REP. Howard Berman & Carl Shusterman

IMMIGRATION: THE CONGRESSMAN AND THE ATTORNEY

Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA) and immigration attorney Carl Shusterman share a laugh at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. When Shusterman asked what the Congressman had to promise a rival in order to restore the remedy of “suspension of deportation” to immigration legislation, Berman replied, “Carl, sometimes in politics, it’s better to know the result without knowing how it happened.”

Congressman Berman has been the key leader in the House of Representatives in preserving legal immigration to the U.S. He orchestrated the opposition to draconian cuts to legal immigration in the Immigration Subcommittee, the House Judiciary Committee and on the House floor.

Shusterman and Berman first met in 1988 when Shusterman invited Congressman Berman to speak at a dinner meeting of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Eight years later, on March 21, 1996, Shusterman watched from the Gallery as Congressman Berman led the forces which succeeded in “splitting the bill” in two, one pertaining to illegal immigration and the other to legal immigration. This dramatic vote was the turning point in defeating immigration restrictionists who would have punished legal immigrants for the problems of illegal immigration.