Immigration Reform

Here's a posting from Rochelle, who's having difficulty accessing the blog:

Immigration reform is one of the key problems Obama wishes to address in his second term as President of the United States. In late March 2013, Obama pressured Congress to finally introduce an immigration reform bill by April.

Obama quotes, “We've known for years that our immigration system is broken, that we're not doing enough to harness the talent and ingenuity of all those who want to work hard and find a place in America. And after avoiding the problem for years, the time has come to fix it once and all. The time has come for comprehensive, sensible immigration reform." (ABCnews)

However, one of the most unresolved issues within the comprehensive immigration reform is “whether we will end the gratuitous harm that our immigration law inflicts on bi-national, same-sex couples and LGBT immigrants.” (Nadler, 2013).

While heterosexuals can currently sponsor their spouses for immigration purposes, the current federal law disables gay and lesbian couples from doing the same.  The U.S. current immigration laws are forcing many gay and lesbian couples and families to tear apart, whereas the immigration laws should be supporting ALL strong and stable families within the U.S. By incorporating the UAFA into our current immigration laws, it would not only enable LGBT Americans the opportunity to sponsor their partners for immigration purposes, but also hold stable, committed, and loving LGBT immigrant families within the U.S.

“Allies Speak Out for LGBT Families in Immigration Reform,” an article posted on Immigration Equality, voices the various opinions of allies from the LGBT and immigration communities on the addition of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) to legislation, as well as declaring an end to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender immigrants and families. The Uniting American Families Act, a measure to end discrimination against LGBT bi-national couples, is strongly valued within the LGBT community and pushes to make it current within Obama’s immigration reform.  LGBT advocates claim that to fix our so-called “broken” immigration laws, UAFA must be enforced into legislation to no longer discriminate LGBT bi-national couples and families as homosexual strangers.

http://immigrationequality.org/2013/04/allies-speak-out-for-lgbt-families-in-immigration-reform/