President backs visa program extension

By Ray O’Hanlon

President Bush has come out in support of an extension to 245i, the immigration provision that expired midnight on Monday.

Bush wrote a letter to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert expressing his support even as the clock ticked down to the provision’s demise.

However, three bills currently before Congress all propose making 245i retroactive in the event that any one of them passes the House and Senate.

Two bills are before the House of Representatives. One of them, co-sponsored by New Yorkers Peter King and Carolyn McCarthy, proposes a six-month extension to 245i, the key element in the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act and one that allows undocumented immigrants to apply for legal residency in the U.S. without having to leave the country and thus face bans from the U.S. lasting up to 10 years.

Another House bill, drawn up by New York Congressman Charles Rangel proposes an extension of one year from April 30.

King told the Echo Tuesday that he supported Rangel’s proposal just as Rangel supported the bill he was sponsoring along with Rep. McCarthy.

"We’re trying to get the best we can get," King said.

In the Senate, meanwhile, a bill co-sponsored by GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts is also proposing an extension of one year.

Just as in the House, Hagel and Kennedy have been attempting to fast-track the measure.

Backers had hoped that the Hagel/Kennedy bill might be included on the Senate’s Unanimous Consent Calendar, but that appears unlikely in the short term as Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has indicated that he wants the committee to examine the bill first.

As the deadline to 245i’s extension loomed Monday, long lines of undocumented immigrants formed at INS offices in a number of U.S. cities.

The precise number of undocumented Irish who might qualify under 245i — which requires employer and/or family sponsorship in order to qualify for relief — is unknown, although Irish immigration advocates have been saying in recent months that they believe the undocumented Irish population has been on the rise.

245i was allowed expire by Congress in 1998 before being revived for a four-month period by President Clinton in the waning days of his administration.