Conferees OK Increase of 45% in Immigration

Congressional negotiators agreed Wednesday to a major restructuring of national immigration policies, permitting at least 45% more foreigners to enter the country in each of the next three years and about 35% more in every year thereafter.

Under terms of the deal, struck by a House-Senate conference committee, 700,000 persons would be allowed to immigrate to this country each year from 1992 to 1994, up from the current 500,000. In subsequent years, the United States would admit 675,000 immigrants. Neither figure includes refugees.

The legislation would open the nation’s doors wider to Europeans, some Africans and other foreigners who have been virtually locked out of legal immigration by existing U.S. policy that gives preference to reuniting the families of current U.S. citizens.

Present immigration law, enacted 25 years ago, emphasized family reunification to such an extent that about 85% of visas have gone to Asians and Latin Americans. The current bill retains an emphasis on family unity and increases the number of family-related visas.

However, by raising the overall numbers substantially, it leaves room for 20,000 “diversity visas” for natives of regions “adversely affected” by current law. In addition, the legislation seeks to make it easier for persons with special skills or education to enter the country.

President Bush has supported a Senate-passed version of the legislation that limited total immigration to 630,000 per year. However, he had warned House members that he would veto their version of the legislation, which provided for 775,000 annual visas.

Administration officials declined to predict whether he would support or veto the legislation passed by the conference committee.

Conferees, however, praised their agreement, saying that the compromise represents the best deal that could be reached to increase legal immigration from countries with low levels of immigrants, while preserving existing emphasis on family reunification.

“This is a good bill,” said Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), a sponsor of the House bill and one of the conference negotiators. “It could have been a much better bill, but we did pretty well.”

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), another member of the conference committee, said that the bill would “open new opportunities for immigrants with skills and talents we need, while increasing opportunities for family reunification.”

Under the compromise, during the first three years 520,000 of the total 700,000 visas would be used by families seeking to bring in family members. About 140,000 visas would be used for those with special job skills and 20,000 for persons with special skills and talents.

After 1995, the family visa allotment would fall to 480,000, with 140,000 reserved for workers and 55,000 for persons from low-immigration regions.

Technically there is no cap for the admission of minor children, spouses and parents of U.S. citizens. However immigration officials expect no more than 200,000 “immediate relatives” to apply for visas. The remaining visas in the family category are thus assumed to be open to non-immediate family members such as siblings or aunts.

But Latino and Asian American groups complained that if the number of immediate relatives seeking visas greatly exceeded expectations, non-immediate family members would be squeezed out.

After the advocacy groups threatened to withdraw their support for the bill, the committee made a deal which guarantees that at least 226,000 non-immediate family members will be admitted.

Another provision in the bill, which calls for a pilot program allowing two states to test the use of drivers’ licenses as worker authorization documents, drew anger from the immigrant rights activists. The provision is intended to provide companies with a more tamper-proof method of verifying whether persons who appear to be foreign are legally in the country and eligible for employment. Civil libertarians have said that the proposal could lead to a national identity card for workers.

“This is a separate issue and a volatile one for us,” said Cecilia Munoz, senior legislative assistant for the National Council of La Raza. “We go ballistic over the idea of a national identity card and we accept this under no circumstances.”

The agreement also would establish a national policy for granting temporary haven to persons who are unable to return to their native countries because of civil war or domestic upheaval.

Under a special provision crafted for natives of war-ravaged El Salvador living in the United States, the bill would require that they renew their work documents every six months.

Another provision of the legislation would grant the secretary of health and human services the right to determine a list of communicable diseases that would bar persons from entering the country. This measure is expected to result in the removal of AIDS patients from the list of persons denied entry. Harvard University, which is slated to sponsor the 1992 International AIDS Conference, had threatened to drop its sponsorship of the world’s premier annual AIDS meeting if AIDS patients remain on the list.