12 Years of Everyday Savings just Got Better. COATS UNLIMITED Compassion Seems Many Shores Away Congress takes some of the teeth out of immigration reform, but it still carries a nasty bite. West Bloomfield • Orchard Mall Location Only JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT A MANUFACTURERS SUGGESTS) RETAIL PRICE West Bloomfield Only • Orchard Mall, Orchard Lake at Maple awry: .1 bilidar. mesday, Hiyhiesildr, Friddv„S'atimby 10-6, Thilailay 10-8„untlal , 12-5 • Seed group <2 THE MOST EXCITING p KNITTING & NEEDLEPOINT Rochelle lmber's Knit, Knit, Knit 855-2114 Accents In Needlepoint Contemporary Designs 626-3042 . 124 In Orchard Mall • West Bloomfield r-- • Find It All In The Jewish News Classifieds Call 354-5959 bout the best that Jewish activists in Washington could say about the im- migration bill passed by the Senate last week is that it could have been worse. What started out as an all-out assault on foreigners under the guise of immigration reform was narrowed to emphasize the prob- lem of illegal immigration. But tucked away in the legislation are a number of provisions that will batter both legal and illegal immigrants and cause signifi- cant hardship for some Jewish newcomers. More ominously, Jewish lead- ers worry that the bill represents one more step down the road to a much more restrictive policy toward immigrants and those who have not fully assimilated into the American mainstream. "It was a mean-spirited bill, in terms of its treatment of legal immigrants," said Diana Aviv, Washington director for the Council of Jewish Federations. "There's clearly no patience on the part of members of either party to provide even the barest minimum of protections to peo- ple who have.come to this coun- try legally. The trend is a very disturbing one." From the outset, the immi- gration battle was driven by election-year politics. In both Houses, legislators tried to wrap legal and illegal immigration into a single pack- age. In 1996, many lawmakers saw a golden opportunity to pig- gyback two winning political is- sues: the growing desire for punitive policies toward illegal aliens, and the unfocused de- mand by voters to hack away at the federal budget, as long as legislators don't cut too close to home. "People in both parties are looking for places to cut social programs without producing a backlash at the polls," said a leading Jewish activist here. "Immigrants make an inviting target; they aren't a major vot- ing block, and in today's envi- ronment, nobody will weep if they are cut off from the social service network in the interests of cutting costs." Both the House and Senate originally combined bills aimed at legal and illegal immigration for precisely that reason. A long list of Jewish groups, led by the Council of Jewish Fed- erations and the American Jew- ish Committee, worked with or- ganizations representing other immigrant communities to con- vince legislators to split the bills and blunt the worst elements of the surviving legislation. With the first goal, at least, Jewish groups had some success; the immigration bills were split, and work on a legal immigration reform package was deferred, probably until after this year's elections. The bills approved by the House and Senate now focus on increasing law enforcement along the Mexican border; both contain provisions that will make it harder for illegal immi- grants to get jobs and easier for the government to deport them, although the harshest deporta- tion language was removed from the Senate bill. "Those seeking to live here by choice will be denied any kind of assistance." —Jewish activist in Washington But Jewish groups failed to kill a number of provisions that re- flect the kind of political expe- diency that they regard as a direct attack on American plu- ralism. Both versions severely limit the access of both legal and ille- gal immigrants to a wide range of government social services by mandating that the income of an immigrant's sponsor be figured into the eligibility calculations, a change that could make life harder for Jewish immigrants — although most Jews from the Soviet Union arrive here as refugees, not immigrants. According to some estimates, the new rules would — in effect — bar more than 90 percent of legal immigrants from programs such as Supplemental Security Income, food stamps, Medicaid and Aid to Families with De- pendent Children. Angry senators also rejected amendments passed by the House that would have exempt- ed certain programs from these restrictive rules, including emergency Medicaid, immu- nization programs and some ser-