From: ALIAS@VX.CIS.UMN.EDU
Newsgroups: talk.politics.china
Subject: (none)
Date: 22 Jul 92 21:54:00 GMT
Reply-To: ALIAS@VX.CIS.UMN.EDU
Organization: Indiana University
Comments: To: China-NT@uga.cc.uga.edu


                  An Appeal for Immediate Action for
                  the Chinese Student Protection Bill

                         Minnesota Lobby Group

                           July 20, 1992


Dear Fellow Chinese Students and Scholars:

     The Chinese Protection Act is at a critical stage. As you may know
that the House Immigration subcommittee marked up this bill last June. It has
been referred to the the Judiciary Committee for approval. It is expected that
the Judiciary committee will vote on it within the next two weeks.

Where does the crisis come from?

1. The time for Congress to pass the bill is extremely limited. Although
there are still 5 and a half months left for this year, the Congress has only
about 40 working days. As a rule, all the bills proposed earlier have to be
taken up by the Congress by the end of this year. Those that do not have time
to be taken up will no longer to be valid. They have to be reintroduced if the
Congress would like to consider them again. That is to say, this protection
bill has to be passed by the Congress and signed by the President before the
end of December. Don't forget that this bill may be vetoed by the President.
In that case, the Congress has to override the President's veto by the end of
the year. Otherwise, this bill has to be reintroduced next year. But
technically, it is not possible for the bill to become law before January 1,
1994 - the date on which the Presidential Executive Order expires.

2. Recently, the Chinese government has launched a strong anti-lobby campaign
against this bill. They have hired a law firm of which the former director of
the Immigration and Naturalization Services is a partner to help organize their
campaign efforts. In addition, the Chinese Embassy in Washington has been
collecting signatures from some of those Chinese students who are against this
bill. Recently, some key Congressmen have received letters with their
signatures, which has put us in a very disadvantageous position.
Therefore we strongly urge that Chinese students and scholars organize to launch
a campaign for this bill to counteract their efforts.

3. The Bush Administration, particularly the State Department and the INS, has
been trying very hard to block the bill. Its strategy is to make adjustments to
this bill, which is a very effective way to kill the bill. Besides, since this
is an election year for the House Representatives, and immigration is a very
sensitive issue, many Congressmen take a tepid attitude toward the bill.

4. The status to lobby the bill at the national level is pathetic. So far
there is no consistent campaign to lobby this bill. In particular, there is
little effort to lobby the 35 Congressmen/Congresswomen who sit on the
Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to debate this bill in the next two
weeks. We feel that IFCSS should take a more active role in lobbying the bill,
which is so vital to the safety and well-being of the Chinese students and
scholars in the USA. We feel that a task force should be set up immediately
to take up the responsibility of coordinating this campaign.

   We, the Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars (FACSS)
at the University of Minnesota, urge the local Chinese Students'
organizations across the country to lobby the Congressmen/Congresswomen in
their states, particularly those in the Judiciary Committee. We would also
like to urge them to send delegates to Washington D.C. to lobby the Congress
in the next two weeks.

   Together, we can make a difference!


                               Jinhua Guan (Signature)
                     posting for Minnesota Lobby Group of FACSS
Newsgroups: talk.politics.china