Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 25 September 1996

Democrats protested vigorously against provisions in the larger bill, but 76 of them joined with the majority to pass the Republican-drafted measure 305-123.

Democratic critics charge the bill is "mean-spirited" toward legal immigrants and people seeking asylum and too lenient toward employers of illegal aliens.

Measures to stem the tide of illegal aliens coming into the country are politically potent in an election year and the bill had become entangled in presidential election politics.

However, President Clinton appeared to be leaving his options open on signing the bill and Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle had hinted at a possible filibuster when it reached the Senate.

The separate school ban had previously been part of the House version of the illegal immigration bill after being added during debate last March by California Republican Elton Gallegly. Clinton threatend to veto the entire bill if it included the Gallegly amendment. The provision was not in the Senate-passed immigration bill.

After months of delay and a rewrite of the provision Republicans, with the gruding concurrence of presidential candidate Bob Dole, separated it out this week, paving the way for votes on both measures.

The vote on the schools measure was 254-175, not far from the 257-163 vote in March and, as it was then, preceded by an appeal for its support by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

In a rare floor speech, he said the bill prospectively "sends the signal to the world: don't come to America and think the taxpayers of America are going to take care of you if you are here illegally."

The earlier Gallegly provision would have allowed states to remove current illegal alien students from public schools. The revised version approved Thursday would allow children now in school to remain there.

States would be able to charge fees to children who wanted to move up from elementary to secondary school or who moved to a school in another district. The law would require a new vote by Congress to continue it beyond 2 1/2 years.

Senate Democrats want the main bill changed to meet their concerns and a White House spokeswoman said the president was talking to members of Congress about strengthening enforcement of laws on hiring illegal aliens.

During the House debate, Democrats voiced anger at being left out of the drafting of the bill, which they said was done in "back rooms" in concert with the Dole campaign.

They also complained it would require Americans who wanted to bring a close family member to the United States to meet financial standards that would be beyond low-income people.

Proponents of the bill said it would ensure that sponsors of immigrants were held to their commitment to make sure their relatives were not a drain on taxpayers.

Critics also denounced provisions tightening up on admission of people arriving in the country without documents in search of asylum, saying it gave too much latitude to immigration inspectors.

Democrats charged that the bill removed safeguards for Americans such as Hispanics against discrimination by employers fearful of hiring aliens, and did not do enough to crack down on employers hiring illegals.

They criticized provisions they said would make legal immigrants liable for deportation if they used certain welfare programs for more than a year, including tax-financed health care for people with AIDS.

The bill would double the size of the border patrol, adding 5,000 new agents and 1,500 support personnel over five years, beef up penalties for alien smuggling and document fraud and speed removal of illegal aliens.

It would set up pilot projects for employers to verify their workers' immigration status and stengthen barriers against illegal aliens getting welfare benefits.
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