New Orleans Times-Picayune
September 29, 2000

Dems back political refugee plan

Latin Americans, Haitians could seek residency
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau/The Times-Picayune


WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats are pushing for a vote on legislation that would let political refugees from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Haiti apply for permanent residence status and would grant amnesty to the more than 500,000 immigrants who entered the country illegally before 1986.

But they have given up trying to get the measure added to a bill now before the Senate that would increase the number of visas given to skilled foreigners to work in high-tech jobs.

They said they will try to get it added to an appropriation for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State, where they are convinced President Clinton will have the clout to get it approved.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said she supports the high-tech visa extension but thinks it should have been considered with a bill that would help Central American and Haitian immigrants, including a growing number who live in the New Orleans area, apply for permanent residence as Nicaraguan and Cuban refugees now do.

The bill would create the Latino Fairness Act.

"The way the Senate Republican leadership is handling this amounts to letting people who are not here now come into the country and work, but kicking out people who are already in New Orleans and other communities earning a living and providing valuable work for our businesses," Landrieu said. "That doesn't make any sense and doesn't seem fair."

Landrieu and other Democrats also are seeking to provide training for low-skilled Americans so they can get high-tech jobs that executives say they can't fill because there aren't enough U.S. workers with adequate training.

With Election Day a little more than a month away, GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush has aggressively courted the Latino vote, and Republicans don't want to be seen blocking an immigration bill listed as a top priority by Latino groups.

In the same light, Democrats don't want to be seen as blocking the visa bill for high-tech workers, given the importance of the issue to high-tech firms that are among the biggest campaign donors.

High-tech donors have given $22 million for the 2000 election cycle, more than twice as much as four years ago, the Center for Responsive Politics said.

The bill before the Senate would allow as many as 195,000 temporary visas annually for skilled foreign workers in the next three years. Current law provides for 115,000 visas a year, which were filled months ago.

"I really think that companies here in New Orleans and around the country certainly want to look at the local work force first, and have no great desire to go outside of their communities, much less go outside the United States," said Brian Schwaner of the New Orleans Regional Chamber of Commerce. "But if they can't find the workers they need, they have no choice but to go abroad."

But David Ray, associate director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which wants limits on immigration, said the high-tech firms simply want a green light to bring in more foreign workers at wages lower than American workers would demand.

"There is no credible government source that can confirm that any shortage exists, and once again what we have is a high-tech industry wanting a free and unlimited supply of cheap foreign workers," Ray said.

The Latino Fairness Act would let political refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti apply for permanent residence.

Many of the affected immigrants came to the United States to escape civil unrest. They could face deportation if Congress doesn't act.

The bill's other major provision would give amnesty to illegal aliens who have lived in the United States since before 1986.






09/29/00


© 2000, The Times-Picayune. Used with permission.