_______________________________________________
HOUSE
JOINT MEMORIAL 4015
_______________________________________________
Passed
Legislature - 1999 Regular Session
State of Washington 56th
Legislature 1999 Regular Session
By
Read first time 03/05/1999.
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.
