, and I think is it is
appropriate we do so. We want to welcome religious workers to our
country, but we don't want to be scammed. So I think we have done the
balance on this.
I would note that I believe, as does the ranking member, that the
Catholics probably do have a low rate of fraud, but there is no way to
know that, because the sample of 220 was so small that there was no way
to pull out any one denomination as being more problematic than
another.
I would ask unanimous consent that the e-mail from the USCIS making
that point to me be included in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
From: Patrick N. Forrest.
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008.
To: Blake Chisam.
Subject: Re religious workers.
Blake, the Religious Worker BFA (nonimmigrant) had a 32.73%
fraud rate out of a sample of 220 cases. The public version
of the BFA did not further break down the 220 cases into
religious categories. The fraud rate for Muslim organization
has been spoken of many times on the Hill for some time. The
reality is that because the population sample for Muslim
groups in the BFA is so small the rate of fraud is
statistically insignificant. I'm still waiting on the site
check data.
Patrick.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I would note also that,
anecdotally, the non-affiliated may in fact be part of the issue, and
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here is the problem that may have happened.
If there is no site visit to the petitioning church, you don't know
whether it is a phony post office box or whether it is St. Joseph's
Cathedral in downtown San Jose. So now that the Department of Homeland
Security has done site inspections, anybody can see the beautiful St.
Joseph's in downtown San Jose, and you can also find out there is
something funny here because there is not a real church or it is just a
post office box. And I think that is what has led to the dramatic
decline in some of these more problematic applications.
I would note also, and I look forward to talking to the ranking
member about his reciprocity bill, but let me just express a caution.
Right now, Russia will not allow our evangelicals into their country to
proselytize. I think that is the wrong thing for the Russian government
to do. I think it denies the Russian people the opportunity to be
exposed to those who believe that Christ is their personal saviour. But
I don't think we ought to deny the Russian Orthodox believers in
California the opportunity to receive assistance from Russian Orthodox
religious workers simply because the Russian government has hostility
towards religion and our government does not have hostility towards
religion.
So I look forward to discussing this further with the ranking member,
but I would want to add that cautionary.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
In fact, I don't recall the unanimous consent request. Was that
responded to by the Speaker?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Yes, it was.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Okay, I didn't hear that. And I certainly don't
reserve nor do I object to that e-mail from USCIS being introduced into
the Record. In fact, I would like to read it into the Record.
It says, ``The religious worker BFA non-immigrant had a 32.73 percent
fraud rate out of a sample of 220 cases. The public version of the BFA
did not further break down the 220 cases into religious categories. The
fraud rate for Muslim organization has been spoken of many times on the
Hill for some time. The reality is that because the population sample
for Muslim groups in the BFA is so small, the rate of fraud is
statistically insignificant. I am still waiting on the site check
data.''
I believe that is the e-mail referenced by the gentlewoman from
California, and I reference it here to speak to the data that is in the
report rather than a comment about the data that is in the report.
These 220 cases were drawn to give indicators for further scrutiny.
When you see a 70, 73 or 80 percent fraud rate, there is an obligation
to look into that and verify the sources of that fraud and also the
indicators that it might be greater, not less. I don't imply it is, but
we can draw just as much inference that it is greater than it is less
from these statistics.
I pointed out that Jamaica has a 100 percent fraud rate out of the
sample in this study. That doesn't mean there aren't other
denominations we shouldn't be looking at. But I am looking at each one
of these cases, and I referenced the special registrant countries that
are part of that list. The special registrant counties would be, for
the record, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan, Algeria,
Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia,
Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Egypt and Pakistan.
For the record, when I referenced then the special registrant
countries, those are the countries. This is the record. It is the data
we are dealing with. I think that it is something that we need to pay
special scrutiny to. But we should encourage the reciprocity and the
exchange of religious workers.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I am very happy to yield back my time if
the other side has no further speakers.
Mr. KING of Iowa. If the gentleman would yield, I would like perhaps
30 seconds just to wrap it up.
Mr. CONYERS. Absolutely.
Madam Speaker, I return any unused time.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I think this has been a very healthy
debate. It has brought issues out into the Record that are going to be
useful for us to reference. I pointed out that I do have data here that
hasn't become part of the Record and I have withheld it for some
reasons of discretion.
I look forward to reaching across the aisle and working with the
Members across the aisle to look into those concentrated areas of fraud
and work together to see if we can find a way to establish a policy of
reciprocity for religious workers, and, at the same time, celebrate the
great religions of the world and the exchange of those religions.
Mr. TANCREDO. Madam Speaker, I rise to oppose H.R. 5570, a bill which
will again reauthorize the Religious Worker Visa. The new majority
apparently thinks we need to add ``ministry'' to the list of jobs that
``Americans won't do.'' Then again, with the level of hostility the
Democrats have towards religion in America, there may come a time when
we do have to import religious workers. Fortunately, we aren't to that
point quite yet.
Regrettably, this program is far from comical. Just last year, the
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service attested to the fact that this
visa had been ``compromised.'' The fraud rate is ``excessively high''
according to Emilio Gonzalez, head of USCIS. In fact, a DHS fraud-
prevention task force found that a whopping 33 percent of the visas in
this program were granted based on fraudulent information.
Even worse, rampant fraud and abuse has characterized this program,
practically since its inception in 1990. A GAO report about the program
back in 1999 found that, ``As a result of . . . fraud investigations,
both [the State Department and the INS] have expressed concern that
some individuals and organizations that sponsor religious workers may
be exploiting this category to enable unqualified aliens to enter or
stay in the United States illegally.''
Madam Speaker, some might point out that this program is not very
large in the scope of the total number of visas. But I would remind
them that we know the amount of damage a handful of determined enemies
can inflict when they are allowed to abuse our visa system.
The last thing we want to do is perpetuate a program we know is
fatally flawed, and continue a policy that just might be rolling out a
welcome mat for some of the most radical imams in the Middle East. I
urge a ``no'' vote on this bill. Let's close this giant loophole in our
national security.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 5570, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The title was amended so as to read: ``A bill to amend the
Immigration and Nationality Act with respect to the special immigrant
nonminister religious worker program, and for other purposes.''.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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