Army National Guard Spc. Hector Nunez's wife was brought to the United States when she was six years old, in 2005 she married her husband and they gave birth to a child who was born with medical problems. In 2007, after seeking legal advice and trying to naturalize, Hector's wife was forced to leave the country and return to Mexico, her country of origin. As is often the case in these situations their son, who is an American citizen, left the country with his mother. Nunez's family has fallen victim to an anachronistic immigration rule which continues to separate families who attempt to utilize the available legal channels to change their status. The Obama Administration is taking great pains to fix this despite opposition from the Republican Party.
Members of both political parties can agree that one of the most cherished institutions in all of society is the family. A new rule proposed by the Obama administration is set to defend the families of American citizens. Under the current rule, anyone in the country without documentation longer than 180 days and eligible for legal status must return to their country of origin from 3 to 10 years to apply for a change in status. Ironically, those in mixed status families who are looking to utilize the current legal processes to keep their families together find that even if they are eligible, they still must leave the country for extended periods of time.
The Obama Administration's Family Unity Waiver does not do away with the 3 to 10 year bar, but it would allow those currently here, who meet the necessary criteria, to process their applications in the United States as opposed to having to leave the country. For someone like Veteran U.S. Army Spc Jack Barrios, who recently returned from Iraq with injuries both physical and psychological from his time abroad, and who is also fighting to keep his wife from being deported, this fix could be life changing.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed rule change would reduce a family's time apart to one week in some cases. "The goal is to reduce the time of separation and alleviate the extreme hardship to a United States citizen, as the law currently intends," said Alejandro Mayorkas, director of USCIS. This of course has drawn the ire of Congressional Republicans who accuse the President of going around Congress: "President Obama and his administration are bending long-established rules to grant backdoor amnesty to potentially millions of illegal immigrants," Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said in a statement.
The Republican Party has long said that they are the defenders of families and the importance of legal immigration. Yet in this current debate they are in opposition to both keeping families together and enhancing legal immigration into the country.
Keeping families together should be paramount to all law makers who insist that working families are the back bone of our country. Under the current rule citizens who marry and start a family with an immigrant, risk being separated from their spouse anywhere from 3 to 10 years, even if they are eligible for legal permanent residence. It is worth noting again, that the legislation does not do away with the 3 to 10 year bar; those that do not meet the requirements for the waiver will still have to leave the country. However it does give those who meet the requirements laid out in the new waivers the ability to maintain their families during the immigration process.
When Senator Marco Rubio says that the Republican Party needs to be the party of "legal immigration," this type of common sense tweak to increase legal immigration should be given serious consideration, and not dismissed out of hand. The change in the rule is designed to enhance legal immigration and protect the family unit. Most immigrants with questionable status would rather choose to remain in limbo than work within the current process to pursue legal status. They do not want to be separated from their families. The current rule makes it all but impossible for immigrants to seek legal permanent status.
For those who have lined up in opposition to this simple fix to our confounding immigration system, it would behoove them to think of Hector Nunez and his family. While some, like Congressman Lamar Smith see this as a way for the administration to let in "millions of illegal immigrants," the fact remains the reality of mixed status families is far more complex than our rigid immigration system allows. The Obama administration at the very least recognizes this, while also respecting the rule of law in enforcing the current broken system. Where they can they have worked to support the sanctity of family. While this is not a perfect solution, no matter how small a fix this is, at the end of the day the Family Unity Waiver allows families to stay together. Something the Republican Party would be good to consider.
Follow Kristian Ramos on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kramos1841
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
They have found your weakness and intend to exploit it. Why should children have to be born here when their parents can bring them at any age and get all the rights and privileges of a US citizen? What does citizenship mean anymore?
"I think that it is great that they can now stay in the US while applying to change their immigration status based on marriage to a US citizen."
Are you ready for a flood of marriage fraud? I will pay you $------.00 for you to marry me.
That is something citizens can't do is take their kids with them to prison. Citizen families are broken up by committing crimes. Why should we make an exception for illegal aliens?
The author needs to look into a mirror for the blame and responsibility of his unethical actions.
Having police enforce federal laws against bank robbery and allowing armed guards in banks is having the same effect on thousands of "unregistered bank customers". Mostly the ones who make the large withdrawals helping insurance companies stay in business.
If America doesn't allow these people to carry on their business properly, it hurts the flow of dollars to citizens and leaves the robbers in the board rooms to harvest rewards.
Often when draconian enforcement of the law goes to far, these customers lose their lives.
Then police turn customers over to Federal authorities to be prosecuted, deprived of assets and torn from their families sometimes for years,
It's unconstitutional for states to enforce Federal laws. Allowing people with guns in public except federal officers hurts freedoms of every citizen.
They must repeal state laws allowing them to arrest people simple unauthorized withdrawals! They're only trying to make a better life for their families! We must stop imprisoning them, giving them amnesty. After that all unauthorized customers will cease.
Without these brave customers, no American would take the risks for these wages. it could drive banks that need harvesting out of business!
Sound familiar? Citizens need a law to ignore if we are going to allow foreigners to ignore laws.
EQUAL CIVIL RIGHTS FOR CITIZENS AS FOREIGNERS!!!
Very right. Do you think that is why so many Latin Countries have dictators?
There are consequences to breaking the law and when we put our own law breakers in prison - their families are broken up too.
The illegal immigrant population equates to the entire adult portion of our citizens under correctional supervision - so do we now stop sending our own people to prison for breaking the law because it disrupts their families???