Immigration Bills

H.R. 3229, the Visa Entry Reform Act, would implement an entry-exit system an an integrated database of biometric identifiers for every visa holder. It also would have created a comprehensive alien tracking and identification system. This would have reduced illegal immigration by decreasing the ability of a visa holder in the U.S. to overstay their visa and become an illegal alien.

H.R. 3222, the High-tech Work Fairness and Economic Stimulus Act, would reduce the annual number of H-1B visas from 195,000 for FY 2001-2003 to 65,000. In addition the bill would have allowed for a lower annual cap if necessitated by unemployment rates.

H.R. 3077, the Visa Integrity and Security Act, would require H-1B employers to notify authorities if H-1B visa holders never show up for the job. The bill would have also created an entry-exit tracking system that would signal authorities when people who enter the U.S. legally on visas do not leave as they should and stay here illegally.

S. 1491 would create and implement a fingerprint processing system for every visa holder. This would help increase interior enforcement by allowing for tracking of aliens while they are in the U.S. and decreasing the probability that an alien will overstay a visa and become an illegal alien.

H.R. 2712, the Mass Immigration Reduction Act, called for deep reductions in all categories of immigration, including: ending chain migration categories such as parents of adult children and siblings of adults, reducing the category of skilled workers to 5,000 per year from its current ceiling of 120,060 per year, limiting refugee admissions and asylee adjustments to a total of 25,000 annually and require that refugees and asylees reside legally in the United States for five years before they could apply for adjustment to permanent resident status, and ending the visa lottery. H.R.