Reuniting Familes Act introduced again in House
Rep. Michael Honda of California introduced in the House on 06/04/2009 H.R.2709, Reuniting Family Act bill, cosponsored by 55 other Congressmen and women.
This bill is a comprehensive immigration package that includes allowing gay Americans to sponsor their partners for residency. But it really is a lot more than just reuniting families.
If passed, the bill would:
- Recapture immigrant visas lost to bureaucratic delays;
- Reclassify the spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents as immediate relatives;
- Address country limits and unreasonably long backlogs;
- Increase government discretion and flexibility in addressing numerous hardships caused by a provision that bars individuals unlawfully present in the United States from utilizing our legal immigration system;
- Provide relief for certain orphans and widows of US citizens or lawful permanent residents, and;
- Exempt certain veterans from the Philippines from immigrant visa limits.
This quote from http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid88218.asp talks about how important this bill is:
A spokesperson for Immigration Equality, a group that lobbies on behalf of same-sex couples, called the inclusion of LGBT families in Representative Honda’s bill “historic.”
“This bill has the largest coalition of immigrant and civil rights groups supporting it that I have seen in a long time,” said Steve Ralls, Immigration Equality director of communications. “This is momentous for our community as a whole to be included with this broad coalition in a bill that will set the tone for comprehensive immigration reform.”
I certainly hope this one goes through. Seems to have a lot of support - just based on the pretext of the bill, it’s a no-brainer. Noone, not even the USCIS and DOL, with their archaic laws, will want to keep families separated. Giving their fair rights once they are together is a totally different issue 
but this will be an important first step.
What are your thoughts on this bill. Do you think it will go through?
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August 9th, 2009 at 1:59 am
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