THANKSGIVING Day for most Americans is THE day for family to be together. It is an important family holiday, perhaps even more important to some, than Christmas day.
Leading up to the holidays, he clamor for family reunification has become louder, especially for undocumented immigrants.
During Pres. Barack Obama’s speech on immigration in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Monday, he was interrupted by Ju Hong, a 24-year-old undocumented UC Berkeley graduate.
Hong asked Pres. Obama to stop the deportation of undocumented immigrants and to help reunite his family for the holidays.
Others at the venue started chanting with Hong as well: “Stop deportation, yes we can.”
Distracted by the heckling, Pres. Obama stopped his speech for a while and allowed the young man to rant. The president then responded by saying that Hong’s concerns was exactly what he was trying to talk about.
Hong shouted: “You have the power to stop deportation for all undocumented immigrants!”
To this, President Obama replied: “Actually, I don’t. And that’s why we’re here.”
As we reported in Balitang America, Hong is a member of Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights through Education (ASPIRE). The group claimed that up to 400,000 undocumented immigrants are being deported every year under Pres. Obama’s term.
Contrary to what Hong and most undocumented immigrants were hoping to hear from the president, Obama said that he will not take executive action to stop the deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Obama explained that this would violate laws and he does not have the constitutional power to bypass Congress on the issue.
The Obama administration has been pointing out that the Democratic-led Senate already passed an immigration bill earlier this year, which includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
However, the bill has stalled in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Many Republicans oppose a path to citizenship for the undocumented.
Obama’s assertion and explanation was supported by David Leopold, past-president and general counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).
“President Obama was right,” he said, when I interviewed him on Balitang America last Tuesday. “The constitution does not allow him to wave a magic wand and change the law. What he can do is focus on criminals, on national security risks and he can use prosecutorial discretion and deferred action and that he can do and that was done.”
Leopold warned: “…For [Pres. Obama] to wave a magic wand and say, ‘I’m stopping the enforcement of immigration laws,’ believe you me, they would start impeachment proceedings real fast because he can’t do that.”
Despite this much-publicized memo of the Obama administration through former DHS Sec. Janet Nepolitano to prioritize the deportation of undocumented immigrants with criminal records and those who pose threat to national security, immigrant advocates say that many who do not fall under these categories continue to be deported – causing the separation of many families.
Leopold said: “We need to ask Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), border patrol and [US Citizenship and Immigration] Services why they’re not working to implement those priorities…why we’re not welcoming the best and the brightest in this country. We need a complete overhaul of the immigration system. But in the meantime, these agencies have to follow the president’s directive. And that’s to prioritize and throw out people who can do us harm.”
Even with only a few legislative days left before the holiday recess, Leopold remains optimistic that there’s still time for Congress to tackle immigration reform.
“A piecemeal approach is nothing new. It doesn’t matter if it’s one bill, or two bills or ten bills — as long as it gets done,” he said.
Reader’s feedback
While much of the debates have been focused on granting a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented, the Senate-approved bill also addresses the backlog problem for legal immigration(i.e. family-based and employment-based petitions), securing our borders and stricter implementation of laws against employers who hire undocumented immigrants.
In addition, it provides a pathway to EARNED citizenship for the undocumented (pay fines and taxes, learn English, wait in line behind those who have pending immigration petitions filed through legal immigration process).
The long wait time for the approval of family-based and employment-based petitions and the abuses committed by some unscrupulous immigration lawyers were the concerns of one of our readers, Ernie “Ed Noel” de Leon of Minnetka, California, who sent me a typewritten letter via Asian Journal.
Mr. De Leon also appeals to all immigration lawyers in the United States (especially Filipino-American lawyers) to champion the cause of our kababayans in need of help.
“Sana Ms. Gel, maging daan itong mensahe ko to all the immigration lawyers offering their services about helping out our kababayans to UNITE and PETITION the NATIONAL VISA CENTER to reform themselves; to act on pending petition papers.”
“Maraming immigration lawyers dito sa America, laman sila almost weekly ng mga newspapers — trying to offer their services, pero wala namang magaganap dahil ang mga visa di pa available from National Visa Center. Unahin nila iyong nagbayad na. Nagamit na nila yon. Napasuweldo na nila sa mga tauhan nila di ba?
Mr. De Leon concluded with this plea: “Kalabitin natin sila sa National Visa Center upang bigyang-aksyon ang lahat ng mga umaasa. Ang tagal naman…Kailan ba ang inyong reform? Ayon ako sa 11 million [undocumented immigrants] na dapat ding mabigyan; peryo yung mga nauna sa PILA should be the first to harvest the fruits of their labor, di po ba?”
Many of our readers share Mr. De Leon’s compassion. Just like him, they also want fairness and equity be taken into serious consideration, as the government tries to fix the broken immigration system.
Let us follow the debate on the immigration reform bill and dissect how each provision will truly address issues that matter to Filipinos in America. Then let us lobby and call our representatives so they may know about our stand on this issue.
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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
