Family Immigration Legislation Moves Forward

ASIAN AMERICAN JUSTICE CENTER APPLAUDS CONGRESSWOMAN ZOE LOFGREN’S LEADERSHIP
Recapture Bill Moves Forward

Washington, D.C. – The Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) today applauded the passage of H.R. 5882 by a vote of 8 to 1 in the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. Co-sponsored by Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the legislation would reclaim old and unused visas from previous fiscal years and place them into the pool of usable visas. In addition, it would create a “roll over” mechanism that would ensure that unused visas in subsequent fiscal years would not be lost.

“This is a victory for family immigration reform advocates and lawmakers who support legal immigration,” said Karen. K. Narasaki, president and executive director of AAJC. “We thank the members of Congress who attended the markup and voted for the legislation. They are champions for family unity and the thousands of individuals who have been waiting for years to join their spouses and children.”

Some subcommittee members introduced anti-immigrant amendments and provisions that would have gutted the legislation. For example, Representative Steve King (R-IA) introduced one amendment that would have eliminated the fourth family preference category that allows United States citizens to sponsor siblings. He also introduced another amendment that would have allowed only individuals under the age of 40 with a college degree to immigrate to the United States. Representative King was the only subcommittee member who voted against the recapture provision; none of the other minority members of the subcommittee were in attendance.

“In the absence of complete and common-sense immigration reform, lawmakers and policymakers who want to stop immigration entirely are not balancing the needs of future flow, immense family backlogs, and undocumented residents,” said Tuyet G. Duong, senior staff attorney of AAJC. “Today’s victory shows that America can come together and move forward with balanced solutions for our broken immigration system.”

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