- WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate
Democrats insisted on Thursday on the extension of Section 245(i) until
April 2003, which would make it easier for thousands of undocumented immigrants
applying for legal status.
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- Senate majority leader Tom Daschle submitted a bill extending
until April 30, 2003, the deadline for undocumented immigrants to apply
for legal status without having to leave the United States in return for
payment of a 1,000-dollar fee. In contrast to the initiative approved by
the House of Representatives, Daschle's bill would give immigrants until
that date to apply for legal status based on family ties or work contracts.
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- Daschle said he is seeking to extend Section 245(i) because
the House's version of the bill is "quite inadequate" since the
dates incorporated into it have already expired.
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- "I'm very hopeful...that as result of having passed
the border security bill, we'll be in a position to move on a consensus
bill on 245(i) sometime soon," Daschle told Hispanic reporters at
a news conference.
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- Daschle, who is likely to run for president in 2004,
added that he supported the legalization efforts of the undocumented, in
a clear move to win over Hispanic voters to the Democratic Party.
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- "Today's action by the Senate will give the president
and Congressional Republicans a new opportunity to show that their commitment
to immigrant communities extends beyond rhetoric and infomercials,"
said House minority leader Richard Gephardt.
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- An estimated 300,000 to 400,000 undocumented immigrants,
until now living and working in secrecy, would benefit from such an extension.
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- The bill also requires applicants to have arrived in
the United States prior to December 2000, in part to discourage illegal
immigration and in part to assuage the criticism of conservatives opposed
to the liberalization of immigration policies. As under other immigration
laws, applicants would also be subject to extensive criminal, work and
medical background checks.
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- Those marrying U.S. citizens or legal residents to get
resident status would be subject to stiff fines and other penalties for
fraud.
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- The lower house bill, which extends Section 245(i) to
Nov. 30, 2002, also requires applicants to have established family or work
ties prior to August 15, 2001. Section 245(i), which initially expired
in January 1998, was extended for another two years to April 2001.
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- During its latest extension between Dec. 21, 2003 and
April 30, 2001, some 640,000 illegal immigrants, most of them from Mexico,
benefited from Section 245(i), according to the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS).
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- Some immigrants defense groups believe the House bill
creates confusion and is susceptible to abuse and would benefit few immigrants
because of this requirement.
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- The extension of Section 245(i) improves the chances
of undocumented immigrants who would normally have to wait three to 10
years in their countries of origin for the approval of their legal status.
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- Section 245(i)'s was eliminated from a border security
bill by the Senate on April 19 at the urging of Sen. Robert Byrd (Dem.-WV),
who maintained that it rewarded those who had violated U.S. immigration
laws by entering the country illegally with an amnesty.
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- "We applaud the introduction of this bill because
we believe that it will truly help the thousands of people that were excluded
from the most recent extension," National Immigration Forum deputy
director Angela Kelley told EFE.
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