Congress has promised to begin the process of reforming America's broken immigration system later this year. There is widespread consensus that reform is urgently needed, and a growing insistence among lawmakers that any reform effort must adhere to our nation's long-standing commitment to family unification. Under current immigration law, millions of families remain separated because of inexcusable visa backlogs, unnecessary bureaucratic paper trails and discriminatory policies that do not recognize lesbian and gay families for the purposes of equal immigration rights.
For all of those families, time is of the essence. Every day, loved ones are forcibly separated from each other. For too many, the American dream is one that cannot yet be shared with their spouse, sibling or significant other.
This Friday, Congress will hold two briefings which signal the beginning of immigration reform efforts. Those two events -- one focused on family immigration policies and one on the much-needed DREAM Act -- will also be a starting point to ensure that critically important components of reform, like young people and families, aren't left on the Congressional cutting room floor.
So it's no mistake, and welcome news, that Friday's family immigration event will include a voice from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, too. And in the days leading up to that event, Members of Congress are speaking out in the press about the need to ensure that LGBT families are not left behind.
Friday's conversation on family immigration issues will include Steve Orner, a gay American citizen whose Indonesian partner was forced to leave the country -- earlier this morning -- because Steve is unable to sponsor him for residency in the United States. Steve and his partner were forced to sell the home they bought together because, under U.S. immigration law, they do not qualify as "family."
That would be news to Steve's 88-year-old father, Allen Orner, who will travel from Connecticut to Washington on Friday to join his son on Capitol Hill and tell Congress how the American immigration system has ripped his extended family apart.
"This has been devastating and very sad for the entire family," Allen recently said. "[Steve and his partner] bring such happiness to every gathering, cheerfulness to every event, as well as concern for anyone who is having problems. They are favorite uncles for the young people in our family. A loving, devoted couple, they bring much joy into our lives."
"Our family needs our missing spouse/son/brother/uncle back at the Thanksgiving table where he belongs," Steve's mother, Doris, added.
An estimated 36,000 LGBT binational families, like Steve's, are either already separated or facing separation soon.
That has led a growing chorus of lawmakers to publicly call for an end to discriminatory immigration policies that impact gay families. In two op-eds published this week in prominent Capitol Hill newspapers, three Members of Congress have called on their colleagues to join them in passing immigration reform legislation that will benefit all families, including LGBT families, too.
In Monday's issue of Roll Call, Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA), the lead sponsor of The Reuniting Families Act in the House of Representatives, wrote that the issue of inclusive reform is one that hits home for families across the country ... and in his home district, where Aung Moe and Vivek Jayanard are waiting for their wives to be able to obtain residency in the U.S. and Judy Rickard is preparing to leave the country in order to remain with her long-time partner, Karin."
Honda writes that "Judy Rickard will permanently leave America this November in an effort to keep her family together. Under U.S. law, she cannot be reunited with her partner, Karin Bogliolo, a UK national. Judy would have preferred to keep working at San Jose State University and sponsor Karin for residency in America, just as married heterosexual couples can. But U.S. law does not allow for that. Judy is taking early retirement from her 27-year employment at San Jose State. Facing reduced pension for the rest of her life, Judy is choosing Europe because our country will not let Judy and Karin live together. The result is a loss for my district and a loss for the university."
"In an effort to safeguard Aung's, Vivek's and Judy's families," Honda writes, "I reintroduced the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 2709) in Congress to allow all Americans to be reunited with their families. I did so because I know that the more educated, legal and healthy immigrants become, the higher their income, the higher their taxes paid, and the fewer emergency and social services used.
"Furthermore, the more reunited immigrants are, and thus happier, the fewer dollars we lose in remittances to other countries."
"Failure to pass this legislation," the Congressman continues, "means failure to provide American workers with a critical support system. Families do together what they cannot do alone -- start family businesses, create American jobs and contribute more to this country's welfare."
"Failure is simply not feasible," he concludes. "We must seize every opportunity this year to get our economy back on track, and one clear way of doing so is to reunite America's workers with their families. The irony with anti-immigration sentiment, which fears a further recessed economy if liberal legislation passes, is that, in fact, it is more fiscally prudent to pass policy that legalizes, insures, employs, reunites and educates our immigrants."
And in today's issue of The Hill, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) call on lawmakers to support their bill, The Uniting American Families Act, and include the measure in upcoming immigration reform bills.
"This bill would grant same-sex couples the same immigration benefits -- and responsibilities -- as opposite-sex couples, under the same existing legal framework," they write. "It is cosponsored by 22 senators and 117 members of the House of Representatives and has the support of a diverse coalition of businesses and civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, the American Bar Association and the Anti-Defamation League."
"We must change the law to end the gratuitous cruelty being imposed on Greg, Jaime and the thousands of other couples just like them around the country," the two continue. "We urge Congress to incorporate UAFA into the forthcoming comprehensive immigration reform. No immigration reform we enact can be truly comprehensive unless it also addresses this deprivation of the civil rights of bi-national families. There is no rational reason to continue this discriminatory treatment. It is long past time that Congress did something about it."
Those words are welcome news to Steve Orner's mom, who notes that, "[T]his is not just Steve and Joey's story. It's the story of tens of thousands of others caught in the same situation."
"I hope that when Congress realizes this discrimination is bringing such pain to families like ours," she added, "they will act to remedy the situation."
As Congress begins to debate immigration reform, all of our families -- gay and straight -- can stand together to ensure that none of us are left behind. If we do, Aung Moe and Vivek Jayanard can welcome their wives to the U.S., and Steve Orner can bring his partner back home.
It's a win-win situation that makes countless families' lives immensely better.
Because of Government-sanctioned discrimination against some U.S. citizens, I will have to leave my own country in less than two months in order to continue living with my life partner of four years. The country that my fiance is from is one of the most overcrowded on earth. It is heavily polluted, sweltering, and there is a very low level of English proficiency among the population. I've lived there before, so I know what I'm up against.
I've become too depressed to continue expressing outrage about this situation. I've spoken with my brothers about the situation, and have met with only measured support.
Passing UAFA would change/improve/salvage my life more than any other act by the federal government in my life. Please vote to make the Fourteenth Amendment's promise of "equal protection under the law" relevant to present day America.
For 40,000 - 100,000 of us (that 36,000 figure is ten years old and even then was identified by its researcher as a significant undercount), there is an ongoing civil rights crisis in this country. Let's solve it.
I have a few gay friends and it is so unfair that they don't receive the same benefits and privileges under our constition that we do! Wake up America. This is not 1900. We need to end discrimination and inequality for our citizens. The LGBT community does not aim to take anything away from you, but merely attempts to gain the same benefits that we enjoy. They don't hurt anybody...and are not a menace to society...why in the world would you vote to keep any rights from them.
And furthermore, I've got two kids of my own and if either of them came to me one day to tell me that they were gay, I'd hope that the U.S. will have gained the knowledge and education to freely and warmly welcome them into our society minus any hatred or discrimination!
I'm proud that Obama brings new light...I hope that you all will shed the same grace when it comes time to vote.
For people suggesting a greater opportunity for fraud, once UAFA is passed, EVERY same-sex couple will be scrutinized/documented/subjected to such intense examination that "sham couples" would never pass. However, if they do, the penalties for fraud are severe, the same as heterosexual couples. For people that say such immigrants would be a "drain" on American resources, I would counter with my own story. My partner has a Master's Degree -- he is educated, worldy, speaks three languages and is a sincere and caring human being. I am a successful small business owner. I pay taxes/buy my own health insurance. As a couple, we offer a lot to America. However, I will exile America to be with my partner, probably to a third country. That country will receive two very smart, very loyal, very committed citizens. America will lose...
We are asking to be law-abiding, contributing members of American society. Please support UAFA! We need comprehensive, LGBT-inclusive immigration reform. Now.
I am a US citizen with a British partner. Back in 1997, after 3 years in the UK, my British work permit expired. Neither of our countries would allow us to live our life together. So, we were forced into exile. We spent nearly a decade living in the Netherlands - one of only three countries in the world at that time which would accept an EU-citizen with a foreign same-sex partner. UK immigration policy has since changed and we are living back in Britain. I can only hope and dream that one day my own country will welcome me back.
And US citizens, please remember that we are all immigrants! Please remember that our Ancestors came to this country and called it the land of the free. Have we forgotten our roots? First, lets pass UAFA to end the flat out discrimination against gay and lesbian couples -- a simple fix to a complex set of laws... next, lets look at comprehensive reform. We need to make a legal way for people to immigrate so that they are not forced to enter the country illegally. We should not close our borders to everyone, we need a fair system so that people have an achievable method to enter this country and make a life for themselves and their families in this great country, just like our Parents, Grandparents and Great-grandparents did ... we are all immigrants in this
As someone that this bill would affect, not only would this decrease illegal immigration, but I'd like to point out that it would also increase tax revenues. I'm currently a UK resident. I live here in order to be in the same country with my partner, because US laws do not allow him to immigrate there with me. As a result, I'm paying the UK government around 80k in taxes (US dollars) annually because of the income I'm earning.. This is a tax credit to any taxes I owe to the US government and has the effect of making my US tax liability zero. Were this immigration policy in effect, we would both be living in the US, and my tax revenues would be going to the US government, not to the Brits.. I'm thankful for the opportunity to live here with my partner, but I hope one day that the US policies change so we can both go home.
I'd ask all those who immediately decry 'end immigration!' to read up on immigrating to America. Imagine you were not born here and wanted to come here legally. Do you have over $1 million to invest in a US business? Do you think your chances are better than getting struck by lightning (the odds of winning a green card in the diversity lottery)? Are you so highly skilled that an employer who's likely never met you would pay thousands of dollars in legal fees to prove you can do a job that no other American can do? These are the only options lesbian and gay people have for coming to America legally. This is not fair.
Call and blast your Senators and Representative at 202-224-3121 in Washington. Overwhelming the switchboard with your calls, as it is having an outstanding effect of--MILLIONS of angry voters. INFORM THEM DO YOUR DUTY OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES ON RE-ELECTION DAY? Tell them you want a PERMANENT E-Verify for--EVERY WORKER, a secure double layer fence and--REAL--enforcement against sanctuary state policies. Read undisclosed facts at NUMBERSUSA. UNEARTH the corruption at JUDICIAL WATCH. Your voice is needed to halt OVERPOPULATION and American Worker survival. Demand NO-MORE-AMNESTIES. Go home and come through the front door, like millions of legal immigrants?
"A new national poll indicates that nearly three-quarters of all Americans would like to see a decrease in the number of illegal immigrants in the country.
Seventy-three percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday morning called for a drop in the number of illegal immigrants, with 22 percent saying the number should remain the same and just 3 percent stating that there should be an increase in the number of illegal immigrants. That 73 percent figure is the highest number since CNN started asking this question four years ago.
According to the poll, 37 percent want to see all illegal immigrants deported, also the highest number since the questions was first asked in 2006, and another 23 percent say that the number of illegal immigrants in the country should be decreased significantly."