Continuing her push for family unity and women's rights as part of commprehensive immigration reform, Hawai`i Sen. Mazie Hirono and six colleagues today urged the so-called Gang of 8 to "reconsider plans to eliminate some categories of family visas as the group finalizes a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws," as reported by the Washington Post:
In a letter to the eight-member group, Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Tom Harkin (Iowa) and Al Franken (Minn.) praised the bipartisan effort but cautioned that the senators should maintain visas reserved specifically for foreign brothers, sisters and married children of U.S. citizens.
The Washington Post reported last week that the senators are planning to eliminate those categories to help clear a back load of 4.3 million family visa applications, while also making it easier for some foreign workers to enter the country. Those family members could still apply for visas but would need other qualifications such as work skills and English proficiency to increase their chances. Senate aides said no decisions have been finalized.
“This is very troubling,” the Democratic senators write in their letter. “Different types of family members can play an important role in each other’s lives, and for some Americans, a brother or sister is the only family they have.”
Sen. Hirono followed up her letter with an online petition circulated by email. Please follow me below for the text of the email (including a link to the petition).
This is personal to me.
Earlier this week, I chaired a Senate hearing on an issue that’s gotten a lot of attention recently, but has been a defining and personal subject for me my whole life: Immigration -- specifically, its effect on families.
When I was almost eight years old, my mother courageously brought my brother and me from Japan to Hawaii to flee my father, a compulsive gambler and alcoholic. Every immigrant has his or her own reason for coming to the United States -- but all of us, like my mother, my brother, and me, come here hoping for a better life.
And I want to make sure that other families have that same opportunity.
That's why I was proud to chair the hearing, and why I sent a letter to the "Immigration Gang of Eight" -- the bipartisan group of senators negotiating comprehensive immigration reform legislation -- urging them to focus on the human element of immigration as they craft their bill.
Will you stand with me?
Please click here to co-sign my letter to my Senate colleagues -- and urge them to think about people and families in the immigration reform bill.
While immigration reform is clearly an economic issue, it is first and foremost about people. People like me. I want to make sure other families like mine have the same opportunity to come to America, work hard, play by the rules, and find a better life.
So in my letter, I urged my colleagues to include these vital principles in their immigration proposal:
It's cruel to force families to wait decades to be reunited with their loved ones. Family reunification must be made a core priority in our immigration policy, and must not exclude LGBT families.
We should not force visiting students to leave the country after they've earned advanced degrees in science or technology. They can be productive contributors to our economy.
We must include a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented people currently in the country. Like my mother, these people came to our country with a willingness to work hard and give their children better lives.
Provide families access to the social safety net during their provisional status -- including health care and anti-poverty programs, especially valuable to immigrant women and children -- so they can be healthy and productive members of our society and economy.
I am so proud to be a naturalized citizen of the United States, proud of the friends I've made, and proud of the ways I've been able to serve this country that gave my family a safe home when we needed it most. I'm committed to working my hardest to ensure we pass truly comprehensive immigration reform, especially through my work on the Senate Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on Immigration.
But I need your help to show my colleagues the groundswell of public support for these commonsense principles.
Click here to add your name to my letter to my Senate colleagues, urging them to include these vital human principles in their reform proposal.
We're now closer than we've ever been to fixing our broken immigration system. With your help, we'll get it done -- and make sure that immigrant families are respected in the process.
Mahalo,
Mazie Hirono
U.S. Senator
Sen. Hirono's effort is being backed by the Asian American Justice Center and the Congressional Asian American Pacific Caucus.
Do you support it too?
Wed Mar 20, 2013 at 9:11 PM PT: Update: Here's a pdf of Sen. Hirono's letter, signed by six colleagues, to the Gang of 8: http://www.aila.org/...