LEGAL STATUS URGED FOR CENTRAL AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS.Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Two local lawmakers urged Congress and the president Wednesday to legalize le·gal·ize tr.v. le·gal·ized, le·gal·iz·ing, le·gal·iz·es To make legal or lawful; authorize or sanction by law. le the status of up to 2.3 million Central American Central America A region of southern North America extending from the southern border of Mexico to the northern border of Colombia. It separates the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean and is linked to South America by the Isthmus of Panama. immigrants, including more than 1 million now living in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . Reps. Howard Berman Howard Lawrence "Howie" Berman (born April 15 1941) has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1983, representing the 28th District of California (map). , D-Mission Hills, and Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, called for passage of the Central American Security Act, which would give undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras the opportunity for legal status if they could prove they were living in the United States as of Dec. 1, 1995. Berman noted that the immigrants, most of them refugees from civil wars and repressive pro-American governments, were not included in a 1997 reform law that granted legal status to Nicaraguans and Cubans who had fled anti-U.S. regimes. ``They should not have been left out,'' Berman said at a Capitol Hill news conference. He also stressed that the millions of dollars immigrants send to assist relatives in their homelands ``is much larger than any foreign aid we could provide.'' Dave Ray, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization in the United States that advocates for reforms of U.S. immigration policies that would result in significant immigration reduction. , a Washington-based group that backs tougher immigration laws and controls, said the legalization LEGALIZATION. The act of making lawful. 2. By legalization, is also understood the act by which a judge or competent officer authenticates a record, or other matter, in order that the same may be lawfully read in evidence. Vide Authentication. plan would ``blow the door off illegal immigration enforcement.'' ``The 1997 law made a mistake by singling out groups of immigrants for special treatment,'' Ray said. ``Expanding amnesty to more countries will only compound that mistake. The best policy for illegal aliens is to deport de·port tr.v. de·port·ed, de·port·ing, de·ports 1. To expel from a country. See Synonyms at banish. 2. To behave or conduct (oneself) in a given manner; comport. them, not to give them special status.'' Berman said the new legalization effort had good prospects for passage, given Bush's efforts to woo Latino voters, the fastest-growing sector of the electorate. The bill's main sponsor is Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., whose suburban Washington district is home to thousands of Central American immigrants. Angela Sanbrano, executive director of the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles, said more than half of the 2.3 million Central Americans in the U.S. live in Southern California, with large concentrations in Pacoima, Long Beach and the Pico-Union neighborhood in Los Angeles. Ethnicity and national origin data from the 2000 U.S. Census showed the region was home to 750,000 Salvadorans, 500,000 Guatemalans and 200,000 Hondurans. According to the latest available INS INS abbr. 1. Immigration and Naturalization Service 2. International News Service Noun 1. INS statistics, the agency in 1999 deported 3,817 undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, 3,213 from Guatemala and 3,141 from Honduras. That the same year, the Border Patrol arrested 29,115 Central Americans who had illegally entered the United States from Mexico. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion