I am pleased to support these private relief bills. These are good bills, and we should work to make sure they are passed by the Senate. We should also continue to be attentive to this issue – these should not be the last private relief bills we report during this Congress. I know that Senator Feinstein and other senators have worthy immigration private relief bills pending, and I strongly encourage their passage. I would also encourage the passage of nonimmigration private relief bills – in particular, I am aware that Senator Johnson has a very worthy private relief bill pending on behalf of Mrs. Frances Schochenmaier (S. 785). I would urge this Committee to consider these and any other worthy private relief bills during the time we have remaining.

We should also remain attentive to other immigration issues that deserve our attention. I am encouraged to see the Senate take action on humanitarian immigration bills such as these, and I want us to continue on that track. In particular, I would like to see this Committee consider two bills that I have introduced: S. 1940, the Refugee Protection Act – a bipartisan bill with nine cosponsors – and S. 871, the Fairness to Immigrant Veterans Act, which has the support of the American Legion and many other veterans groups. Both of these bills take important steps to undo some of the excesses that were unfortunately included in the immigration legislation that passed in 1996.