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(a) IN GENERAL.--Section 245(i)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1255(i)(1)) is amended--
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(1) in subparagraph (B)--
(A) in clause (i), by striking ``on or before April 30, 2001; or'' and inserting ``on or before the earlier of November 30, 2002, and the date that is 120 days after the date on which the Attorney General first promulgates final or interim final regulations to carry out the amendments made by section 607(a) of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002; or''; and
(B) in clause (ii) by striking ``on or before such date; and'' and inserting ``before August 15, 2001;'';
(2) in subparagraph (C), by adding ``and'' at the end; and
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following:
``(D) who, in the case of a beneficiary of a petition for classification described in subparagraph (B)(i) that was filed after April 30, 2001, demonstrates that--
``(i) the familial relationship that is the basis of such petition for classification existed before August 15, 2001; or
``(ii) the application for labor certification under section 212(a)(5)(A) that is the basis of such petition for classification was filed before August 15, 2001;''.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect as if included in the enactment of the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act (114 Stat. 2762A-142 et seq.), as enacted into law by section 1(a)(2) of Public Law 106-553.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. SENSENBRENNER) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. NADLER) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. SENSENBRENNER).
GENERAL LEAVE
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 365, the resolution under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Wisconsin?
There was no objection.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, is the gentleman from New York (Mr. NADLER) opposed to the motion?
Mr. NADLER. No, Mr. Speaker, I am not.
Mr. TANCREDO. In that case, Mr. Speaker, I claim the time of the gentleman from New York (Mr. NADLER) to speak in opposition.
PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Did not the Chair recognize me following his statement and I asked unanimous consent pursuant to that recognition?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Colorado was on his feet, and the Chair recognizes for the 20 minutes, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. TANCREDO).
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, in that case I will ask the gentleman from Wisconsin if he will split the time with the minority party.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Will the gentleman from New York yield?
Mr. NADLER. Certainly.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Because this bill is fairly complicated, Mr. Speaker, I have a statement that may be a little bit more than 10 minutes, but I am happy to cede whatever time I have left to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Since September 11, we have learned how deeply vulnerable our immigration system is to exploitation by aliens who wish to harm Americans. H.R. 1885 contains House-passed language of H.R. 3525 that makes needed changes to our immigration laws to fight terrorism and to prevent such exploitation. It has strong bipartisan support in the other body. The House has already passed the core of this legislation by wide margins. On May 21, 2001, the House passed a 245(i) extension by a vote of 336 to 43. On December 19, 2001, the House passed the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act by voice vote.
I will outline some of this bill's most significant provisions. Most importantly, by October 2003, the legislation requires the Attorney General and Secretary of State to issue machine-readable, tamper-resistant visas that use standardized biometric identifiers. This will serve a number of important goals. First, it will allow INS inspectors at ports of entry to determine whether a visa properly identifies a visa holder and thus combat identity fraud. Second, it will make visas harder to counterfeit. Third, in conjunction with the installation of scanners at ports of entry to read the visas , the INS can track the arrival and departure of aliens and generate a reliable measure of aliens who overstay their visas . As we have all learned, some of the September 11 terrorists were staying in the United States on expired visas .
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1885 extends the same biometric identifier requirements to passports from visa-waiver program countries. The necessity for this was demonstrated when our military found blank European passports in abandoned al Qaeda caves in Afghanistan. We must ensure that passports presented to the INS inspectors are not counterfeit, altered, or being used by imposters.
The bill thus requires that aliens seeking to enter the United States under the visa-waiver program with passports issued after October of 2003 must possess tamper-resistant, machine-readable passports with the same biometric identifiers as our visas .
The bill also requires that within 72 hours after notification by a foreign government of a stolen passport, the Attorney General shall identify its identification number into a data system accessible to INS inspectors at ports of entry. In addition, the Secretary of State and Attorney General shall consider, in deciding whether to keep a country in the visa-waiver program, whether its government reports to us on a timely basis the theft of its blank passports.
Building upon the enhanced data-sharing requirements of the USA Patriot Act, the bill directs our law enforcement agencies and intelligence community to share information with the State Department and the INS relevant to the admissibility and deportability of aliens. This information will be made available in an electronic database which will be searchable based on the linguistically sensitive algorithms that account for variations in name spellings and transliterations. This will result in lookout lists that are much more thorough and prevent terrorists who threaten our Nation from obtaining U.S. visas or entering our country.
As the Border Patrol succeeds in controlling the border, more aliens take a chance at penetrating the ports of entry, placing an ever-increasing strain on the limited staff of INS inspectors. Likewise, INS investigations units have long been denied adequate personnel. The bill helps fill these critical gaps. It authorizes appropriations to hire at least 200 full-time inspectors and at least 200 full-time investigators each year through fiscal year 2006.
Another long-standing problem at the INS is the low pay for Border Patrol agents and INS inspectors. This has led many trained Border Patrol agents and inspectors to leave the INS for other law enforcement agencies offering better pay, such as the air marshals. Something is wrong when former Border Patrol agents make up 75 percent of the first air marshals class. This bill authorizes appropriations to increase the pay of Border Patrol agents and inspectors in order to help the INS retain its best people.
The bill provides that aliens from countries that sponsor international terrorism cannot receive nonimmigrant visas until it has been determined that they do not pose a threat to the safety of Americans or the national security of the U.S.
Mr. Speaker, U.S. embassies and consulates abroad will be required to establish terrorist lookout committees that meet monthly in order to ensure that the names of known terrorists are routinely and consistently brought to the attention of consular officials, America's first line of defense.
With the same goal in mind, the bill requires that all consular officers responsible for adjudicating visa
petitions receive specialized training and effective screening of visa applicants who pose a potential threat to the safety and security of the United States.
The bill strengthens the foreign student tracking system by requiring that it track the acceptance of aliens by educational institutions, the issuance of visas to the aliens, and then admission into the United States of the aliens, the notification of education institutions of the admission of aliens
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The bill requires that each commercial vessel or aircraft arriving in the U.S. provide, prior to arrival at the port of entry, manifest information about each passenger and crew member. Starting in 2003, the information will have to be provided electronically. Prearrival of manifests allow much of the INS's screening work to be done before arrival. This not only speeds processing for arriving passengers, but gives INS inspectors more time to conduct background checks on and to interview passengers.
Finally, the bill requires the President to conduct a study of the feasibility of establishing a North American National Security Program to enhance the mutual security and safety of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Finally, H.R. 1885 contains a compromise reached with the other body on the future of section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. No one will be entirely satisfied with this compromise; however, it reflects a judicious balancing of the many divergent and deeply held views Members hold on 245(i).
When Congress passed the LIFE Act in December 2000, we made a promise to give U.S. citizens and permanent residents at least 4 months time to file immigrant visa petitions for their relatives using section 245(i). This promise was not fulfilled because the INS was typically unable to issue implementing regulations until March 2001.
Mr. Speaker, this bill will allow qualifying illegal aliens to unify section 245(i) as long as they have had green card petitions filed on their behalf by the earlier of November 30, 2002, or 4 months after the date the Attorney General issues implementing regulations. It also requires that aliens must have entered into the family relationships qualifying them for permanent residence by August 14, 2001. With this compromise, we have signaled that 245(i) will not become a permanent part of our immigration law and that aliens should not base their future actions on the assumption that it will be. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The gentleman from Wisconsin, as is usually the case, did an excellent job in explaining the aspects of this particular piece of legislation. What he said was, for a long period of time, that we are dealing with an act that has been referred to as the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act. He spent 90 percent of the time explaining what that act is all about, and enhancing the visa protection provisions of the law is something with which I wholeheartedly agree. As a matter of fact, this particular part of the bill is something with which the entire House agreed because we passed it already. This part of the bill is done. It is finished. It passed this House by voice vote and went over to the Senate some time ago.
So then what are we dealing with here? It is not, in fact, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act, because that is done, it is finished, it is over with. What we are really doing here, and the only reason why we are here today, is to provide amnesty, amnesty for people who are here illegally. That is why we are on the floor today. It is not for the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act.
[Time: 14:45]
It is done. It is being held up by one Member on the other side. That is their problem, not ours.
This will not enhance our ability to get that law passed; this only makes it much more difficult because, of course, this does exactly the wrong thing. Regardless of how narrowly we try to define the scope of this amnesty act, it is in fact still amnesty. What we are telling the world and telling people who are here, came here legally, waded through the process, did all the right things, what we are telling them is, Do you know what? You are a bunch of suckers for doing it.
What we are telling every single person all around the world who is in line, waiting, filling out the applications, going to the embassies and doing it right, what we are telling them is, You are a bunch of suckers. Here is the way to get into the United States and to get in the line for citizenship: Sneak in. Stay under the radar screen, get married, and even a bogus marriage document will do; because believe me, plenty of those developed, sham marriages, the last time we did this; Get a job, or at least present to the INS some indication that you have been employed; all of these things. Just do this, sneak in under the radar, stay here long enough, and do not worry, we will give you amnesty. That is what we are doing in this bill. That is the real purpose of the bill.
As I say, all the rest of this stuff we have already passed. We are here for only one purpose, to grant amnesty. Again, we have done it. We did it in 1986. I assure the Members that the result of this will not be to have just simply the legally residing citizens of the country and all the rest of the folks who our hearts can go out for, it will not be to give them a better chance at the American dream. What it will do is exactly the opposite thing we want to accomplish here.
We want people to come into the United States legally. That is why we set up a system. Admittedly, it is a flawed system, because it is turned over to the Mickey Mouse agency of the Federal Government we call the INS. But it is, nonetheless, the system we have established, that in order to come to the United States, they must have our permission. They come by visa or come in under some other status, but they do so legally.
After all, we purport to be a nation of laws; we say that all the time. But this is absolutely the antithesis of that. This is saying, Break the law, come here illegally, and we will in fact reward you for it. This is why we have to vote no on this resolution, because it has absolutely nothing to do with enhanced border security and visa entry reforms. We have already passed it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. NADLER), and I ask unanimous consent that he may be permitted to yield portions of that time to other Members.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. STEARNS). Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Wisconsin?
There was no objection.
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1885 combines the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act with a short extension of section 245(i) of the immigration laws.
I plan to support this legislation, in part because the border security piece will strengthen the security of our borders and enhance our ability to deter potential terrorists while balancing the needs of law enforcement. We have been vigilant in protecting the civil rights upon which this Nation depends.
As for section 245(i), we should be extending it permanently. Instead, this bill provides only a modest extension. In fact, what the bill gives with one hand it actually takes away with the other. While it appears to extend section 245(i) until November 30, 2002, many people will not qualify because of the additional requirement that eligibility for section 245(i) be established prior to August 15, 2001, last year. Unfortunately, this bill is insufficient in time and stingy in scope.
If the last extension is any guide, H.R. 1885 will cause great panic among immigrants, and create an opportunity for fraudulent immigration advisors or ``notarios.''
In contrast, a full restoration of section 245(i) to what it was before 1998 would allow the thousands of law-abiding immigrants who are on the brink of becoming permanent residents to apply for their green cards while in the United States. It would allow wives, husbands, and children of U.S. citizens and permanent residents to stay together in the United States, rather than being forced to leave the country, sometimes for years, to apply for their green card.
I cannot understand how anyone who claims to support family values, who thinks that it is useful for children to have two parents together, not one here and one in another country for
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Section 245(i) is not an amnesty for immigrants, it is simply a device to ensure that while permanent residents married to American citizens, people who have completed all their requirements, are waiting for the bureaucracy of the INS to complete their work, they not be forced to leave their families and go abroad for months or years.
If the administration and House leadership are serious about helping immigrants and are serious about our relationship with Mexico, then we should be passing immigration laws that do far more than this bill does; at the very least, a permanent extension, not a mere 2-year extension of section 245(i).
While I support this legislation, we should be considering a full restoration of section 245(i). We will continue to push for such an extension until the administration and the leadership of the House agree to it and we accomplish full restoration of section 245(i).
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. GOODE).
Mr. GOODE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1885. I supported H.R. 3525 when we focused on border security, but H.R. 1885, with its amnesty, reminds me of a bowl of ice cream, and I am an ice cream liker. H.R. 3525 was a bowl of ice cream. When they added the amnesty provisions to it, they rammed a hot poker into that bowl of ice cream, and it all melted and it was not fit to eat.
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