Join the Call: Include All Families in Immigration Reform

You're invited to join Representative Mike Honda (CA), Bishop Minerva Carcano, and families impacted by our broken immigration system on a special grassroots call designed for advocates and concerned community members like you!

Learn about the moral imperative to move comprehensive immigration reform forward this year, and hear stories about why LGBT families need your support to make sure their immigration rights are protected.

Comprehensive immigration reform isn't truly comprehensive unless all families, gay and straight, are included. We hope you can join us for this important nationwide call!

To register and receive materials for the call, please go to www.LGBTforCIR.org. You'll also have the unique opportunity to submit questions to Rep. Honda before the call.

Truly Inclusive Immigration Reform Must End Discrimination against LGBT Families

Today, key members of Congress stood in unity to call on their colleagues to support passage of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) as part of any future immigration reform effort. Tens of thousands of LGBT binational families are counting on this critically important legislation in order to achieve the most basic equality: The freedom to be with their families, and the people they love.

FCNL joined fellow coalition members from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), immigrants’ rights, civil rights and faith communities in issuing a statement for the news conference. The statement reads, in part, "Today, leaders made clear that all future immigration legislation must be truly inclusive, and we are proud to stand with them in that call. We are committed to working, together, for this long overdue and much-needed victory and to honoring our country’s commitment to families and its rich history as a nation of immigrants."

Reps. Nadler (NY), Honda (CA), Gutierrez (IL), Polis (CO) and Quigley (IL) participated in this important news conference. For more information, read Immigration Equality's press release.

As my colleague Bill Mefford, director of Civil and Human Rights for the General Board of Church and Society with The United Methodist Church, said recently:

“Just as Jesus did not set any preconditions on identifying himself with, and loving, the sojourner, so too does he call all who claim to follow him to love and welcome the sojourner without moral preconditions... To demand the right to prophetically challenge the nation to incorporate hospitality into our immigration policy, but then to work to exclude some people based on their sexual orientation, is to lose the moral basis for making that prophetic challenge. We want immigration reform that is just and humane, and that is truly comprehensive and truly moral.”

Immigration reform will only truly be comprehensive when all families, including LGBT families, are included. We welcome the commitment by these members of Congress to work to ensure that binational LGBT families will no longer be locked out of the U.S. immigration system.

Rep. Honda discusses his bill, the Reuniting Families Act.

Rep. Honda states, "The President has called on Congress to address immigration reform, and I stand ready to heed that call and support an effort that is inclusive of LGBT families."

Rep. Polis insists, "We must provide all domestic partners and married couples the same rights and obligations in any immigration legislation."

Rep. Quigley reminds us, "Our march in the direction of progress and justice for families across this country cedes its moral high ground unless we say to say to LGBT families that this is their movement, too."

We listen as Rep. Gutierrez says, "We should modernize our laws to facilitate legal immigration so that we keep families together and individuals do not have to twist themselves in knots to conform to our outdated laws." I had no idea Rep. Honda was right behind me!

In Our Community: Immigration News

Here are highlights of the news on immigration from Tuesday, September 8 to Monday, September 14. Enjoy!

If you read only one article on immigration from this week, read the story of Xiu Ping Jiang, a Chinese immigrant with a history of mental illness who was detained in solitary confinement, without representation by a lawyer, for a year and a half. Ms. Jiang fled China in 1995 after being forcibly sterilized. She was detained despite having no criminal record. Her hardship, as the article mentions, could have been avoided if immigration courts had the same standard protections for persons with mental disabilities as all other courts. As it stands today, there is no procedure for establishing mental competence in immigration cases, and the courts are not required to provide persons with mental disabilities with legal representation. For immigrants in detention, the experience of being detained can itself be traumatic. For those who already face mental health issues and receive little or no treatment in detention, the experience can be devastating. Read this letter asking Attorney General Holder to provide protections in immigration courts for individuals with mental disabilities.

A New York Times article on Mustafa Salih's plight puts a human face on the bureaucratic backlog which causes many immigrants to wade through the legalization process for years before gaining citizenship. As the article reports, Salih immigrated to the U.S. in 1991, became a legal permanent resident four years later in 1995, and has been waiting since then to become a citizen. He and 150 of his peers who belong to the same mosque in Falls Church, VA, are in a sort of bureaucratic limbo in which it is unclear why they have not yet been granted citizenship. The article raises questions as to whether this bureaucratic backlog unfairly prolongs the wait time for Muslim applicants, many of whom have been told that they must wait indefinitely until an unspecified "background check" has been completed. To date, Salih has waited eighteen years to become a U.S. citizen.

In the aftermath of the May 2008 raid in Postville, IA, in which 389 workers were arrested and detained, and eventually deported, a Jewish organization in Postville seeks to move forward. The organization has crafted a postcard to be sent to the meatpacking plant at which the raid took place. The message: to improve working conditions, communications, and consumer confidence in the coming year.

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration and the Haiti Action Committee are calling for support in their quest for Haitians to receive Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States. TPS is a temporary provision that would permit Haitians to remain in the United States for a limited time as their country rebuilds from the 2008 hurricanes that devastated its communities, infrastructure, and economy. The humanitarian crisis in Haiti would only be aggravated by the deportation of Haitians currently residing in the United States.

In terms of legislative updates, we have some new cosponsors on board! Senator Al Franken (MN) and Representative Laura Richardson (CA) have signed on as cosponsors for the Uniting American Families Act (S. 424, H.R. 1024). Representatives Steve Cohen (TN), Edolphus Towns (NY), Bobby Scott (VA), George Miller (CA), and John Lewis (GA) have each signed on as cosponsors for the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 2709). Even though health care reform will be the primary issue addressed in Congress this week, support for components of comprehensive immigration reform is building.

Will Coley and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center have put together a series of short documentaries on the challenges and successes for immigrants seeking to learn English. In this video, volunteer teachers speak about their passion for teaching English as a second language and their respect for the determination that they see in their students. The primary value of this video, as I see it, is its ability to demonstrate how learning English does not have to be a one-way assimilation tactic. Instead, it can be a rich cultural exchange that benefits both teachers and students alike. As one of the volunteer teachers in the video says of her students, "I value you, who you are, and what you have to teach me, and I think it can only lead to better things."

California Assembly Supports Uniting American Families Act

Good news! The California Assembly's Judiciary Committee passed a resolution in support of the Uniting American Families Act! This resolution was introduced by Assemblymember Kevin de León (Los Angeles) and co-sponsored by Equality California as well as Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality. The resolution constitutes a formal request to Congress and the President to pass into law the Uniting American Families Act (S.424 and H.R.1024), a bill that would recognize permanent same-sex partnerships as of equal standing as opposite-sex partnerships. If this bill becomes law, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents will be able to petition for a same-sex partner to immigrate to the United States. Currently, it is only possible to file a visa petition on behalf of an opposite-sex partner. The Uniting American Families Act is an important step toward eliminating discrimination in the federal immigration system. Congratulations to the California Assembly for making such a strong statement of support!

Uniting American Families--Equally and Fairly

This morning, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held its first ever hearing on LBGT discrimination in family immigration law.

The hearing in particular examined the Uniting American Families Act (S.424), a bill which would afford equal rights to same-sex partnerships under U.S. immigration law by allowing U.S. citizens and permanent residents to petition for their foreign-born partners under the family immigration system. Testifying were two bi-national same sex couples--one who has been issued orders of deportation that would separate her from her partner of 23 years and her twin sons and another who has moved abroad to be with his partner. Also testifying was a representative of the American Bar Association.

To share a couple of the key points of the testimony:

Gordan Stewart, a man who sold his family farm in Vermont and moved to London where his partnership with a Brazilian man would be recognized said--

"The United States' discriminatory immigration laws have also affected my extended family. I am lucky to have five siblings. In August, I will attend my niece's wedding in California. It will be a big family reunion but my partner will not able to join us. Renato cannot even get a tourist visa to visit the US. Imagine what that means.

If I want to be with my family for important occasions such as weddings, graduations, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the recent baptism of my godchild, I have to travel alone and leave Renato in London. Or if we want to celebrate an important occasion together, it is usually the two of us alone, far away from our family and close friends.

Recently, when my sister was diagnosed with cancer, Renato could not travel with me to visit her and I could not spend as much time with her as I wanted because I live and work in London. That is the reality of our life together.

Last year, I reluctantly and sadly sold our family farm in Goshen, Vermont because I cannot vacation there with Renato. Our family had the farm from when I was 6 years old, and our parents both died and were buried there. Imagine what it is like to own a property to which you cannot travel with your partner. It is impossible to maintain a 19th century farmhouse from the other side of the Atlantic. That is the reality of American immigration law for couples like us."

Shirley Tan, a Phillipino woman married to a US citizen who has two twin boys and cares for her partner's elderly mother shared--

"Our lives, I can say without any doubt, were almost perfect until the morning of January 28, 2009. That morning, at 6:30 a.m., Immigration Custom Enforcement agents showed up at my door. They were looking for a "Mexican girl," and, having nothing to fear, Jay did not think twice about allowing them into our home when they asked permission to search it. It turned out they were really looking for me.

The agents showed me a piece of paper, which was a 2002 deportation letter, which I informed them I had never seen. Before I knew it, I was handcuffed and taken away, like a criminal, as Jay's frail mother watched in hysterics. I was put into a van with two men in yellow jump suits and chains and searched like a criminal, in a way I have only seen on television and in the movies.

All the while my family was first and foremost the center of everything on my mind.

How would Jay work and take care of the kids if I was not there?

Who would continue to take care of Jay's ailing mother, the mother I had come to love, if I was not there?

Who would be there for my family if I was not there?

In an instant, my family, my American family, was being ripped away from me.

And when I did return home, I had an ankle monitoring bracelet. I went to great lengths to hide it from my children.

I have a partner who is a U.S. citizen, and two beautiful children who are also U.S. citizens, but not one of them can petition for me to remain in the United States with them. Because my partner is not a man, she cannot do anything to help me. Nor can my children, who keep asking why this happened to us and what will ultimately happen to our family.

Passage of the Uniting American Families Act, UAFA, will not only benefit me, but the thousands of people who are also in the same situation as I am. And so I respectfully submit to the committee today that changing the immigration laws of this country to include permanent partners will serve in the long run to keep families like ours together. Americans will be able to live at home with their partners rather than living in fear or in exile."

One of the most encouraging points of the hearing was the emphasis that this bill is simply a matter of civil rights. As Senator Russ Feingold quoted the American Bar Association as saying, "The current failure to recognize same-sex permanent partnerships for immigration purposes is cruel and unnecessary." Senator Patrick Leahy said "unequivocally that the issue of gay rights is an issue of civil rights." He then quoted Chairman Bond as saying, "Gay and lesbian rights are not special rights in any way. It isn't 'special' to be free from discrimination. It is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship."

FCNL applauds Senator Patrick Leahy for holding this hearing. To read the written testimony that we submitted for the hearing, click HERE.

Senate to Hold First-Ever Hearing Addressing Anti-Gay Discrimination in US Immigration Law

So check out this exciting news...the Senate is going to hold its first-ever hearing addressing discrimination towards LGBTQ persons in immigration law!

Immigration Equality, an organization I work with that focuses on ending discrimination in US immigration law and helping obtain asylum status for LGBT and HIV+ persons persecuted in their home countries, just sent me this press release:

For Immediate Release Contact: Steve Ralls
May 28, 2009 (202) 347-7007 / sralls@immigrationequality.org

Senate to Hold First-Ever Hearing Addressing Anti-Gay Discrimination in U.S. Immigration Law
June 3^rd Judiciary Hearing Will Debate Uniting American Families Act

What: The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its first-ever hearing on The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), a bill to end discrimination against lesbian and gay Americans in U.S. immigration law and allow lesbian and gay citizens to sponsor their partners for residency in the United States.

Who: The hearing was scheduled by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the lead Senate sponsor of UAFA. Witnesses will include binational couples who have been separated, or face separation, because of discriminatory U.S. immigration law.

Why: An estimated 36,000 binational couples are impacted by U.S. laws prohibiting gay and lesbian Americans from sponsoring their partners for residency. Countless lesbian and gay families, including many with children, are torn apart by U.S. immigration law, or are forced to leave the United States in order to remain together. While 19 other nations allow lesbian and gay citizens to sponsor their partners, the United States continues to discriminate against tens of thousands of families. As the nation prepares to consider immigration reform, the Judiciary Committee hearing will provide an important opportunity for lawmakers to hear from some of those families.

When: Wednesday, June 3, 2009

10:00am

Where: Room 226 – Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C.

For more information, please contact Steve Ralls, with Immigration Equality, at (202) 347-7007, or email sralls@immigrationequaltiy.org.

# # #

Immigration Equality is a national organization that works to end discrimination in U.S. immigration law, to reduce the negative impact of that law on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive people, and to help obtain asylum for those persecuted in their home country based on their sexual orientation, transgender identity or HIV-status. Through education, outreach, advocacy, and the maintenance of a nationwide network of resources, we provide information and support to advocates, attorneys, politicians and those who are threatened by persecution or the discriminatory impact of the law.

Check back in next week and I'll make sure I get you full coverage of the hearing!

Last Week: In Our Community (Apr. 13- 20)

Immigration news and updates from April 13 through 20.

My day has been a bit hectic, so today's posting of immigration news updates will not be organized in the usual way and will include no annotations (now maybe you like this format better; if so, you should let me know by commenting below). I also work on FCNL's human rights and civil liberties portfolio, which means I've been working on our response to the administration's release of the torture memos....and I'm running up on some deadlines.

So this week, what has happened around immigration in our community?

The economy still drives the headlines with Roll Call stating that the recession could derail efforts for immigration reform. But as I posted last week, the two major labor federations have come on board the humane immigration reform boat precisely because they believe reform is the best answer in the current hard times. The Immigration Policy Center also released a report on the economics of immigration reform, and how reform numbers could lead to economic recovery. Renku Sen from the Huffington Post Blog made a similar argument.

Disproportionate, substandard, and harsh immigration enforcement also continues to make a stir. The Indypendent reported on the disproportionate treatment and detention of noncriminal immigrants, and LA Times blasted federal authorities for claiming that they only go after "violent criminals" when a recent study by Human Rights Watch shows that it is a "myth that immigrants deported for crimes are invariably people here illegally who committed serious, violent crimes." The South Florida Sun Sentinel also reported that immigration enforcement which leads to the incarceration and deportation of primary bread winners is also leading to families' increased dependence on welfare in mixed status families, and the NY Times stated that a new study shows that police misuse immigration-inquiry rules.

The Associted Press reported that the immigration legal system does not protect rights and Christopher Nugent, senior pro bono counsel of the Community Services Team in the Washington, D.C., office of Holland & Knight and co-chair of the Committee on the Rights of Immigrants of the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, offered his thoughts on how the Obama administration could ensure fairness and due process for noncitizens in immigration proceedings. New America Media also wrote on how the US could restore accountability to its immigration enforcement system.

People Magazine featured a two-page article highlighting the inequalities of the US immigration system for binational same-sex couples which does not allow same-sex partners to petition for permanent visas in the same way as opposite-sex couples. In particular, the article mentioned the Uniting American Families Act (S. 424, H.R. 1024) twice, a bill which would rectify such inequalities under the law.

CNN and the Washington Post also focused on families this week, highlighting the plight of mixed-status families, which are currently one of the fastest growing populations according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Another NY Times articles explores the struggles of Latino youth growing up in the suburbs of the United States, places where communities have done "little to promote immigrant mobility even in good times; now, vanishing jobs and strained safety nets increase the risk of downward assimilation."

Finally, President Obama continued to emphasize that immigration reform was key while he visited Mexico last week, stating that such reform was crucial to ending spillover border violence.

So that's it on the immigration front. A lot was covered across the country and I hope this presence of immigration issues in the news media both continues and grows.