Senate Bill S. 1504 Approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee by an Overwhelming Majority

Thanks to the advocacy efforts of Haitians, immigrants, and foreign organizations, on April 23, 1998 Senate bill S.1504 "The Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998" passed the Senate Judiciary Committee with only three registered opposing votes out of eighteen Senators.  Those opposing were Senators John Ashcroft (R-MO), John Kyl (R-AZ) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL).  S.1504  will grant permanent residency to Haitians who were paroled in the United States or who have applied for political asylum before December 31, 1995.

"The Haitian community is exhilarated by this victory.  This shows that the overwhelming majority of the Judiciary committee, comprised mostly of Republications, believe that the claims of Haitians for fairness and equal treatment have indeed a lot of merit," said Jocelyn McCalla, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights.  In November 1997, nationals of Nicaragua, in the United States before December 1995, were granted permanent residency but Haitians were not.  Three bills have been introduced in Congress to right that wrong: S. 1504 in the Senate, H.R. 3049 a companion bill to the Senate bill sponsored Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and H.R. 3033 by Rep. Carrie Meek (D-FL) contains a much broader class of Haitians to be given permanent residency. 

Senate Bill S. 1504 was amended by the Judiciary Committee.

Senators Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) included in the bill a specific category of Haitian children.  The bill now includes any Haitian child present in the US on December 31, 1995 who:

1. arrived in the United States without parents in the US and who has remained without parents in the US since such arrival;

2. became orphaned subsequent to arrival in the United States; or

3. was abandoned by parents or guardians prior to April 1, 1998 and has remained abandoned since such abandonment.

Next Steps for legislation

This bill will now be sent to the full Senate Floor for discussion and vote.  The full Senate markup date has not yet been decided and will be scheduled by the Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS).  Advocacy efforts including letters, phone calls, faxes and visits that were instrumental in getting the bill passed through the Judiciary committee are still needed to ensure that S.1504 is approved by the full Senate.  Additionally, a bill will have to be discussed and voted by the House of Representatives before the legislation can become a law.

Action Needed:

Send letters thanking Senators on the Judiciary committee who voted for the bill and assert that Haitians will be counting on their votes when this bill comes to a vote by the full Senate.  It is imperative that you do so if you live in the following states: UT, SC, IA, PA, TN, OH, MI, VT, MA, DE, WI, CA, IL and NJ.

If you want sample letters or background information, please call Netlyn Bernard Samedy at (212) 337-0005 ext. 18