The Associated Press - Wednesday, September 25, 1996 11:57 pm EDT
Cassandra Burrell, Associated Press Writer

The Senate was expected to reject the second bill -- passed 254-175 -- and Clinton has said he would veto the measure, even though it would allow currently enrolled illegal aliens to stay in school.

Supporters in the House said the bill would remove an incentive for foreigners to come here illegally and allow voters to decide whether they want to bear the expense of educating children who shouldn't be in the country.

"This bill says, "Don't come to America and think the taxpayers of America are going to take care of you if you're here illegally,"' said House Speaker Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

Opponents said it would punish innocent children for the behavior of their parents and push thousands of young people into the streets.

"This is a foolish piece of legislation," Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee said.

Republicans agreed earlier this week to remove from the larger bill the measure by Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., allowing states to close schoolhouse doors to illegal aliens.

Clinton, addressing the Hispanic Caucus Institute at a Washington hotel Wednesday night, called that action "a great victory."

"I want to say a strong word of thanks to every member of Congress here today who helped us get that Gallegly provision out of the immigration bill," Clinton said. "I don't believe that the Senate will vote for it; if it comes to my desk, it's history."

The far larger bill, which would nearly double the number of border patrol officers and speed deportation procedures, passed earlier in the day, 305-123.

"This bill secures America's borders, penalizes alien smugglers, expedites the removal of criminal and illegal aliens, prevents illegal aliens from taking American jobs and ends non-citizens' abuse of the welfare system," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who introduced the legislation.

Some Democrats have urged Clinton to veto it as well, saying the legislation is too hard on legal immigrants too soft on unscrupulous employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.

The president has asked Republican leaders for some changes, said White House spokeswoman Kathleen McKiernan. Nonetheless, she called it "a major step forward."

"We still would like to see improvements in the provision concerning the treatment of legal immigrants and worksite enforcement," she said. "We've asked the leadership to take that under consideration and make some adjustments."

Seventy-six Democrats joined 229 Republicans in approving the bill and sending it to the Senate, which was expected to vote on it later this week. Voting against the bill were 117 Democrats, five Republicans and one independent.

Republicans -- who worked for two years to bring the immigration bill to a final vote -- said the bill was Congress' first serious action against illegal immigration in years.

"Every three years enough illegal aliens enter the country permanently to populate a city the size of Boston or Dallas or San Francisco," Smith said as the House voted on the measure that was a compromise of separate bills passed last spring by the House and Senate.

But Democrats called the bill a ruse that does not attack the true causes of illegal immigration. Some also suggested that Republicans were using the issue to score points with voters weeks before the election.

"The problem with this bill is that it cons the American people into thinking major new steps are going to be done," said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif.

Under the bill, local police and other law enforcement officers would have new powers to detain and remove illegal aliens and foreigners would have a tougher time winning U.S. asylum by claiming persecution in their home countries.

Penalties for alien smuggling and document fraud would be increased. U.S. sponsors wanting to sponsor foreign family members into the country would be required to earn 140 percent to 200 percent of the poverty level. Under current law, sponsors must earn at least 100 percent of the poverty level.

Legal immigrants who receive 12 months of welfare during their first seven years in this country would be subject to deportation. A provision criticized by AIDS activists would bar legal immigrants from using Medicaid for treatment of AIDS or HIV infection.

During a news conference earlier in the day, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said he and other Democratic senators would release their own immigration plan, which would impose stiffer penalties on employers who repeatedly hire illegal immigrants for jobs Americans should fill.

"We intend to propose a good faith alternative that does the job right, that genuinely cracks down on illegal immigration and that eliminates the worst features of the current bill," Kennedy said.

The alternative plan would "increase workplace enforcement and protect American jobs and American workers," he said. "It will require the administration to conduct a range of pilot programs to develop better methods to deny jobs to illegal immigrants and help employers obey the law."

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