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Plea
to stop arrests and deportations as immigration lobbyists
ply Capitol Hill
By Lovlu Ansar, The Weekly
Thikana. Translated by Moinuddin Naser.
Organizing
around the passage of comprehensive immigration reform continues
as several pro-immigrant community groups press lawmakers
for a quick action. They are also demanding that the anticipated
bill should have a provision that undocumented immigrants
not be required to return their native country to renew
their guest worker permit; that application fees be reduced;
and that the processing time for green-card applications
already with immigration authorities be shortened. Senators
and House Representatives were approached also with the
request that persons who could not participate in the Special
Registration Program and are under order of deportation
ordered to be deported be given the opportunity to legalize
their status.
As
well, a letter sent to President Barrack Obama requests
a halt to the arrest of undocumented immigrants and to postpone
the deportation of those who have already been arrested
until the passage of the reform bill.
Twenty-five
members of DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving), an organization
affiliated with the National Network for Immigration and
Refugee Rights, met with two senators and five representatives
in the House, during last week of April. Another team worked
there from May 12 to 24.
"There
was no indication to make us think that Congress would pass
an immigration bill that would benefit all of the 14 million
undocumented immigrants, despite President Obama having
spoken on the issue more than once. We had heard many times
the same assurances from President Bush from the start of
his first term in 2001. But no action was taken. Moreover,
the immigration laws are being enforced strictly,"
said DRUM Executive Director Monami Maulik.
Maulik
said that at a meeting with the Chairman of Senate Subcommittee
on Immigration, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), accompanied
by several persons who are under order of deportation, others
seeking asylum, and students whose parents are undocumented,
they stated their demands while group members described
the realities they faced. Maulik questioned how many people
would benefit from the passage of an immigration bill that
required a $3,000 fee to apply for a green card and to pay
taxes retroactively. She also wondered if there were any
estimates on the cost to a person and his family if they
are required to travel back to their native country in order
to apply for residency in the United States.
The
group met with the two state senators from New York, Chuck
Schumer and Christine Gillibrand, NY Congressman Joseph
Crowley (D-District 7), NY Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-District
5), NY Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-District 9), NY Congressman
Gregory Meeks, (D-District 6), NY Congressman Gerold Nadler
(D-District 8), NY Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez
(D-District 12), Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Senator
Richard Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and
Congressman Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX).
At a meeting with the high level officers of the Home Land
Security Department, Maulik urged them to end their initiatives
that target Muslim communities and the surveillance on Imams
and devotees being carried out at several mosques. Pointing
out that there are an estimated 40,000 deaths of immigrants
trying to cross the border from Mexico since 1994 [Maulik
references www. derechoshumanos.org which states that for
each of the officially found 4,000 dead you can count on
nine more who were never found], she insisted that authorities
need to obviate that policy.
Word
is out that preparations are currently underway on several
immigration reform bills to be introduced to Congress. There
is also great concern that if Congress does not pass an
immigration reform bill by September, introduction of a
new bill may be delayed indefinitely as immigration issues
get pushed aside by a host of complex problems that are
being confronted globally.
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