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Gore Challenges Bush on Immigration Issues
Vice President Al Gore, seeking Hispanic voters, challenged rival George W. Bush to join him in backing a Democratic proposal to expand immigration rights for hundreds of thousands of Central Americans. Gore is backing legislation that would broaden the rights of some Central Americans and longtime illegal aliens to obtain permanent residence status in the US, an important issue for Hispanics. Under current law, persons fleeing strife in Cuba and Nicaragua can obtain permanent status. The measure supported by Gore, and currently pending in Congress, is a Democratic amendment to a bipartisan bill on high-tech (H-1B) visas that would expand the list to include natives of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti. The same measure also would make it easier for those living in this country since 1986 to obtain permanent status and allow some families to remain while applications are being processed. “Families who are in this country legally should be allowed to remain together in the United States while immigration applications are made,” said Gore. “I believe we should correct this long-standing injustice, and I urge Congress to pass this legislation,” said Gore's statement. “I call upon George W. Bush to make clear his stance on this issue and join me in challenging Congress to pass this essential legislation.” A Bush spokesman, Scott McClellan, said that the Republican candidate “does not support a complete amnesty at this time” but referred instead to a Bush suggestion that the Immigration and Naturalization Service be revamped. He called upon Vice President Gore to support such a proposal. It is estimated that as many as 500,000 people could be affected by the above changes. The Democrat proposal has the strong backing of Hispanic members of Congress. Hispanics are a major voting bloc nationally, and even more important in some big states like California, Texas and Florida. Hispanics have generally voted Democrat in the past, but Bush has worked hard to make inroads. |
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