H.R. 4966, the Restoration of Fairness in Immigration Law Act, would have granted amnesty to some 3.6 million aliens from Central America and Haiti. This would have been the largest amnesty in the history of the country, larger even than the 1986 IRCA Amnesty.
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act with respect to the number of aliens granted nonimmigrant status described in section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, to implement measures to prevent fraud and abuse in the granting of such status, and for other purposes.
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to promote a fairer and more efficient means for using highly skilled workers, to improve the collection and use of H-1B nonimmigrant fees, and for other purposes.
H.R. 1007, the Honduran Refugee Immigration Fairness Act, would provide amnesty for all Hondurans who have lived illegally in the United States since 1995.
H.R. 36, the Central American and Caribbean Refugee Adjustment Act, was an amnesty bill for about one million Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and Haitians, including their spouses and children, who have lived in the United States illegally since December 1, 1995.
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make changes relating to H-1B nonimmigrants.
H.R. 3553, the Central American and Caribbean Refugee Adjustment Act, would have awarded amnesty to almost 1.2 million illegal immigrants, in addition to the almost one million who were granted amnesty in 1997.
H.R. 2302, the Immigration Technical Revisions Act of 1997, would have allowed 540,000 illegal immigrants from Central America to apply for amnesty, even though they previously had been denied asylum in the United States. Congress eventually passed a much-expanded version of this proposed amnesty by slipping it into an appropriations bill for the District of Columbia (see the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act of 1997).
H.R. 4300 was a bill to radically increase annual immigration numbers by removing or increasing limits in most immigration categories. As well, H.R. 4300 created the diversity visa lottery. Traditional American immigration had averaged around 250,000 a year until the 1980s when it dramatically rose to around 500,000. Largely as a result of H.R. 4300, annual legal immigration has risen to around 1,000,000 (one million) a year.