June 5, 2007. This week, the Senate will finalize the provisions of the White House spawned ‘compromise’ immigration reform bill. As we have previously reported, the proposal would deprive millions Americans of the opportunity to petition for their family members abroad. It would also create a complex and costly pathway to legal status for an uncertain number of undocumented immigrants.
Senate offices are keeping count of the letters and calls they are receiving on the immigration bill and its amendments. At meetings the ALC have had with members of Congress in the past weeks, *each* has noted the impact that the public response has had on their deliberations. Unfortunately, much of that pressure is coming from the other side. Senator Feinstein mentioned to us that in her entire term in office she has never received so many racially hostile letters and calls. You can help counter the pressure from anti-immigrant forces. Please take 5 minutes to either voicing your opposition to the Senate immigration bill’s anti-family provisions, opposing those amendments that would further threaten immigrants in this country, and supporting those amendments that would reduce the harm of the bill. Even if you have sent a previous message, please send another to address this week’s new challenges.
SA 1151 (Inhofe): Makes English the national language, prohibits federal government agencies from providing information or services in any other language unless specifically ordered by Congress current five-year waiting period
SA 1170 (McConnell): Bars voting by anyone who does not present a government-issued photo ID at the polls
SA 1184 and 1204-1218 (Cornyn): Strips away procedural safeguards for handling of immigration applications and deportations, creates new grounds for deportation and makes penalties retroactive, cuts off access to judicial review of Homeland Security actions against noncitizens.
While the bill will remain fundamentally flawed, certain amendments would reduce some of the harm it will impose. For example, the present bill will retroactively cut off existing applicants for family based visas. An amendment by Senator Menendez would partially remove the retroactivity provisions, impacting an estimated *eight hundred thousand* future immigrants. The positive amendments are a moving target but will be voted on in the next two days. (For more information about the amendments by Menendez, Obama, Clinton, and others click here).
SA 1183 (Clinton): Allow legal permanent residents to sponsor immigration of their spouses and minor children without enduring the
SA 1194 (Menendez): Move the cut-off date for dismantling the current family-based immigration system from May 1, 2005 to January 1, 2007
SA 1199 (Dodd): Raise the proposed annual limit on sponsorship of US citizens’ parents from 40,000 to 90,000, allow parents to visit US for six months at a time while waiting to immigrate
SA 1202 and 1243 (Obama): sunset the new point system after five years and replace it with the current family-based sponsorship system, unless Congress renews the point system
SA 1191 (Lieberman): Provides for more humane treatment of asylum applicants and adds procedural safeguards to protect applicants
You may not have time to read everything that’s out there, so here’s what I’ve gathered so far and some highlights that I thought was important to know and convinced me about why this bill is bad, very very bad. Here’s the link to send a quick fax to your senators. I swear, it would only take 2 minutes.
The family-based categories in place for the last 42 years would largely be replaced by a point system that would award points for English fluency, education, and advanced technical skills. ← my family wouldn’t get any points for these categories!
US citizens can’t apply for their children who are over 21 and put the cut-off date retroactively on May 1, 2005; this includes applications in line and already paid for.
Long waiting period for US citizens sponsoring their own parents.
SA 1151 Amendment would make English the national language, prohibits federal government agencies from providing information or services in any other language unless specifically ordered by Congress. This is totally contrary to what several cities have already done to better provide services to their residents. See
Oakland's Equal Access Ordinance.
Undocumented immigrants: Anyone in the country without papers before January 2007 could receive probationary legal status, a four-year “Z visa,” renewable once, if they come forward immediately. To adjust their status to lawful permanent residence, they must also pay $5,000 in fees, and the head of each household must temporarily return to the home country. This tries to solve that there are more than 11 million undocumented immigrants, but makes it extremely difficult for people to become legal with the $5,000 in fees and fines.
SA 1151 would seem to exacerbate a problem we faced with the Vietnamese American community after Hurricane Katrina, where government officials could not communicate with our community. —
Bao Thien Ngo 2007/06/05 03:50
| Task | Coordinator |
| Coordinate team to work with Asian Law Caucus and other CBOs. | |
| Speak with representatives of public offices. | |
| Initiate a letter-writing campaign to contact our Senators via FREE FAX or CALLING THE SENATORS. | |
| Post to the uNAVSA wiki answering the critical questions. | |
| Maintain wikis on youth involvement on this issue. | Bao Thien Ngo |