MALDEF PRESS RELEASES INDEX

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE & ACTION ALERT  

August 2000

Although Congress is in recess, you can still contact your Congressional members in your home districts until Labor Day. The Senate and the House of Representatives will be returning to Washington, D.C. on September 5^{th and 6th respectively.}

In this issue you will find information on:
<sup>* Immigration, Farmworker Issues
* High-Stakes Testing Guidance
* Increased Access for LEP Persons
           * Executive Order
           * Health Care
* Insurance for Children
* Appointment of Latino Federal Judges
* Fighting Hate Crimes
* Miscellaneous Items of Interest</sup>

S.2912 COVERS THREE ISSUES IMPORTANT TO IMMIGRANTS, LATINO COMMUNITY

^{NACARA-parity, Registry date change, and the Restoration of 245(i) are currently contained in the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act of 2000, or S.2912, a bill co-sponsored by Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy from Massachusetts, Harry Reid from Nevada, Richard Durbin from Illinois, and Bob Graham from Florida.}

Senate Democrats have tried to move the bill forward but have been blocked by Republican senators. S.2912 is important to the immigrant

and Latino community, advocates, and national Latino organizations because it’s the one that presently deals best with some of the urgent needs of immigrants.

No current bill regarding immigrants, such as the H-1B (high-tech) visa legislation currently pending in the Senate and the House, should be considered by Congress without the inclusion of the three specific provisions in S. 2912. These provisions would:
     ^{1) provide parity to nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti who have been in the U.S. continuously since December 1, 1995, but who were given less or left out of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1997 (NACARA) designed primarily for Cubans and Nicaraguans;
     2) change the Registry date, allowing individuals who have been in the country since before 1986 to apply for legal residence; and
     3) restore section 245(i) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, permitting thousands who qualify for an immigrant visa, but who must return to their home country in order to obtain it, to remain in this country while they await their visas.}

Vice President Al Gore has come out publicly in favor of the three issues proposed in S.2912. Governor George W. Bush must do the same.

NOT ON THE BACKS OF FARMWORKERS

While we want positive changes for the immigrant community, we don't want to obtain them on the backs of Latino farmworkers. MALDEF is strongly opposed to the inclusion of proposed agricultural "guestworker" legislation as an amendment to the pending H-1B visa bill.
^{Farmworkers continue to be the poorest and most vulnerable of this country’s working population. Their wages are the lowest, their jobs are among the most hazardous, and the conditions under which they are forced to live are appalling. The lack of regulation and enforcement of existing safety regulations make farm work one of the most dangerous jobs in this country. Housing for farmworkers is unavailable in many parts of the country, and where it does exist it would be considered uninhabitable by any standard.}

Legal status, of course, would go a long way to improving the lives of Latino farmworkers who are now working in this country undocumented. However, conditional status for workers, coupled with a long period of prospective work required to qualify for the opportunity to apply for permanent status, as proposed in the Senate, creates a huge imbalance of power between worker and employer. Without reforms in the farm labor system, there is very little to prevent the violation of "conditional farmworkers’" rights.

The answer to the farm labor problems is not found in any of the bills (H.R.4548, S.1814 or S.1815) currently proposed to expand the temporary agricultural guestworker program (known as the H-2A program). MALDEF wants to see a farm-labor system that is in keeping with America’s democratic traditions of protecting workers, not exploiting them. Unfortunately, none of the provisions in the proposed "guestworker" legislation, including its very limited offer of "legalization" and complicated job registry, address the harsh conditions that farmworkers face in a way that guarantees that these conditions would be improved.

Action Needed: Contact your senators and representatives while they’re in their home state and after they’ve returned to Washington, D.C. Let them know that you support passage of legislation that addresses the long-standing needs of hardworking immigrants. Let them know you specifically support S.2912, and that you oppose agricultural guestworker bills H.R.4548, S.1814 and S.1815.

GUIDANCE ON HIGH-STAKES TESTING NEEDS MAJOR REVISION

MALDEF recently submitted comments to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) on its proposed high-stakes testing resource guide. Other national Latino organizations signed onto MALDEF’s comments.

The guide, in its current form, could further promote the current misuse of standardized tests and be extremely detrimental to the educational development of Hispanics, limited English proficient (LEP) students, economically disadvantaged students, and others. Since this document - if officially released - would become the most current and extensive guidance on nondiscriminatory assessment, it is imperative that it is both accurate and clear.

The draft guide’s fundamental flaw was in its failure to adequately caution state and local education agencies of the inadequacies and deficiencies of using a test as the main factor in making a high-stakes decision. The guide focuses almost exclusively on ensuring technical compliance and ignores the significant negative short and long-term effects of current high-stakes tests use on children who are economically disadvantaged, LEP, and of a racial or ethnic minority. The testing guide, even when it purports to present the views of the scientific and testing community, either inadvertently misrepresents the studies or ignores altogether some of their most important findings and warnings.

MALDEF has consistently provided input and recommendations to the Department of Education on LEP issues. The other national Latino organizations that supported MALDEF in this effort were: the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); Migrant Legal Action Program; Multi-cultural Education Training and Advocacy, Inc.; National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE); National Association for Migrant Education (NAME); National Council of La Raza (NCLR); National Latino Children Institute; and the National Puerto Rican Coalition (NPRC).

Action Needed: Let your member of Congress know that you support Fair Testing legislation, S.2348 and H.R.4333. Inform them of the importance equal educational opportunity is for all children, including those with limited English proficiency (LEP). Also, contact the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights’ customer services at 1-800-421-3481, via e-mail at ocr@ed.gov, or via the internet at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCR/ and share your concerns about LEP issues.

PRESIDENT CLINTON ISSUES EXECUTIVE ORDER ON LEP ACCESS

^{On August 11, 2000 President Clinton issued an Executive Order to help people with limited English proficiency (LEP) access federal services either provided directly by the federal government or provided through federal funding assistance. The Executive Order directs agencies to develop and implement plans to improve the language-accessibility of their programs by December 11, 2000.}

The President stated the following upon releasing the Executive Order:

"Language barriers are preventing the federal government and recipients of federal financial assistance from effectively serving a large number of people in this country who are eligible to participate in their programs. Failure to systematically confront language barriers can lead to unequal access to federal benefits based on national origin and can harm the mission of federal agencies. Breaking down these barriers will allow individuals with limited English proficiency to more fully participate in American society.

This Executive Order directs federal agencies to break down language barriers by implementing consistent standards of language assistance across agencies and among all recipients of federal financial assistance. Under this flexible standard, agencies and recipients must take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to their programs and activities, taking into account a variety of considerations.

Among the factors to be considered are the number or proportion of LEP persons in the eligible service population, the frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with the program, the nature and importance of the service provided by the program, and the available resources."

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ISSUES LEP GUIDANCE

The Department of Justice (DOJ) also issued guidance on August 11, 2000 instructing federal agencies how to comply with the President’s Executive Order. The DOJ will oversee implementation by the federal agencies.

You may obtain a copy of Executive Order #13166 and related documents by accessing the DOJ’s website: www.usdoj.gov/crt/cor/lep.htm.

NEW HHS GUIDANCE WILL PROVIDE GREATER HEALTH CARE ACCESS FOR IMMIGRANTS

^{MALDEF supports a new policy guidance by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that will be released on August 30, 2000. This new guidance is aimed at assisting individuals with limited English speaking skills obtain proper and adequate health care and services.}

The policy guidance, titled "Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination As It Affects Persons With Limited English Proficiency," clarifies responsibilities the providers of health and social services - who receive federal financial assistance from the HHS - have under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the limited English proficient (LEP) individuals in their communities. The policy ensures that LEP persons will receive the language assistance necessary to access the needed care, services and benefits to which they are entitled.

This guidance does not create new law. It simply clarifies for service providers how they are required to respond to the health and social service needs of those members of the community who have limited English skills. The OCR guidance will benefit the neediest in our society - children, mothers, and the working poor - who, because of a difficulty in communication, are very often turned away, made to wait for services, or told to come back until a translator is found.

Title VI compliance requires an assessment of language needs in the population served; the development of comprehensive procedures (to include the hiring of interpreters and/or bilingual staff and volunteers, the translation of material, and ways of informing clients of language options); the proper training of staff; and ways of monitoring and overseeing the program.

Action Needed: Contact and monitor your local agencies that receive federal funding and the federal agencies in your area for assurances that they are abiding by these new guidelines. Let LEP persons in your community know their rights.

MALDEF BACKS INSURANCE INITIATIVE TO HELP KIDS

MALDEF is working collaboratively with Covering Kids, a national initiative designed to obtain insurance coverage for the seven million uninsured children in the U.S. currently eligible for health care coverage through Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 1998 Current Population Survey, the number of Hispanic children in 1997 totaled close to eleven million. Of those, over three million (or 29%) were uninsured. Hispanic children at or below the federal poverty level totaled almost four million, and, of those, over 1.2 million (or 30%) were uninsured.

A February 2000 report by the Commonwealth Fund Task Force on the Future of Health Insurance for Working Americans indicates that Latinos are twice as likely to be uninsured as the general population - nearly 40% of Hispanics under age 65 do not have insurance. However, nine of the eleven million uninsured Hispanics are in working families, where at least one person works. Only 43% of Hispanic adults and children are insured through employer sponsored coverage, which is below the national average of 64%.

Many states now have the power to locally undo the passage of the overly harsh 1996 federal welfare reform by granting various benefits to legal immigrants. But states often fall short of assisting poor workers or their families when the workers’ jobs do not offer insurance, or when they cannot afford it if it is offered. More needs to be done to be able to reach and help cover the millions of uninsured children.

For questions specifically concerning the Covering Kids initiative, contact Chloe Mata with the program at 202/338-7227, or visit their website at www.coveringkids.org. For questions on MALDEF’s Health Care Outreach program, call Mónica Benitez at 213/629-2512

LATINO JUDGES STILL WAITING

Several Latino nominees fared well in the judicial confirmation process over the past few months - although not without some arduous battles and prolonged waits. However, our work is far from over. Latinos still waiting to be confirmed to federal judicial positions are:

> Enrique Moreno: nominated to the 5th Circuit on 9/16/99. Because his nomination is opposed by the Senators in his home-state of Texas, Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison, his nomination has not moved;
^{> Ricardo Morado: nominated to the Southern District of Texas on 5/11/00. He is waiting to be scheduled for a hearing in the Senate;
> Mary Murguia: nominated to the District of Arizona on 7/21/00. She had a hearing and was voted out favorably, and is currently waiting for a floor vote in the Senate; and
> Christine Argüello: nominated to the 10th Circuit on 7/27/00. She is waiting to be scheduled for a hearing in the Senate.}

Action Needed: Contact your senators to thank them for their support if they most recently voted Judges Paez to the 9th Circuit and Fuentes to the 3rd Circuit. Then ask your senators to continue confirming Latino nominees for federal judicial positions; tell them specifically for which nominees we need their support.

WEB SITE LAUNCHED TO FIGHT HATE CRIMES

^{"United Against Hate" is a grassroots campaign to promote House passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R.1082. United Against Hate is a project of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) Hate Crimes Task Force, a group of over 180 national organizations, including MALDEF, working to strengthen federal hate crimes law.}

Central to the United Against Hate campaign is a new web site, www.UnitedAgainstHate.org, that mobilizes and energizes grassroots groups over the August recess. Specifically, the web site helps mount local, coordinated grassroots advocacy campaigns and events all across the nation.

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act would strengthen existing current hate crimes law against race and religion-based crimes and extend current law to cover sexual orientation, gender, and disability. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act has bipartisan support and backing from attorneys general, law enforcement, civil rights, civic, and religious organizations.

The Senate voted in overwhelming bipartisan fashion to strengthen the federal hate-crime law. Since that time, bipartisan momentum has been building for the House to follow the Senate's lead and pass hate crimes legislation.

Action Needed: Log on to the internet site: www.UnitedAgainstHate.org. The site includes easy and user-friendly ways of contacting your representatives directly via e-mail, urging them to pass H.R.1082, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

MALDEF to Release Policy Paper Soon
^{* MALDEF is currently compiling information on issues critical to the Latino community around the nation. This document will be presented to the presidential candidates; and will be made available to the public shortly thereafter. Stay tuned for more information.....}

D.C. Staff Departure 
^{* Christina Chavez Cook left her MALDEF, D.C. position as Legislative Staff Attorney on July 28. Christina accepted a job in El Paso, Texas. She had been with MALDEF for two years, passionately advocating for the rights of immigrants through her work with coalitions and with members of Congress. Although we will miss her in D.C., we wish her much success in her native Southwest.}

Congratulations
^{* President Clinton awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom this month to Mr. Cruz Reynoso, the son of farm workers.
Mr. Reynoso, former MALDEF board member, has devoted his life to ending discrimination, fighting for immigrant rights, and promoting equal opportunity. Because of his efforts to address social inequality in his rural community, his leadership of the pioneering California Rural Legal Assistance program, his tenure as the first Latino on the California Supreme Court, and his service on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Mr. Reynoso received this highest civilian award bestowed by the United States Government.
President Kennedy established the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Executive Order on February 22, 1963. The Medal of Freedom is awarded by the President only to those persons whom he deems to have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
Respected for his legal expertise and renowned for his compassion, Mr. Reynoso has earned his place as one of America's most distinguished lawyers, jurists, and social reformers.
On a similar note, Mr. Reynoso will also be presented with the Hispanic Heritage Award for Education in September.}

* MALDEF commends President Bill Clinton for his recess appointment of Bill Lann Lee to head the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Lee is the first Asian-American to be nominated to this position.
^{The Senate Judiciary Committee declined to move Mr. Lee’s nomination to the floor for a confirmation vote after he was first nominated on June 12, 1997. President Clinton appointed him as Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in December of that year, and resubmitted his name to the Senate on March 5, 1999. Because the Senate failed to confirm Mr. Lee over the past three years, the President used his executive power to appoint Mr. Lee during the current congressional recess.
MALDEF has supported Mr. Lee’s confirmation to the position of Assistant Attorney General since his initial nomination.
The Civil Rights Division enforces laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and other factors. Under Mr. Lee’s tenure, the Division has made strides in the fields of hate crime prosecution, equal employment opportunity, fair housing and equal lending.}

* MALDEF congratulates Norman Mineta, who was recently appointed as the new U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Mr. Mineta is a survivor of the American internment camps where Japanese and Japanese-Americans were held during World War II. A former member of Congress, he is the first Asian-American to be appointed to a Cabinet-level position.

MALDEF Quoted:
^{* In the July 31, 2000 edition of Interpreter Releases (a national publication which analyzes immigration legislation and policies), MALDEF D.C.’s Regional Counsel Marisa Demeo is quoted for challenging the premise of a study done by the Center for Immigration Studies. This new study blames uninsured, recent immigrants for the rapid rise in numbers of citizens without insurance.}

* The New Republic magazine’s August 14th edition featured coverage and analysis of the Republican convention. Demeo, commenting on the GOP’s efforts with multi-culturalism, was quoted when she questioned why more Latinos at the convention were not given speaker’s roles.

* The July 29th Dallas Morning News quoted Demeo on the fortuitous timing of Senators’ Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison’s recommendation of Enrique Morado for a district court vacancy in Texas: the recommendation coincided with the Republican convention.

* Cox News Service picked up Demeo’s quote featured in a MALDEF Press Statement on the inequity of fast-tracking the H-1B visa legislation without considering other immigration policies that have been pending for years. Several papers, including the Dallas Morning News carried the story. Related stories and quotes also ran in other papers, including USA Today.

* A letter to the editor written by MALDEF staff on the problems inherent in guest worker programs was printed in the June 6th edition of The Washington Times.

* Univision Spanish television network ran several interviews by MALDEF staff members, including stories on the Immigration and Fairness Act and on the issue of working immigrants who lack insurance coverage.

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To comment on this newsletter, contact: Triana D’Orazio
^{Public Affairs Coordinator
by e-mail at: tdorazio@maldef.org
by phone at: 202/293-2828;
by fax at: 202/293-2849;
or by mail at: 1717 K Street, NW, Suite 311, Washington D.C. 20036.}

Helpful internet hints: If you would like a copy of any of the bills listed in this newsletter or want to see how your representatives voted on an issue, access the information on the internet at http://thomas.loc.gov.

^{To find out more about Congress or your representatives, visit the following internet sites: www.house.gov or www.senate.gov.}

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