[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10] [House] [Pages 13967-13968] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS EXEMPTION Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 5690) to remove the African National Congress from treatment as a terrorist organization for certain acts or events, provide relief for certain members of the African National Congress regarding admissibility, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the Senate amendment is as follows: On page 2, strike line 12 through the end of line 21 and insert the following: (a) Exemption Authority.--The Secretary of State, after consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Secretary of Homeland Security, after consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, may determine, in such Secretary's sole and unreviewable discretion, that paragraphs (2)(A)(i)(I), (2)(B), and (3)(B) (other than clause (i)(II)) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)) shall not apply to an alien with respect to activities undertaken in association with the African National Congress in opposition to apartheid rule in South Africa. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from California? Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I reserve the right to object, although I do not intend to object. I do so here for the purpose of debate only. I thank the gentlewoman for her request, and I rise in support of this measure, H.R. 5690. I concur in my colleague's request for unanimous consent to pass this measure as amended by the Senate. Madam Speaker, this bill corrects a longstanding error on U.S. policy towards South Africa. The House passed the bill on May 8 of this year, and the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent just a few moments ago. Madam Speaker, I am honored to participate in the process of updating U.S. immigration law as it applies to visits to the United States by South African officials, such as former President Nelson Mandela, to reflect the appropriate status of the African National Congress, and I look forward to personally sharing news of passage of this bill with Mr. Mandela and the South African government when I visit South Africa next week with Chairman Berman. Ms. LEE. Will the gentleman yield? Mr. ROYCE. I yield to the gentlelady from California. Ms. LEE. First, let me thank the gentleman from California for yielding and for his leadership and for his commitment and his assistance in helping to bring this bill to the floor tonight, or back to the floor tonight. Mr. Royce and I have traveled to Africa. We have actually been to Darfur in the Sudan and witnessed the horrific genocide taking place, and because of your leadership and because of the bipartisan way in which we have worked, we have put, again, the United States on the right side of history on leading the charge for divestment against the Sudanese government. Here we are tonight, really a remarkable evening. It's 9:40 and we are here on the floor doing what we should do. We probably should have done it a long time. We are here. Thank you, Mr. Royce, very much. Despite his legacy as a hero of the antiapartheid movement, Nelson Mandela's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, and his election as President of South Africa in 1994, Nelson Mandela continues to be included on the United States terrorist watch list due to his leadership and participation with the African National Congress. As a result, former President Mandela and countless men and women like him, who fought for decades, for decades, mind you, a war of liberation against the apartheid government of South Africa, are required to obtain a visa waiver under the Immigration and Nationality Act in order to enter the United States. This continuing indignity should not be allowed to persist any longer. This year, President Mandela will turn 90 years old. I believe his birthday is July 17. And so as a fitting tribute to his legacy and to the many others who fought against apartheid, all of us tonight believe that we should promptly pass this bill so that the African National Congress and President Mandela can be removed from the terrorist watch list. Like many, I was very involved in the antiapartheid movement. I remember having to travel to Switzerland and to Austria and to other countries in Europe just to meet with members of the ANC, African National Congress, to determine how the antiapartheid movement in the United States could support their courageous efforts to shatter the dehumanizing, racist system of apartheid. We could not meet, unfortunately, in our own country here in the United States because they would have been put in jail. It's no telling what would have happened to me and to others who were committed to support the African National Congress and to end apartheid. I tell you, this has been a remarkable 18 years. President Mandela was released from prison 18 years ago. And so it's amazing that to this day, despite his legacy as a hero of the antiapartheid movement, that he still [[Page 13968]] needs a visa waiver to enter the United States. This is just plain wrong. Last December, I traveled to South Africa for World AIDS Day with our colleague, Congresswoman Donna Christensen. We met with many, many people in South Africa, and were specifically asked that Congress take action and pass some legislation to remove President Mandela from this terrorist list, and the ANC. Many of us either had forgotten or really did not know that. And so we came back and started working on this bill. I have to thank Congressman Berman, our Chair of our Foreign Relations Committee, and Congressman Conyers and Congressman Payne and Congressman Bennie Thompson and Senator Reid and others for really helping to help move this bill forward. Let me just say, I come from California and I do have to remind tonight the rest of the country that it was my predecessor, Congressman Ron Dellums, now Mayor Ron Dellums, who put our country on the right side of history. I had the privilege to work for Ron for 11 years. For 12 years, he introduced a sanctions bill, and finally, in the eighties, this Congress overturned President Reagan's veto and put America on the right side of history and began the divestment movement. Our colleague, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, was in the State legislature and she work tirelessly on divestment legislation. Her leadership put the State of California on the right side of history. Actually, I believe that California was the first State to move forward with sanctions against the racist regime of South Africa. Recently, Congresswoman Waters and Mayor Dellums received one of the highest honors presented to them by the South African government. So we are very proud of them and thankful for their leadership. In the Bay area and for those who may be listening, if you remember, we really started the antiapartheid movement with the labor unions, the ILWU. Many of us were actually arrested. We refused to unload the ships. The ILWU, great and courageous men and women. They refused to allow any items to come into the Bay area. And so we were arrested. We fought. We did so much to try to raise the level of awareness and attention as to what was taking place in South Africa. I can remember us carrying little black passbooks, because coming in from the townships, black South Africans had to have IDs, passbooks. And we had a burning-our-passbook ceremony on the steps of city hall to let people understand that the black majority of South Africa could not live in major towns and had to live in squalor and could only come in to work and had to leave with their passbooks. So I could go on and on. I am saying this tonight because I want those who are listening to say, This is a really significant moment. This has been, again, a long time coming. But I think this is one of those moments where we have seen the Secretary of State, Republicans, Democrats, all of us working together to end this terrible, terrible policy that we have with regard to the ANC and Nelson Mandela. I have to salute our speaker, Speaker Pelosi; our minority leader, Mr. Boehner; Mr. Hoyer. Also, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and all the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and those who, when we started talking about this, first of all, couldn't believe that this was still the case but said we have got to do something. We have got to fix it. So, again, to our staffs. I have to say to Perl Alice Marsh of the Foreign Affairs staff, to Christos Tsentas on my staff, and to all of the staff on both sides of the aisle who have worked so diligently, tonight is long overdue. It's taken a heck of a lot to get here, but we hope that tonight we will be able to say to President Mandela: Happy Birthday, Mr. Mandela. Mr. Royce, hopefully you will be able to take a signed copy of the bill by the President to Mr. Mandela and wish him God speed, happy birthday, and thank goodness we were finally, finally, finally able to take the ANC and President Mandela off of the terrorist watch list. Mr. ROYCE. We will do that. I thank the gentlelady. Madam Speaker, I withdraw my reservation. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from California? There was no objection. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table. ____________________