The White House plan includes revamping the “green card” system and proposes the elimination of various preferences for US citizens to get family members into the US.
WASHINGTON, DC: In a show of unity, 23 organisations promoting Indian American and South Asian causes across the United States sent a strong message on Monday to President George W Bush over the heating immigration debate in the country. In March, a new White House “compassionate immigration reform plan” emphasised professional talents and corporate employment needs over family ties for approving legal immigration applications. The coalition says the plan is “unworkable” and “would have a devastating effect on the South Asian community.”
The White House plan includes revamping the “green card” system and proposes the elimination of various preferences for US citizens to get family members into the US. For instance, it eliminates categories such as the first preference (adult unmarried children of US citizens), third preference (adult married children of US citizens) and the fourth preference (siblings of US citizens). It also places annual caps on the second preference (parents of US citizens).
“This proposal is anti-family, anti-worker and anti-immigrant and would have a devastating effect on the South Asian community,” the 23 organisations said in a statement.
There are more than 21,000 family-based applications filed by South Asians, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Office.
“Family is at the heart of immigration and American society,” said Aparna Bhattacharyya of Raksha, a Georgia-based nonprofit support and referral network. “With the significant numbers of family-based applications filed by South Asians, any gutting of the family-based system will have a tremendous impact.”
Vikram Sanghani of the Chicago-based Indo-American Centre said: “According to the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics, in 2005, over 2,00,000 individuals from South Asian countries worked in the United States on temporary visas. The White House proposal does not treat workers with dignity or respect.” Since there are nearly three lakh undocumented workers from India, this has become a bone of contention among the South Asian community.
The coalition’s joint statement calls upon Congress and the White House to abandon the immigration plan. “The White House proposal does nothing to fix the broken immigration system,” it says. “Other proposals set forth dramatically different provisions than the White House plan. Our organisations support a comprehensive solution that promotes family unification, provides accessible avenues to citizenship for incoming immigrants and the undocumented, ensures robust worker protections for all workers, and protects the human rights of all immigrants.”
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