House overwhelmingly passes immigration bill
Provisions on legal settlers
dropped after heated debateMarch 21, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. ESTWASHINGTON (CNN) -- By a 333-87 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Immigration and National Interest act, a bill that sets stricter rules for cracking down on illegal immigration to the United States. It was the first major congressional action on immigration in a decade.
Among other provisions, the House bill would:
- Add 5,000 Border Patrol agents over five years.
- Crack down on people who smuggle aliens over U.S. borders and forge documents to sneak them in.
- Bar members of international terrorism organizations.
- Document illegal aliens who overstay their temporary visas.
- Establish a toll-free number for employers in five states to call to verify the legal status of prospective employees. Use of the verification system would be voluntary.
- Prevent illegal immigrants from applying for permanent residence or receiving public benefits.
As it was passed in the House Thursday, the bill's most controversial aspect is that it would let states deny public education to youngsters who are illegal immigrants. Critics argue this punishes children and promises to trade schools for prisons. The Supreme Court found a similar Texas law unconstitutional in 1982, and a comparable California law, Proposition 187, was passed in 1994 but got tangled up in the courts.
A provision that would shrink current annual limits on legal immigration was lost to the crossfire earlier Thursday, with the House voting 238-183 to delete most references to legal immigration. Like other aspects of the bill, legal immigration issues, such as proposed reforms in the numbers categories of people who are permitted to enter the country, were hotly debated.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, lamented the platform's removal.
"We have a broken legal immigration system that depresses wages and costs jobs," he said. "This amendment ignores the wishes of a vast majority of American people; 83 percent want us to control (legal) immigration."
But Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-Rhode Island, agreed with the majority who supported removing legal immigration from the bill. Leaving it in, he maintained, would have meant treating legal immigrants as if they were illegal aliens. "To me this is no more than policy by prejudice, and analysis by anecdote," he said.
His remark alluded to passionate speeches by other congressmen of their heritage. Among them, Rep. Brian Bilbray had spoken of his mother, "the first Australian war bride." Rep. Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, urged his colleagues to think, as they voted, about Mary Ward from County Down, Ireland.
"Mary Ward was my grandmother," Bilbray said.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida, found the issue struck even closer to home for her -- as a "former immigrant and naturalized citizen" from Cuba. (1.0M QuickTime movie)
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich did not escape the issue's heat. On the first day of the two-day debate, Rep. Gingrich proclaimed, "Do not come to America to live off the law-abiding American taxpayer."
Rep. John Bryant, a Texas Democrat, retorted, "I say shame on you, Mr. Speaker!"
Earlier Thursday, the Senate agreed earlier to handle legal and illegal immigration issues separately, as did the House. The Senate is expected to take up its immigration proposal some time next month.
Related stories:
- What's America got that keeps immigrants coming?
- U.S. Border Patrol under the gun to stop illegal immigrants
- The long road to the American dream
- Coming to America: Melting pot starts to boil
- Immigration reform bill faces opposition
- Open arms, outstretched hands
- Rush is on for U.S. citizenship
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