SHOW TIME IN CONGRESS...Miami Herald today
Congress must pass reasonable immigration-
relief measures
The Republican leaders of Congress are playing chicken with hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Just when we thought lawmakers would be heading home to campaign, a partisan fight over immigration relief could keep them in session. That is, unless the GOP extremists opposing worthy relief measures come to their senses and negotiate with the White House.
President Clinton has threatened to veto the bill that funds the Commerce, Justice and State Departments unless it includes the Latino Immigrant Fairness Act. So far, it does not. And he should veto it.
While GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush says he is pro-immigrant, Republicans from his own state of Texas, namely Rep. Lamar Smith and Sen. Phil Gramm, are leading the charge against relief for deserving immigrants. These GOP extremists argue that illegal immigrants should not be rewarded. But their own watered-down counterproposal would benefit -- you got it -- people who entered or are already here illegally.
By contrast, the Fairness Act would grant amnesty to people with legitimate claims to U.S. residency. They include hundreds of thousands of Mexicans unjustly denied status when the INS bungled the 1986 amnesty program and another 300,000 refugees from Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Liberia who fled civil strife and should get the more-generous legalization provisions granted to Nicaraguans and Cubans in 1997.
Also to benefit are spouses and children of U.S. citizens, who could pay a $1,000 fine and become residents without having to go abroad and be separated from their families for 10 years.
Two other measures by Republicans also merit passage before this Congress recesses. A bill by Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, would restore health benefits to children and pregnant immigrants cut out of vital programs by 1996 welfare reforms. Another bill by Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Orlando, would repeal some retroactive provisions of the too-harsh 1996 immigration law -- though a broader bill by Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Bob Graham of Florida would be better.
Voters don't need rhetoric. GOP inaction on immigration bills speaks volumes. |
