Senate Approves Plan to Block Deportations

The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to grant a possible reprieve to as many as 300,000 Nicaraguan, Guatemalan and Salvadoran immigrants--nearly half of them living in Southern California--who face deportation under last year’s tough new immigration law.

But the proposal must clear more hurdles before it can become law. In the Senate, an attempt may be made as early as today to remove the provision from a pending District of Columbia appropriation bill and send it instead to committees assigned to handle immigration issues. And it faces stiff opposition in the House.

“This is an important first step, not a resolution,” said Judy London, attorney with the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles. “Hopefully, we’ll see the same support in the House, and we will have a lasting solution for all the Central Americans who have been waiting for years to present their claims.”

The proposal, approved 99 to 1 as an amendment to the District of Columbia appropriations measure, would reinstate more liberal criteria to determine whether immigrants who fled revolutions in their countries can remain in the United States.

It would allow Central Americans to have their cases reviewed individually, and remove an existing cap of 4,000 per year on the number of immigrants who can obtain permanent residency. In addition, it would let immigrants stave off deportation if they have been here for seven rather than 10 years and if deportation would create hardship for them, rather than their U.S. citizen or legal resident relatives.

The provision’s sponsor, Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.), has described it as a narrowly targeted amendment ensuring that “Central Americans receive the due process they were promised.” It would not represent a grant of immunity, he argued in floor debate last week.

Despite Tuesday’s lopsided Senate vote--and strong backing by the Clinton administration and members of former President Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet--Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and several House Republicans have vowed to fight the measure. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of a House immigration subcommittee, says he supports relief for about 40,000 Nicaraguans--most living in South Florida--but wants the measure narrowed so that it does not provide “amnesty for thousands of illegal immigrants.”

Smith has introduced his own legislation that would cover only Nicaraguans who arrived here by April 1, 1990, and Guatemalans and Salvadorans who immigrated before Oct. 1, 1990. It also would increase the cap on “hardship” reprieves from deportation by 10,000 per year, but offset that by decreasing the number of new, low-skilled immigrants allowed into the country.

Separately, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said Gramm and Mack are still trying to work out a compromise that could be announced today. Gramm wants to impose a freeze on deportations while lawmakers reconsider the impact of last year’s reform on Central American refugees.

If the compromise fails and Mack’s amendment remains in the District of Columbia bill, the issue would be hashed out when a conference committee meets to address differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

Wilgoren reported from Washington and McDonnell from Los Angeles.