Immigration Bills

H.R. 4885, the Comprehensive Immigration Fairness Act, would create an amnesty for illegal aliens who have been physically present in the U.S. for five years and have never been convicted of a criminal offense. In addition to this general amnesty, it would include special amnesties for Haitians and Liberians. The bill would also increase annual admissions of refugee and aslyees by allowing refugee/asylee status for certain adult unmarried children of refugees and asylees and would establish gender based persecution as grounds for refugee status.

H.R. 4166, the American Workforce Improvement and Jobs Protection Act, would exempt from the annual H-1B cap aliens holding a Master's degree or higher, up to 20,000. However, the bill would have reinstated tougher employer attestation requirements, a $1,000 application fee, and Labor Department investigative authorities, that expired in the fall of 2003.

H.R. 4041 would remove the numerical cap on H-2B visas for 2004.

H.R. 3918, the Comprehensive Immigration Fairness Reform Act, would create an amnesty for illegal aliens who have been physically present in the U.S. for five years and have never been convicted of a criminal offense. In addition to this general amnesty, H.R. 3918 included special amnesties for Haitians and Liberians. The bill would also increase the cap on lottery visas from 55,000 to 110,000 annually.

H.R. 3142, the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act, would reward certain illegal aliens working in agriculture with amnesty. It would also reward illegal immigration by protecting illegal aliens granted temporary resident status from prosecution for Social Security fraud.