Asian family values are challenged under a sweeping US immigration reform plan that grants visas based more on skills than on family connections in the US.
While the plan offers a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented immigrants, it crumbles the bedrock underlying four decades of US immigration policy that is especially important to Asian Americans: family reunification.
Congress is to consider this week reforms such as ending issuance of US permanent resident cards for siblings and adult children of US citizens and holders of what is known as the "green card."
The new system calls for most green cards to be based on a merit system that would favor applicants who speak English, those with higher education and some with specific job skills.
Trading off family reunification for employment-based visas is seen as inconsistent with US values and with Asia's extended family system, Asian experts say.
"In an era of promoting family values, proposals to eliminate family immigration categories seem entirely out of step," said Bill Ong Hing, a professor of Asian American studies at the University of California, Davis.
"What's the message? Brothers and sisters are not important? Once children reach a certain age, they need not bond with their parents? Eliminating such categories institutionalizes an anti-family message," he told a recent congressional hearing.
Immigration has become a divisive issue in the US, and shifting the basis of immigration policy from family to skills is seen as a last-ditch bid to woo some conservatives opposed to US President George W. Bush's legalization plans for 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country.
The new reform proposal "would undermine this nation's long tradition of family-based immigration," warned Japanese-American representative Mike Honda, who chairs the congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
The Democratic lawmaker said a merit-based immigration system would fail to adequately account for the economic contributions made by family members, who rely on one another to start and run businesses, purchase homes and send children to college.
They also provide care for young children, the sick and elderly, he said.
Honda believes about 1.5 million of the 14 million Asians in the US are undocumented, including some who were victimized by immigration fraud.
Another 1.5 million Asians are in the backlog of applications for permanent residency status or citizenship, advocacy groups say.
Waiting lines to receive green cards under the various family categories extend more than a decade for relatives from China and India, and as long as two decades and more from the Philippines.
Under the proposed reforms, the cut-off date for green-card applications on the basis of family ties was March 2005.
Applications made after that date would be rejected, dealing a blow to those "who had played by the rules and are now being told it is not good enough," lamented a lawyer for an Asian advocacy group.
While the planned reforms would not eliminate the ability of US citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their spouses and minor children, it does set "an arbitrary and unrealistic cap" on the number of visas available for US citizens to bring in their parents, said the Asian American Justice Center, a national civil rights organization.
Also see story:
New immigration laws may create hard choices
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS