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Washington, DC, April 4, 2001 - "U.S. immigration policy needs modernization," was the message San Francisco-based attorney Warren R. Leiden gave the Senate when called to testify this week. Leiden, a partner in the corporate immigration law firm of Berry Appleman & Leiden, spoke on behalf of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). He has been involved in the immigration field since 1980. Leiden testified that the three main pillars of U.S. immigration - family-sponsored immigration, employment-based immigration, and protection for refugees and asylum seekers -- continue to have primary relevance in the new century, but that all three have policy structures that are overly restricted and out of date. "Despite the significant efforts at improvement, each of the three areas has become overly complicated, substantially backlogged, and unnecessarily hampered by a patchwork of rigid limitations and sometimes-contradictory restrictions. This situation calls out for change -- modernizing our immigration policy -- both in terms of raising numerical limits and in the direction of streamlining and simplifying, to the benefit of all Americans," Leiden said. Addressing the core values of our social and economic principles, Mr. Leiden discussed how U.S. immigration policy should (1) unify American families; (2) keep America strong in a global economy; (3) provide asylum protection for refugees fleeing persecution; (4) allow naturalization based on allegiance to the principles contained in our Constitution and laws; and (5) be implemented through a well-regulated system based on law, with fair, uniform, and predictable requirements. For a full text version of his testimony, please see the Testimony of Warren R. Leiden. Mr. Leiden is a member of the Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and he was AILA's executive director and Washington Representative for 14 years (to 1996). He is a recognized expert on employment based immigration matters and serves on the steering committee of the American Business for Legal Immigration coalition. From 1992 to 1997, he was a Member of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by the late Barbara Jordan. Mr. Leiden received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University in 1971 and his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1974. # # #
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