Letters to the Editor
NAME OF NEWSPAPER

As the 106^th Congress nears adjournment, civil rights groups, religious and ethnic organizations, and newspapers across the country are urging lawmakers to restore balance and fairness for immigrants and continue our current economic expansion. Before adjournment, Congress must approve and the President must sign the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act (LIFA).

LIFA, which would restore Section 245(i), update the registry date, and provide equity to people left out of earlier NACARA legislation, is endorsed by a bipartisan group of political leaders, including: President Clinton, Jack Kemp -the 1996 Republican vice presidential candidate, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and Senator John McCain (R-AZ). LIFA would establish fairness for immigrants and continue America’s economic expansion by accomplishing the following:

• Restoring Section 245(i). Section 245(i) allowed immigrants on the brink of becoming permanent residents to apply for their green cards in the United States, rather than having to return home. Congress allowed Section 245(i) to expire in November 1997, but grand-fathered some immigrants who had filed preliminary paperwork by January 14, 1998. People who use Section 245(i) must be eligible to become permanent residents, and have passed all INS screenings. Fully restoring Section 245(i) would put back needed flexibility into the law, and prevents thousands of long-time residents from being separated from their families and jobs for up to 10 years.
  
  
• Updating the registry date to 1986 to correct for the injustices of the 1980s during which the INS erroneously refused to allow qualified immigrants to adjust their status under the Reagan-era legalization program.  After winning in court, Congress stripped federal courts of the ability to hear these cases. Changing the registry date from 1972 to 1986 would allow applicants and their family members to finally apply for permanent residency.
  
  
• Establishing NACARA Parity to treat immigrants of similar circumstances similarly.  Congress needs to pass this measure to ensure that refugees fleeing civil strife in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti and other countries are given the same remedy, eligibility to become permanent residents, as was granted to Nicaraguans and Cubans in the 1997 law.

LIFA would help hundreds of thousands of immigrants hurt by government mistakes and misdeeds, allow long-time, taxpaying immigrants to apply for green cards, and treat fairly immigrants fleeing from social unrest. Congress must pass LIFA before it adjourns.

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