House Approves Curbs On Illegal Immigration But Lawmakers Scrap Provisions To Tighten Legal Immigration

Calling for toughness along America’s borders, the House on Thursday approved dramatic legislation to combat illegal immigration but scrapped a provision that would have cut legal immigration.

The 333-87 vote came after lawmakers said voters are clamoring for no-nonsense measures against illegal immigrants but don’t want to roll up the nation’s welcome mat to those seeking lawful entry to the United States.

Though the bill still must overcome opposition in the Senate and from President Clinton, the sweeping measure includes items from a 13-mile-long fence near San Diego to restrictions on education for illegal immigrants to a possible first step toward a nationwide employee-identification system.

“We need to remember that immigration is not an entitlement, it is a privilege,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the chief House sponsor of the bill. “We’re saying to an overwhelming majority of Americans: We hear you.”

The House bill is more aggressive than a Senate version of the bill, scheduled for floor debate next month, and would have to be softened if it is to gain Clinton’s signature.

The legislation would set up a voluntary telephone verification system that allows employers to use a toll-free number to check on the eligibility status of potential workers. Many Democrats called that a “Big Brother” first step toward a national identification card.

If signed into law, the measure also would require some immigrants to pass special tests to prove they know how to speak English. It would block illegal immigrants from getting most public services, including welfare, Medicaid and Medicare.

The White House on Thursday took particular aim at one provision - attached Wednesday night - that would allow states to deny public education to illegal immigrants. The Supreme Court in 1982 struck down a Texas law that sought to deny education to illegal immigrants, but supporters of the provision feel that the current court would be disposed to allow such restrictions.

The proponents “seem to be suggesting that if they’re not in school, they’d be better off out on the streets participating in gang activities, doing who knows what, or, alternatively, turning teachers and principals into adjunct officers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service,” said Mike McCurry, the White House spokesman.

“That’s a nutty idea, and one more reflection of why that provision of the bill would need to be fixed.”

But McCurry said Clinton expects to work out an agreement on an immigration bill that he could sign this year.

Supporters of the bill believe that illegal immigration, which now accounts for about 4 million people residing in the United States, would be cut by 75 percent within five years if the bill becomes law.

The bill also would:

Add 1,000 border-patrol agents annually for the next five years.

Make it easier to deport criminal aliens, and toughen penalties for smuggling illegal immigrants across the border.

Authorize a 13-mile-long triple fence along the border near San Diego.

Institute a lifetime immigration ban for anyone caught entering the United States illegally.

Allow the Justice Department to send undocumented immigrants to the interior of Mexico instead of the current practice of transporting them to just south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Make clear that if a U.S. company replaces an American worker with a foreigner, it must pay that new worker 110 percent of what the American was earning. Proponents say that language would allow companies who need temporary foreign workers to hire them while providing a financial disincentive to companies who otherwise seek to import cheaper foreign labor.

Thursday afternoon, lawmakers easily approved a bipartisan amendment to delete most of the bill’s restrictions on legal immigration - a move Clinton supported at the last minute.

The 238-183 House vote to kill that measure almost certainly dooms an effort to curb family-reunification visas this year and to reduce legal immigration for the first time in decades.

“It is fundamentally wrong to take the justifiable anger about our failure to deal with the issue of illegal immigration and piggyback on top of that anger a drastic (reduction) in permanent legal immigration, a cause and a force that has been good for this country,” said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif.

The vote to discard the legal immigration restrictions came after a red-white-and-blue debate in which members paraded to the House floor, describing how ancestors came to the U.S. from Ireland, Russia, Poland, Asia and many other points of the world.

“Eight out of 10 Americans polled say, ‘Deal with the problem of illegal immigration before you touch legal immigration,”’ Berman told his House colleagues.