The Clock Ticks

By Ray O’Hanlon

A week might be a long time in politics, but in the halls of the U.S. Capitol even two of them can pass all too quickly.

A bill currently before the House of Representatives aimed at extending the immigration provision, 245i, is this week facing the same deadline as 245i itself — April 30.

Against this backdrop, the bill’s primary sponsors in the House, Reps. Peter King and Carolyn McCarthy, joined New York Gov. George Pataki Monday at a press conference at the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Woodside, Queens.

245i and its prospects of surviving past April 30 were the main point of discussion at the event, which also saw Reps. Joe Crowley, Steve Isr’l and Emerald Isle chairman Brian O’Dwyer standing behind the podium embossed with the governor’s seal.

There was something else behind the podium too. A ticking clock on the wall.

It was Pataki, whose administration has been picking up the pace on immigration issues recently, who first sent out the signal to New York State’s congressional delegation that something needed to be done for 245i, a once obscure line in the U.S. immigration code that only sprang to prominence after it was allowed expire by Congress in 1998.

245i, given a renewed but temporary lease on life by President Clinton last December, allows undocumented immigrants to apply for permanent residence without having to leave the country and face the likelihood of being banned from the U.S for up to 10 years for being illegal in the first place.

The battle for 245i comes against the backdrop of recent indications that the number of undocumented Irish in the U.S. is beginning to rise sharply.

"There’s only two weeks to go and we don’t want anyone to miss the deadline thinking, oh, it’s going to be extended," Pataki said.

Hardly a vote of absolute confidence in the chances of the King-McCarthy bill, H.R. 1242, passing through the House and Senate by the end of the month.

Indeed, the bill still has to be considered and marked up by the House Immigration Subcommittee and still needs a sponsor for a companion bill in the U.S. Senate.

Rep. King said that he would be contacting Senator Charles Schumer in that regard.

In the meantime, King said, the bill’s sponsors in the House, numbering about 20 in all, would be attempting to speed the process of consideration and passage as much as possible in the short time remaining.

"With less than two weeks to go we need to redouble our efforts," King said.

Rep. McCarthy stressed that the H.R. 1242 was a pro-family bill as well as being a pro-business bill.

"Peter and I will fight hard for this bill," she said.

Rep. Isr’l said that he was confident and hopeful that Congress would do the right thing.

Rep. Crowley said: "The least we can do is extend 245i. Indeed we can do much more. There are six million people out there who are undocumented."

Gov. Pataki said that about 700,000 people out of that total were in a position to take advantage of 245i but it appeared at this stage that only about 200,000 might be able to do so by April 30.

Pataki, in reply to a reporter, said he didn’t know about making 245i a permanent fixture in the immigration code.

He did support the bill’s provision that would extend 245i’s life by six months, until Oct. 31, and that he was not ill-disposed to an even longer extension.

"The six month extension makes a lot of sense. It’s a question of doing the right thing," Pataki said.

In the days of April that remain, The bill’s backers will attempt to include it in an omnibus bill or insert it as an item under the House’s suspension rules, a device used to pass measures that are viewed as being non-controversial.

However, immigration bills are rarely devoid of at least some controversy, even those with bipartisan support, such as H.R. 1242.

If the bill does succeed in securing passage before 245i expires on April 30, Rep. King is confident that President Bush will sign it.

"The president is pro-immigration," King said.

If April 30 passes without H.R. 1242 becoming law, its sponsors will go back to the drawing board. And that will likely mean a new bill that will contain a grandfather clause stretching back to April 30.

One way or another, time will be a key factor in the lives of countless thousands of undocumented immigrants, Irish among them, in the coming days and weeks.