Keeping Families Together Through Fair Immigration Policy

Yesterday, the Obama Administration proposed changes to the immigration system that will keep American families together by cutting bureacratic wait times and relieving an undue hardship on Americans who are unfairly separated from their loved ones.

Currently, U.S. citizens can apply for green cards on behalf of their undocumented spouses and/or children, but the law requires that spouse or child to return back to his or her country of origin in order to receive the visa. The catch is that current law prohibits them from returning to the U.S. for three or ten years, depending on how long the spouse or child was in the U.S.while undocumented. This rule, called the "3-and-10 Year Bar," was originally meant to discourage illegal immigration, but in practice it simply serves either to break up families for up to a decade or force people who otherwise would have a path to citizenship to remain undocumented.

The Obama Administration proposal is a smarter way forward: it would allow those who qualify for a green card to remain in the country for the duration of the application process. Parents and spouses of undocumented loved ones will no longer be faced with the awful choice of either remaining undocumented or going 10 years without seeing each other.

This is yet another accomplishment in a growing list of humane, common sense immigration reforms from the Obama Administration. Other efforts the President has made to fix our broken immigration system include prioritizing the removal of undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of crimes over those who pose little threat to our communities, streamlining the process for naturalizing members of the military, creating a Start-Up Visa to allow foreign entrepreneurs to establish businesses to create jobs here in America, and lifting the HIV travel ban.

Taken together, this is a great start. However, there is still more work to be done. Along with the President, we must continue fighting for the DREAM Act, which would create a path to citizenship for those young undocumented immigrants who are here through no fault of their own yet are still working against all odds to obtain an education or contribute to our national security through military service. We must also do something to help the millions of undocumented workers who are already here, paying taxes, and simply want the same opportunity for the American Dream that we have all had.

Progress on these issues has been agonizingly slow because these bigger changes need the support of Congress. Unfortunately, many in the Republican Party, particularly Mitt Romney, are strongly opposed toward a smarter immigration policy. Romney even went so far as to vow to veto the DREAM Act, calling it a "handout," as if these bright young immigrants have done nothing to earn the right to participate in this great country. Further, he advocates kicking immigrants out of America – even families who've lived here for a generation, raised children and grandchildren here, paid their taxes, obeyed the law, are members of their churches and communities, and even serve in the military.

I stand with the President in this latest effort to reform our broken immigration system and will continue to advocate for immigrants, as they are, and always were, one of this country's greatest strengths.

You can read more about the new immigration changes here.