| Usually supports less immigration, less population growth, less foreign labor. |
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Each symbol in the left-hand column below
signifies an action for HIGHER immigration. |
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Each symbol in the right-hand column
below signifies an action for LOWER immigration. |
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Sen. Heflin voted as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of S. 1664, the Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996. S. 1664 was a large omnibus bill designed to reform the entire immigration system. The legal immigration reforms it included were based on the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission's recommendations for cutting the major links of family-chain migration and protecting American workers from further wage depression. The bill would have eliminated the categories for adult children and siblings and limited that for parents of adults. S. 1664 also included dozens of provisions aimed at reducing illegal immigration, including a 10-year ban on legal re-entry for illegal aliens, additional border patrol agents and equipment, and worksite verification programs. S. 1664 was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 13-4.
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Sen. Heflin in 1996 voted against the Simpson Amendment to S.1664. It was a vote in favor of a chain migration system that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million. Sen. Heflin supported provisions that allow immigrants to send for their adult relatives. Then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse's adult relatives, creating a never-ending and ever-growing chain. The bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Simpson Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. But Sen. Heflin helped kill the reform by voting with the 80-20 majority against the amendment. Sen. Heflin's vote helped continue a level of immigration that the Census Bureau projects will result in a doubled U.S. population in the next century.
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Sen. Heflin voted in 1996 for the Feinstein Amendment to S.1664. The Feinstein Amendment would have reduced annual admission of spouses and minor children of citizens to 480,000 and significantly reduced annual limits other categories of chain migration such as parents of citizens, and adult unmarried children of citizens. By voting for the Feinstein Amendment, Sen. Heflin voted in favor of reducing a chain migration system that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million today. In 1996 the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Feinstein Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. The Feinstein Amendment would have had an overall impact of reducing U.S. population growth by about 1.2 million over 10 years, but it was defeated by a vote of 26 to 74.
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In the 104th Congress, Sen. Heflin was one of only a handful of Senators who co-sponsored S.160 (the Shelby Bill). The bill would have cut legal immigration in all categories from about one million a year to around 325,000 a year. Senate leaders did not bring S.160 up for a vote.
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Sen. Heflin cosponsored S.2448 (the Shelby Bill) in the 103rd Congress. It would have cut legal immigration in all categories from around one million to about 325,000 a year for a period of five years. Senate leaders did not bring this bill up for a vote.
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Sen. Heflin was part of a significant minority in 1990 who stood firm against legislation that radically increased annual immigration numbers. Traditional
American immigration had averaged around 250,000 a year until the 1980s when it dramatically rose to around 500,000. Then in 1990 Congress passed legislation that removed or increased limits in most immigration categories. Since then, immigration has risen to around 1,000,000 (one
million) a year. Virtually none of that increase would have occurred if Sen. Heflin’s hand had been the only one on the congressional
lever. He voted twice against the 1990 bill.
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Sen. Heflin voted AGAINST the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. his vote was one in favor of setting up voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states that would assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. But a coalition of conservative pro-business Members and of liberal civil libertarians tried to kill the verification program as too intrusive into the private rights of businesses and workers. Opposing that coalition, Sen. Heflin was part of a 54-46 majority that preserved the voluntary pilot programs.
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