H-2273.1  _______________________________________________

                     HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4015

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     1999 Regular Session

By Representatives Lisk, Kenney, Radcliff, McDonald, Wolfe, Haigh, Ogden, Kessler, Santos, Conway, Linville and Lantz

Read first time 03/05/1999.  Referred to Committee on .

Requesting federal scrutiny of immigration law and Immigration and Naturalization Service policies.

    TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

    We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

    WHEREAS, The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) represent the most dramatic changes in immigration law in more than 30 years; and

    WHEREAS, These acts mandate that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) arrest, detain, and deport large segments of the United States immigrant population and the implementation of these laws has had far-reaching effects, including unnecessary financial burdens on the state's legal, social, and welfare systems; and

    WHEREAS, The United States has long been known as a nation of immigrants, as a champion of human rights for all peoples, and as a country that holds justice and equality under the law among its highest ideals, especially equal justice under law; and

    WHEREAS, Immigrant detainees may have been legal permanent residents who have lived almost their entire lives in the United States, served in the United States military, have a United States citizen spouse, or have United States citizen children; and

    WHEREAS, Detainees, including women and children, are frequently in INS custody for periods longer than seventy-two hours and are especially vulnerable within the INS system; and

    WHEREAS, Families consisting of both legal and illegal family members are often divided causing not only emotional and psychological hardship when mothers are separated from their children, but also financial difficulties resulting in increased welfare rolls when primary wage earners are removed from their jobs;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the President, the Congress, and the appropriate agencies continue to look closely at current immigration law and INS policies and practices, and that necessary changes be made so that problems surrounding immigration may be resolved as soon as possible; and

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable William J. Clinton, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each member of Congress from the State of Washington, Doris Meissner, Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and Gary Locke, the Governor of the State of Washington.

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