Torn By Family Separation, Legal Immigrants Organize to Find a Voice on Capitol Hill
Unitefamilies.org was formed to change the immigration law that separates legal residents from their spouses and minor children still living outside the United States.
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB via PR Web
Direct) April 5, 2005 -- Unitefamilies.org, an organized group of legal
residents whose Web site can be found at http://www.unitefamilies.org, is working to change the
immigration law that separates legal residents from their spouses and minor
children living outside the United States.
In a letter to President
Bush, the members state that current immigration law for legal immigrants is
unfair and against American family values. They urge the president to deliver on
his promise that he made during his 2000 campaign: “If we are a nation that
believes in family values, we need to help husbands and wives and children of
permanent residents be allowed to visit while the INS is handling their
paperwork.”
Many lawful permanent residents (green card holders) are
currently living in the United States, separated from their families. These are
mostly young families — a husband or wife, separated from their spouse and young
child. They are waiting for their I-130 petitions (petition for relative) to be
approved. The current waiting time is at least 5 years.
While they wait,
their spouse and child are not allowed to enter the United States, even for a
brief visit. The permanent residents, on the other hand, must reside
predominantly in the United States. Otherwise they lose their permanent
residency status.
These tax paying and law-abiding legal immigrants have
organized a grassroots effort to find a voice on the hill. Their Web site is at
http://www.unitefamilies.org.
The nucleus of Legal
Permanent Residents’ (LPR) is shattered due to separation from spouses and minor
children because of the current immigration law. As it states in USC title 8
section 1153(a)(2), available visas are not to exceed 114,000 per year to the
spouses and minor children of LPR. This numerical limitation coupled with the
legendary INS backlog, is currently causing a waiting time of more than 5 years
before a visa becomes available. And Congress is largely complicit in this
immoral issue, the group says.
On March 16, 2005 Customs and Immigration
Services director Eduardo Aguirre presented a report to the Congress, which
showed a significant progress in reducing CIS backlog. However, statutory
numerical limitations on available visas will undermine the efforts on reducing
backlog.
Approximately 1.1 million applications were excluded from Mr.
Eduardo’s report due to the numerical limitation of available visas. This issue
was addressed effectively when the V-Visa was introduced in 2000. Unfortunately,
the term and restriction of the V-Visa is no longer effective as it expired in
2003, the group says.
Enacting V Visa will provide ample time for the
U.S. Congress to evaluate proper immigration reform to overcome this complex
issue. At the same time, it will relieve the separation of the families of LPRs.
The V-Visa solution is an alternative to cope with such a sensitive issue. A
similar and parallel solution exists for U.S. citizens by providing their
relatives with the K-Visa, which currently allows their foreign spouse to come
to the U.S. while USCIS processes their application.
Unitefamilies.org
is a volunteer group and growing strongly. New members, mostly victims of unfair
immigration laws, are joining this group every day.
This group reached
300 members in just a few months. Members are collectively writing to Congress
to re-enact the V-Visa provision in the Immigration and Naturalization Act, to
allow their spouse and minor children to stay in the US while USCIS processes
their petition.
The V-Visa is similar to the current K-Visa, which is
available to U.S. citizens to bring their foreign spouse or fiancée within 90
days. Unitefamilies.org feels the current immigration law is cruel and unfair
for the immigrants, who worked hard to earn their residency in the United
States. More details are available on group’s forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unitefamilies.
Contact
Azad
Abul
610-416-4364
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/4/prweb225491.htm