Immigration Bills

H.R. 2202, the Immigration in the National Interest Act of 1995, was a large omnibus bill designed to reform the entire immigration system. The legal immigration reforms it included were based on the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission's recommendations for cutting the major links of family-chain migration and protecting American workers from further wage depression. The bill would have eliminated the categories for adult children and siblings and limited that for parents of adults.

H.R. 1915, the Immigration in the National Interest Act, would have shifted the primary focus of immigration policy to spouses and minor children from extended family and to skilled immigrants from less skilled ones. It would have set a ceiling of 330,000 on family-based immigration. In addition this bill would have increased the number of skilled workers, while eliminating the unskilled worker category and the lottery program. H.R. 1915 also contained provisions designed to reduce illegal immigration such as worker verification programs.

A bill to impose a moratorium on immigration by aliens other than refugees, certain priority and skilled workers, and immediate relatives of United States citizens and permanent resident aliens.