Preserve and Improve Family-Based Immigration

From the Asian American Justice Center:

WASHINGTON—The Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, organized hundreds of Asian American families and community leaders from across the country for the “Citizenship for 11 Million” rally on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. Participants attended various events leading up to the rally, including over 30 meetings with Members of Congress and their staffs and a press conference organized by the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, a coalition of 30 national Asian Pacific American organizations, including AAJC.
 
“Asian Americans are following Congress’ every move and urging Members of Congress and the Senate Gang of Eight to preserve and improve the family-based immigration system,” said Mee Moua, president and executive director of AAJC. “For the 17.3 million Asian Americans living in the U.S. and the nearly 3 million Asian family members awaiting reunification and citizenship-not just legal status, we rally for them today!”
 
Prior to the rally, Moua spoke to the Asian American delegation about her personal story. At the age of nine, Moua and her family resettled in the U.S. as political refugees. Having to leave her uncle, grandfather and aunt behind, Moua’s father yearned for the day that he would become a citizen and reunite with his remaining family members. That day never came. Unfortunately, her uncle and grandfather passed away before her father could complete the process to be reunited with them.
 
Moua, like many others who attended the events and the rally, coincidentally held on National Siblings Day, shared their family immigration stories. Bithi Roy, a U.S. citizen from New York City, has been waiting several years to be reunited with her siblings, who currently live in Bangladesh. With more than 4.3 million people waiting in inhumane family backlogs, Roy and her siblings could wait decades before being reunited in the U.S.
 
While people from all ethnicities gathered on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol for the rally, reports that the Gang of Eight would soon release their comprehensive bill circled the Hill. “The time is now for immigration reform! We must reunite families, not divide them,” said Moua.

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