U.S. Judiciary Subcommittee to Look at Separation of Nuclear Families Under U.S. Immigration Law

Washington, D.C. – Tomorrow at 1:30 p.m., the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “The Separation of Nuclear Families Under U.S. Immigration Law.” At present, about 88,000 green cards are made available each year to the spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents but the demand is much higher.  The wait list for these green cards is currently two-and-a-half years long but in the past it has been as long as six years.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) released the following statements in advance of tomorrow’s hearing.

Chairman Goodlatte: “The nuclear family is the foundation of our society and our immigration laws should be constructed with this in mind.  Unfortunately, our current immigration system keeps legal permanent residents apart from their spouses and minor children for years.  We should look at our immigration laws and determine if we need to make changes to better encourage family unity.”

Subcommittee Chairman Gowdy: “The family is the essential unit of society, and keeping nuclear families together should be an important goal of our immigration laws. But right now, our system forces many legal permanent residents to wait years to be reunited with their spouses and children.  These waits can be painfully long, and we should consider how our laws can better limit nuclear family separations.”

Witnesses for tomorrow’s hearing include:

Mr. Randall Emery, President, American Families United; 
Mr. Mathi Mugilan Paguth Arivalan, Lawful Permanent Resident;
Mr.  Demetrios Papademetriou, President, Migration Policy Institute; and
Ms. Clarissa Martinez De Castro, Director, Immigration and National Campaigns, National Council of La Raza.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©