Durbin Immigration Amendment Wins Bipartisan Approval by Judiciary Committee

DURBIN IMMIGRATION AMENDMENT WINS BIPARTISAN APPROVAL BY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

- The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved an amendment authored by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) that would help ensure that charitable organizations and local churches would not be prosecuted for providing humanitarian assistance to an undocumented immigrant. Durbin's amendment was approved in a bipartisan vote of 10 to 7.

"Charitable organizations, like individuals, should be able to provide humanitarian assistance to immigrants without fearing prosecution," said Durbin. "A domestic violence shelter should not be forced to decide whether the government would regard a situation as "an emergency" before they protect a battered mother and her children. A non-profit hospital should not be required to provide medical care without compensation in order to avoid criminal prosecution. We should protect the institutions and individuals who make it their life's work to help those in need."

In recent months, churches, charities and community organizations in Illinois and across the country have expressed serious concern over language in immigration legislation being considered by the Senate that could criminalize their assistance to those in need. Current legislative proposals could make an organization guilty of alien smuggling, an aggravated felony, if they helped an individual in need before verifying whether the person is a legal immigrant.

Durbin said that while the original bill included an exception for humanitarian assistance, the exception only protected individuals, not organizations, like churches, hospitals, or schools. Furthermore, the exception only applied to aid provided in emergency situations and aid given without compensation.

Durbin's amendment expands the humanitarian exception to cover organizations. It makes it clear that humanitarian assistance would include housing, counseling, and victim services. And it strikes the provisions that limit the humanitarian assistance exception to emergency situations and to assistance that is rendered without compensation.

"We need to protect the right of innocent Americans who carry on our nation's long-standing tradition of welcoming and caring for the needy," said Durbin. "Today, with the help of my Senate colleagues, we have helped ensure that the tradition of a caring nation continues."

Durbin's amendment has broad-based support at both the national and state levels. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter to every member of this Committee in support of the Durbin amendment.

http://durbin.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=253158&&