Reuniting Families Act, Mike Honda's Proposal, Would Grant Immigration Opportunities To Gay Couples

Local Lawmaker's Bill Would Give Huge Opportunity Immigrant Gay Couples

Adding another immigration proposal to the debate in Congress, U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, has introduced a bill that would grant same-sex couples the same opportunities as others to sponsor a foreign-born spouse for a visa.

Honda's Reuniting Families Act is an update to a bill he introduced in the last Congress, but this year it comes as lawmakers are seriously considering major immigration reform.

His bid Thursday to end immigration law bias against same-sex families mirrors a similar, bipartisan bill in the Senate, the United American Families Act, reintroduced Wednesday by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Honda's proposal also would lessen other restrictions on family-based immigration. It would reduce the backlog of immigrant spouses and children by exempting them from numerical caps on family immigration. It would also set a 10-year maximum on having to wait for a green card.

"Our family-based immigration system has not been updated in 20 years, separating spouses, children and their parents, who have played by the rules for years," Honda said in a news release.

President Barack Obama has endorsed granting equal immigration benefits to same-sex couples, but Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said last month that injecting social issues into comprehensive immigration reform "is the best way to derail it." ___

(c)2013 the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)

Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

Before You Go

Washington, D.C.

LGBT By State

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot