|| LIRS || Washington Update -- November 2003

Washington Update
November 2003

Legislative Watch Report
By Merritt Becker, LIRS Policy Advocate

In fiscal year 2004 the LIRS Washington, D.C., office will continue to focus on refugee admissions and on legislative efforts to enhance the role of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in supporting unaccompanied alien children. We are also keeping a close watch on immigration legislation that will impact asylum adjudication, detention practices and due process.

The overall tone of Congress this session has continued to be anti-foreigner. This is a direct result of pressure members face from their colleagues to do everything they can to weed out “terrorists from within” the United States. Due to these overtones advocacy efforts on behalf of noncitizens are facing considerable obstacles. Even so, LIRS and other members of Refugee Council USA are making serious inroads.

We are putting a human face on the needs of refugees and asylum-seeking children for congressional staff. Where fear and misunderstanding saw only potential terrorists, we are showing what refugees truly are—vulnerable persons in need of our protection. The D.C. office will continue to seek creative ways to impress this image into the minds of staff and members. We appreciate all the help we do receive from our affiliate networks and from our constituents across the country in the form of phone calls to their congressional members and action alert responses.

Refugee Admissions
The presidential determination for fiscal year 2004, which normally comes out by October 1, was delayed until mid-October but we are pleased that it was set at 70,000, the figure recommended by the Bureau of Population, Migration and Refugees (PRM) at the State Department in their report to Congress. [Read LIRS’s news release on the presidential determination.]

Widows and Orphans Act of 2003
In June, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduced a new bill, S1353, The Widows and Orphans Act of 2003. This bill establishes a special immigration category allowing displaced women and children under 10 who are unprotected in their current setting to enter and resettle in the United States. The bill currently has seven co-sponsors including Sens. Mike Dewine (R-OH), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Arlen Specter (R-PA).

The Children’s Bill
The Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2003, S1129, is still gaining momentum in the Senate. There are currently 18 co-sponsors including five Republicans. [View up-to-date list of co-sponsors.] Regarding appropriations to ORR, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the bill’s original sponsor initiated a colloquy on the Senate floor in which both the chair, Sen. Specter, and the ranking member, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), agreed to urge the conferees to increase the level of appropriations to the Department of Unaccompanied Children’s Services by $20 million—an increase sorely needed for adequate coverage for these children.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA16) introduced the House version of the children’s bill October 1. We are now powering up our grassroots campaign to elicit greater support and co-sponsorship for the bill in both houses of Congress. Look for a new Action Alert on the children’s bill coming soon in the mail!

Alternatives to Detention and Legal Orientations
Another success enjoyed by LIRS this session is that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fiscal year 2004 appropriations bill, passed by both the House and the Senate, allocates $1 million toward legal orientation programs and $3 million toward alternatives to detention. LIRS remains concerned about DHS’s interpretation of “alternatives” as this money has been used in previous years to improve detention conditions rather than finding alternative options to confinement. We will continue to monitor DHS’s progress in this area.

Other Legislation
On the issue of due process, especially as it relates to post-9/11 changes, torture victims, gender-based persecution and the legalization of economic migration, LIRS is tracking the following legislation:

S1580—Religious Worker Visas
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to extend the special immigrant religious worker program for five years; after some opposition in the Senate was recently passed and awaits the president’s signature.
S1552—Protecting the Rights of Individuals
Amends Title 18 of the U.S. Code and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978; Could protect immigrants and refugees from unfounded claims of involvement in terrorist-related activities as it requires the FBI and other agencies to show burden of proof and reasonable suspicion before arresting said individuals.
HR3106—Removal of Terrorist Criminal Aliens Act of 2003
Attempts to strengthen the law enabling the United States to remove terrorists; adds flexibility with respect to places which aliens may be removed and expands criminal offenses that trigger deportation.
HR2671—CLEAR Act of 2003
Declares pre-existing authority of state and local law enforcement to enforce immigration law; penalizes states and localities that do not enforce immigration law; enters names of immigration violators in a national criminal database.
HR1813 and S854—Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2003
Amend the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998; give appropriations to foreign and domestic programs that treat victims of torture through fiscal year 2006.
S1001 and HR2536—Women and Children in Conflict Prevention Act
Appropriates $45 million for fiscal years 2004 and 2005 to support programs and build capacity for protection of women and children in humanitarian emergencies overseas.
HR2620—Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act
Enhances prevention of human trafficking, protects victims and prosecution of traffickers; amends the Immigration and Nationality Act; raises the age of majority from 15 to 18; incorporates siblings as admissible family members.
HR394—Violence Against Women Civil Rights Restoration Act
Imposes liability and relief for victims of gender motivated crimes, especially when related to foreign or interstate commerce; authorizes the attorney general to institute civil action against any state or sub-division thereof that engages in gender discrimination.
S1545—The DREAM Act—Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors
Allows alien children who have entered the United States before their 16th birthday to adjust their status to become permanent residents, making them eligible to pay in-state college tuition for universities where they reside.
S1461—Border Security and Immigration Improvement Act
Allows for the admission of temporary full-time workers with H4 visas into the United States.
S1645 and HR 3142—Agriculture Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act of 2003
Adjusts the status of foreign agricultural workers through the creation of an earned legalization program that may allow 500,000 undocumented workers and their families to become legal residents; reforms the H-2A guest worker program.