[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

[[Page H2289]]

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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