[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13967-13968]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS EXEMPTION

  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the 
Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 5690) to remove the African National 
Congress from treatment as a terrorist organization for certain acts or 
events, provide relief for certain members of the African National 
Congress regarding admissibility, and for other purposes, with a Senate 
amendment thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:

       On page 2, strike line 12 through the end of line 21 and 
     insert the following:
       (a) Exemption Authority.--The Secretary of State, after 
     consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of 
     Homeland Security, or the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
     after consultation with the Secretary of State and the 
     Attorney General, may determine, in such Secretary's sole and 
     unreviewable discretion, that paragraphs (2)(A)(i)(I), 
     (2)(B), and (3)(B) (other than clause (i)(II)) of section 
     212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
     1182(a)) shall not apply to an alien with respect to 
     activities undertaken in association with the African 
     National Congress in opposition to apartheid rule in South 
     Africa.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I reserve the right to object, although I 
do not intend to object. I do so here for the purpose of debate only. I 
thank the gentlewoman for her request, and I rise in support of this 
measure, H.R. 5690. I concur in my colleague's request for unanimous 
consent to pass this measure as amended by the Senate.
  Madam Speaker, this bill corrects a longstanding error on U.S. policy 
towards South Africa. The House passed the bill on May 8 of this year, 
and the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent just a few moments 
ago.
  Madam Speaker, I am honored to participate in the process of updating 
U.S. immigration law as it applies to visits to the United States by 
South African officials, such as former President Nelson Mandela, to 
reflect the appropriate status of the African National Congress, and I 
look forward to personally sharing news of passage of this bill with 
Mr. Mandela and the South African government when I visit South Africa 
next week with Chairman Berman.
  Ms. LEE. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. ROYCE. I yield to the gentlelady from California.
  Ms. LEE. First, let me thank the gentleman from California for 
yielding and for his leadership and for his commitment and his 
assistance in helping to bring this bill to the floor tonight, or back 
to the floor tonight.
  Mr. Royce and I have traveled to Africa. We have actually been to 
Darfur in the Sudan and witnessed the horrific genocide taking place, 
and because of your leadership and because of the bipartisan way in 
which we have worked, we have put, again, the United States on the 
right side of history on leading the charge for divestment against the 
Sudanese government.
  Here we are tonight, really a remarkable evening. It's 9:40 and we 
are here on the floor doing what we should do. We probably should have 
done it a long time. We are here. Thank you, Mr. Royce, very much.
  Despite his legacy as a hero of the antiapartheid movement, Nelson 
Mandela's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, and his election as 
President of South Africa in 1994, Nelson Mandela continues to be 
included on the United States terrorist watch list due to his 
leadership and participation with the African National Congress. As a 
result, former President Mandela and countless men and women like him, 
who fought for decades, for decades, mind you, a war of liberation 
against the apartheid government of South Africa, are required to 
obtain a visa waiver under the Immigration and Nationality Act in order 
to enter the United States.
  This continuing indignity should not be allowed to persist any 
longer. This year, President Mandela will turn 90 years old. I believe 
his birthday is July 17. And so as a fitting tribute to his legacy and 
to the many others who fought against apartheid, all of us tonight 
believe that we should promptly pass this bill so that the African 
National Congress and President Mandela can be removed from the 
terrorist watch list.
  Like many, I was very involved in the antiapartheid movement. I 
remember having to travel to Switzerland and to Austria and to other 
countries in Europe just to meet with members of the ANC, African 
National Congress, to determine how the antiapartheid movement in the 
United States could support their courageous efforts to shatter the 
dehumanizing, racist system of apartheid.
  We could not meet, unfortunately, in our own country here in the 
United States because they would have been put in jail. It's no telling 
what would have happened to me and to others who were committed to 
support the African National Congress and to end apartheid.
  I tell you, this has been a remarkable 18 years. President Mandela 
was released from prison 18 years ago. And so it's amazing that to this 
day, despite his legacy as a hero of the antiapartheid movement, that 
he still

[[Page 13968]]

needs a visa waiver to enter the United States. This is just plain 
wrong.
  Last December, I traveled to South Africa for World AIDS Day with our 
colleague, Congresswoman Donna Christensen. We met with many, many 
people in South Africa, and were specifically asked that Congress take 
action and pass some legislation to remove President Mandela from this 
terrorist list, and the ANC. Many of us either had forgotten or really 
did not know that. And so we came back and started working on this 
bill.
  I have to thank Congressman Berman, our Chair of our Foreign 
Relations Committee, and Congressman Conyers and Congressman Payne and 
Congressman Bennie Thompson and Senator Reid and others for really 
helping to help move this bill forward.
  Let me just say, I come from California and I do have to remind 
tonight the rest of the country that it was my predecessor, Congressman 
Ron Dellums, now Mayor Ron Dellums, who put our country on the right 
side of history. I had the privilege to work for Ron for 11 years. For 
12 years, he introduced a sanctions bill, and finally, in the eighties, 
this Congress overturned President Reagan's veto and put America on the 
right side of history and began the divestment movement.
  Our colleague, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, was in the State 
legislature and she work tirelessly on divestment legislation. Her 
leadership put the State of California on the right side of history. 
Actually, I believe that California was the first State to move forward 
with sanctions against the racist regime of South Africa.
  Recently, Congresswoman Waters and Mayor Dellums received one of the 
highest honors presented to them by the South African government. So we 
are very proud of them and thankful for their leadership.
  In the Bay area and for those who may be listening, if you remember, 
we really started the antiapartheid movement with the labor unions, the 
ILWU. Many of us were actually arrested. We refused to unload the 
ships. The ILWU, great and courageous men and women. They refused to 
allow any items to come into the Bay area.
  And so we were arrested. We fought. We did so much to try to raise 
the level of awareness and attention as to what was taking place in 
South Africa. I can remember us carrying little black passbooks, 
because coming in from the townships, black South Africans had to have 
IDs, passbooks. And we had a burning-our-passbook ceremony on the steps 
of city hall to let people understand that the black majority of South 
Africa could not live in major towns and had to live in squalor and 
could only come in to work and had to leave with their passbooks.
  So I could go on and on. I am saying this tonight because I want 
those who are listening to say, This is a really significant moment. 
This has been, again, a long time coming. But I think this is one of 
those moments where we have seen the Secretary of State, Republicans, 
Democrats, all of us working together to end this terrible, terrible 
policy that we have with regard to the ANC and Nelson Mandela.
  I have to salute our speaker, Speaker Pelosi; our minority leader, 
Mr. Boehner; Mr. Hoyer. Also, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, 
Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and all the members of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, and those who, when we started talking 
about this, first of all, couldn't believe that this was still the case 
but said we have got to do something. We have got to fix it.
  So, again, to our staffs. I have to say to Perl Alice Marsh of the 
Foreign Affairs staff, to Christos Tsentas on my staff, and to all of 
the staff on both sides of the aisle who have worked so diligently, 
tonight is long overdue. It's taken a heck of a lot to get here, but we 
hope that tonight we will be able to say to President Mandela: Happy 
Birthday, Mr. Mandela.
  Mr. Royce, hopefully you will be able to take a signed copy of the 
bill by the President to Mr. Mandela and wish him God speed, happy 
birthday, and thank goodness we were finally, finally, finally able to 
take the ANC and President Mandela off of the terrorist watch list.
  Mr. ROYCE. We will do that. I thank the gentlelady.
  Madam Speaker, I withdraw my reservation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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