Administration Backs ’80 as Date for Alien Amnesty

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III today signaled strong Administration support for legislation to grant amnesty to thousands of aliens now living in the United States illegally.

But testifying at a House hearing, Meese said a House bill that would grant legal status to perhaps millions of illegals who entered the United States before Jan. 1, 1982, would be unfair to immigrants seeking legal entry into the country.

Instead, he said, the Administration supports a cutoff date of Jan. 1, 1980, that would grant amnesty to far fewer illegal aliens than the 1982 date proposed in a bill introduced by Rep. Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

“We believe these provisions are unfair to those persons who have respected the legal immigration system,” Meese said.

“They would serve to attract even more illegal migrants in the belief that they would somehow secure legal status now or in the future.”

Criticizes Grant Proposal

Meese also criticized a proposal in the House bill that would provide federal grants to the states for five years to reimburse them for welfare and education costs resulting from the legalization of large numbers of illegal aliens.

Meese testified before a subcommittee headed by Rep. Romano L. Mazzoli (D-Ky.), the chief author of unsuccessful immigration reform bills that died in the final days of the last two Congresses.

Asked what priority the Administration was giving to immigration reform, Meese said that it has “a very high priority” and that President Reagan has “a deep commitment” to it.

But Mazzoli persisted in questioning the White House stance on various issues, saying immigration reform is like “motherhood, apple pie and the Fourth of July.”

“Everybody says, ‘I’m for it, Ron, but. . . ,’ ” he said.

Meese said in response to members’ questions that he was reluctant to take “hard and fast positions” in many areas but that it “certainly is our intention to have an immigration bill this year.”

Hiring Would Be Illegal

The Rodino bill, like one introduced in the Senate by Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), would grant legal status to many otherwise law-abiding aliens while seeking to discourage the entry of more by making it illegal to hire them.