THE Senate may have passed their version of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill, but most Filipinos in America cannot fully embrace victory. The reason: This legislation effectively kills the dream of many of our kababayans to re-unite with their family members (“mabuong muli ang pamilya”) and start a new and hopefully, better life here in the United States.
Filipinos in America are not giving up on their dream.
Every year for five years now, I have had the privilege of emceeing the Migrant Heritage Commission’s (MHC) People’s Ball in Washington, DC — the biggest gala in America, which celebrates Philippine Independence and the migration of Filipinos to the United States.
The welcome speech of community leader and MHC Co-Executive Director Atty. Arnedo Valera, discussed that fight.
If we believe in this cause, we may do our share in this fight by contacting our Representatives in Congress. We should express our stand on this issue, as they act on the Senate immigration bill and/or craft a version of their own.
Let me share with you some excerpts from Atty. Arnedo Valera’s speech:
“In America, MHC believes, that everyone is equal. And it is the main reason why we need to push the passing into law of a comprehensive immigration bill to fix America’s broken system.
Let me say that 2013 is an exciting year. Many of us eagerly await the passing into law of a comprehensive immigration bill which would straighten and fix America’s faulty immigration system.
At this crucial moment of American legislative history, MHC has vowed to commit itself to pushing for much needed immigration reforms. It will be recalled that on June 30, 2013 at the Washington, DC rally, MHC showed up at the forefront and represented the Filipino-American community most strongly in the lobby for immigration reforms. The MHC has spent days and nights in informing and educating the public about the salient features of the immigration bill, which would surely affect or change the course of our immigrant lives here in the US.
As we know, and understandably so, the immigration bill is a main concern for us all, and we should lobby for its inclusion of needed reforms whenever such an opportunity presents itself. There is, for instance, a vital provision, recently removed, which allows for sibling petition.
Such a provision would not only have shortened the processing time for families to be united – and nuclear families, we believe, do include siblings — but would have hastened their participation in the various functions of, as well as, their observance of their duties and obligations to American society. It is, thus, part of MHC’s advocacy to move for the retention/restoration of the sibling petition as part of the family-based petition of the law.
Legislators in the Senate and the Lower House should be made more broadly aware of the specific and important roles that immigrants play in building a more progressive and economically stable America.
In this regard, we are reminded of how Texas Rep. Pete Gallego (D-Alpine) has recently asked the State Comptroller, Susan Combs, to update a study on the fiscal impact of immigrants, following the study of previous Comptroller Carol Keeton Strayhorn.
Of course, there have been studies conducted to buttress this point. For instance, the Strayhorn study (2006) showed that if the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants who lived in Texas in 2005 were sent home, the state would have lost about $17.7 billion in gross domestic product that year. Further, it was noted that during the same year, the population produced more in-state revenues, namely,1.58 billion compared to more than the $1.16 billion it cost in state services. Local governments, however, lost about $1.44 billion in combined health care and law enforcement costs that were not reimbursed by the state, according to the study.
Rep. Gallego believes that this amount would have increased in the succeeding years, hence, he asked the state comptroller to update the Strayhorn study. He cited a study by the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) that showed the net-positive impact of undocumented immigrants in Texas on the state’s coffers. ‘If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Texas, the state would lose $69.3 billion in economic activity, $30.8 billion in gross state product, and approximately 403,174 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time,’ Gallego said, quoting the IPC.
The MHC further underscores the value of immigrants, not only in helping boost the economy, but also in providing the necessary business and labor components and instruments to build and propel industries in various enterprisers and endeavors. We note, with particular attention, the immeasurable value that the immigrants play in health care and in providing social support for both the elderly and the young population, as the parents or the adults spend their time at work.
Thus, on the whole, the larger vision promises a scenario where everybody is content with the passage of an immigration law that will make the development picture truer and all encompassing.
The fact is that from the beginning, America has found and built itself upon the dreams and visions of immigrants. One might say, it was the James Fennimore Cooper’s ‘The Prairie,’ land before it became Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World,’ all on the dreams and efforts of immigrants. This is a historical fact, a realization of the visions of the founding fathers of America – that America be built and made strong by immigrants who come with unbending determination to chart new and better lives, seek or fulfill the American dream, and thereby realize a strong and powerful nation that is America.
America, as the most powerful nation in the world today, relies much on the daily heroism of immigrants: the farm workers, teachers, construction workers, doctors, nurses, laborers, soldiers, and every well-meaning, honest citizen who contribute to making the society productive, stable, and, surely, at peace with the rest of the world..
It is in this light that we earnestly ask legislators to do their share in nation-building, by passing an immigration law that sees everyone as equal, respects everyone’s rights, and provides equal opportunity and freedom for self-expression and determination.”
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
