Bush plan to scrap family petitions in US triggers uproar

[Jim♥Michelle 0]

By RODNEY J. JALECO

ABS-CBN North America News Bureau

WASHINGTON DC. Filipinos with close relatives in the United States now have to wait from five up to 20 years for immigrant petitions to push through. But now, the White House wants to scrap the practice altogether, triggering a howl of protest from the immigrant community here.

US President George Bush will reportedly move for the elimination of all family-based immigrant visas as part of "draconian measures" to reform the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA).

The White House’s hardening stand clashed directly with US House Resolution 1645 which provides for comprehensive US immigration reforms. The US measure aims, among others, to eliminate the backlog in family-based visa applications, especially for spouses and unmarried children of legal residents (so-called "green card holders") 21 years old and younger.

Jon Melegrito, executive director of the National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity (NAFVE), warns the White House move will have severe repercussions for the Filipino-American community and their families in the Philippines.

Stephen Legomsky of the Washington University School of Law told a hearing of the US House subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, refugees, border security and international law Thursday afternoon, "these separations virtually invite illegal immigration".

Melegrito accuses US President Bush of "playing politics" with the proposed immigration reform package by offering to scrap family-based visas. Many see it as old-fashioned DC horse-trading to prod hard-line Republicans to support the reforms.

Curiously, much of the Bush package such as a guest worker program and allowing undocumented workers to stay in the US after paying fines, have drawn wider support from Democrats than from his own party.

Republicans have taken the tack that prevention and intensified enforcement – like building a wall across the Mexican border – was the way to go. There’s an estimated 250,000 undocumented Filipinos in the US and they would obviously be anxious about any fresh crackdown on illegals.

Muzzaffar Chishti, Director of the Migration Policy Institute, testified, "With very few options for entering legally through employment-based visa categories, intending immigrants could try to enter through the family-based categories…but the wait list for many of these categories are prohibitively long."

"In the absence of legal channels, immigrants entering our labor market have come to rely on illegal channels," Chishti told the solons.

The pressure is only sure to mount as so-called Baby Boomers near retirement. This and a combination of normal attrition and economic expansion are expected to create 65 million new jobs by the end of the decade, a demand the local workforce can barely fill.

Fil-Am groups are joining a large immigration rally here on May 1, dubbed the "Great American Boycott". Organizers are asking protesters to stay off work and shopping malls and march on the streets of D.C. The divergent immigrant groups are driven by their own agenda and priorities.

For the Fil-Am community, protecting their right to bring spouses and children here is top on their list. "Families should be together as soon as possible, and they should shorten the time between applying for the visa and getting it here," explained Rozita Lee, vice chair of the umbrella National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA).

[homesick_american 1]

I've seen this same article at least three times already today; can't these threads be merged?

[peejay 327]

Let us make the rules? Let us in because we want in or we do it illegally?

What arrogance from people that have no right to make such demands from another country.

Immigration is a privilege...not a right. If someone cannot live without their siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and the rest of their village...maybe they should stay home.

The idiots that claim to run this country need to get a handle on this lunacy in short order. But then again...they have failed to do their sworn duty in the interests of the American people for more than 20+ years in this regard. What makes anyone think the spineless twits have a backbone now?

Edited May 21, 2007 by peejay

[the almighty 0]

family based visa are i130s right, not there, not just in Philippines or any else where, right? I mean I am petitioned under a family based visa and I live in California since I moved down here at the age of 5. I've been here since i was a little kid and now I am 23 and if he does this, it will just ruin everything. I at the verge of graduating this year of college in june of 08 and if my case is approved then I can transfer to a uc school and what I am aware of my status is pending and I am just a sitting duck wasting my potential after college is over with, where if this happens, I don't know where Ill end up. oh man..I am a grown man, but when I read this I was angered and cried for the sake of #######, it's not fair..and nothing is never fair these days and all is left now is hope. hope for the best.

Edited June 28, 2007 by the almighty