TransAfrica Urges Congress to Provide Immigration Benefits and Relief to Haitians

On August 27, 1998, the signatories listed below forwarded the Attached of letter to Congressional Members of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, urging the members to provide immigration benefits and relief to Haitian nationals. The text of the letter is as follows:

We are Writing in reference to the upcoming conference on the Fiscal year  1999 Treasury, Postal, and General Government Appropriations bill.

Last year, the Congress passed a measure, P.L. 105-100, which offered United States resident alien status to Central Americans who, like Haitians, established new lives in the United States years ago, after fleeing political turmoil in their homelands.

P.L. 105-100 contained a major oversight which Senator Bob Graham, (D-FL) sought to correct in S. 1504 this year. Last year's bill left Haitians (who came to the United States under the same circumstances as the Central Americans in a state of limbo, and indeed leaves them vulnerable to deportation. S. 1504 would ensure that Haitians who established new lives in the United States years ago would be treated as Central Americans, who came here under similar circumstances, have been under P.L. 105-100.

S. 1504 passed the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and was also passed as an amendment to the fiscal year 1999 Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations bill. We urge your active involvement to ensure that this Senate language is retained during the upcoming conference, since the House version of the bill is silent on this issue.

This amendment speaks to the time-honored American values of fairness and equity. We seek your leadership to ensure that the House recedes to the Senate on this issue.

We thank you for your attention to this matter and ask that you contact us at your earliest opportunity indicating your reaction to our request.

Sincerely,

Randall Robinson, President
The Honorable Maxine Waters, United States House of Representatives
Julian Bond, Chair NAACP Board of Directors
William Lucy, Treasurer-Secretary, AFSCME
Danny Glover, Actor
Walter Mosley, Author

TransAfrica
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