Associated Press | By SUZANNE GAMBOA | mARCH 8, 2002
House Republican leaders say they're ready to take up a bill that would grant amnesty to certain illegal immigrants and hope to pass it before President Bush visits Mexico this month.
Bush has pressed for the measure since last spring, when approximately 200,000 illegal immigrants who qualified for amnesty missed the deadline to apply. A bill extending the deadline was sidetracked after the Sept. 11 attacks. "I know this is something the White House wants," said John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
Gaylen Barksdale, spokesman for House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said GOP leaders want to bring the measure to the floor Tuesday along with a larger immigration security bill.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus, opposes amnesty and criticized the move by House leaders. They put the measure on a fast track, Tancredo said, "to have it available for the president to bestow on (Mexican President) Vicente Fox as a little gift."
Bush is scheduled to meet with Fox in Monterrey, Mexico, on March 21-22 at the U.N. International Conference on Financing for Development.
While the Bush administration sees amnesty as enhancing U.S.-Mexico relations, it also would help identify more foreigners living in the country. That has been a major issue since the September attacks.
The amnesty provision would allow immigrants to start the process of applying for visas without first returning to their home countries and applying from there. That is significant because most illegal immigrants are barred from re-entering the United States once they leave and the application process from their home countries can take years.
To apply, immigrants must have a close relative or a job sponsor who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. The job or family relationship must have existed before Aug. 15, 2001, and the immigrant must have been in the country on Dec. 21, 2000.
The immigrants must pay $1,000 fines for entering the country illegally and an additional fee for application and fingerprinting processing.
The deadline to apply would be Nov. 30, or four months after the administrative rules are written, whichever is earlier.
The bill to which it will be attached includes improvements to screening of visa applicants, provisions for tamperproof passports and foreign student and immigrant tracking measures.
Frank Sharry, National Immigration Forum executive director, said pairing the legislation with the security bill enhances its chances of passage.
"Essentially what the House is saying is that we can walk and chew gum at the same time - that we can strengthen our border security and provide a legal mechanism for hardworking families to live freely in the United States," Sharry said.Associated Press:
