Lead-in

Have you heard about the American Families United Act (AFUA)? In case you haven’t, the AFUA seeks to reunite families victimized by immigration policy. According to the National Immigration Forum, “over 1.2 million spouses of U.S. citizens [live] in the U.S. without [approval], and… 4.1 million U.S. citizen children live with at least one [approved] parent.” Without a doubt, those statistics show a trail of torture for immigrant families. Therefore, U.S. immigration policy, with its cruel and prejudicial history, requires us to support our immigrant families and pass the AFUA.

Impingement of the IIRIRA

 In 1996, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) established serious penalties for immigrants. Afterwards, the IIRIRA resulted in unreasonable deportations and arrests. Human Rights Watch asserts that the Act ripped apart the families of sometimes even legal residents via various crimes considered cause for automatic deportation or jail (Parker). It is important to note, however, that many of these crimes are nonviolent and minor. Because of that, any crime can transform to a nightmare for immigrant families. Without reservation, the IIRIRA represented an unfair and aggressive attack on our immigrant families.

Due Process and Integrity

If you want to defend the IIRIRA, I recommend you equip a lens of equality and fairness. For example, an immigrant, accused of a misdemeanor crime, risks deportation or imprisonment, whereas, if a citizen catches a misdemeanor charge, they will likely take probation or community service. We cannot allow this. Definitely, The humane way to support our immigrant families is to be compassionate and just.

Speaking of fairness, we have major work to do in the U.S. justice Department. Indeed, when convictions occur, they occur largely in a racist system. In fact, so many experiments and reports have proven that racism permeates throughout our justice department from the police all the way to the jury and judge. Obviously, in our culture, there are so many prejudices towards immigrants. One example that sticks out to me is that “immigrants should learn how to speak English (in order to belong).” Persistent prejudice can lead to a jury passing a swift verdict of guilty and, moreover, much prejudice remains unseen below the surface.

Critical Demand for Policy Correction

All of this brings us full circle back to the IIRIRA. Undeniably, this Act resulted in over 270,000 U.S. citizen spouses deported and over 340,000 applicants denied (National Immigration Forum). Without reservation, my heart bleeds for all of these people. Similarly, one twitter user begs political parties to “push for US CITIZENS’ rights in the rubble of a system that causes…[an immigrant’s] exile… or AMERICAN families [to live] in the shadows [because of outdated rules]” These people all want a voice and they need our help. Therefore, we must garner support for our immigrant families and pass this Act! If we do not, torture will continue to add a heart-wrenching twist in the lives of immigrants and their families.

Recognizing and Safeguarding Immigrant Families

We cannot separate ourselves from the immigrant families’ struggles; instead, we will seek to understand and support immigrants. For example, one thing we have in common is that we rely on our families. Well, imagine if you find out your family isn’t there for you. It’s like your heart is ripped from your chest in anger, sadness, and loneliness. If your parent ignores you or your spouse commits adultery, at least then you can express it to them rather than to a distant entity. When the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) abandons you and causes a rift in your family, you will probably spend all day calling and trying to get a hold of an agent; don’t worry, every once in a while USCIS sends a postcard with your alien # on it. Free from hesitation, we must embrace commonality by supporting immigrants and their families.

Obstacles Braved by Immigrant Families

Immigrant families face many challenges. For example, immigrants face long waits, repetitive paperwork, and crazy expensive legal bills. NY Times reporters, Rattner and White, suggest some of the reasons for those challenges are that government officials, complex paperwork, and outdated international agreements smother our poorly funded immigration system. Consequently, what remains constant is that immigration policy continues to worsen for the people who need it. Because of this, We won’t abandon these families the way that our government has; we will support our immigrant families.

Screw Job for Legally Married Couples

Legally married couples can’t even catch a break. Married into an immigrant family, our experience aligns. USCIS did not do enough to inform us about a deadline for additional paperwork that would remove conditions on permanent residency. After that we became delayed and may still even be denied citizenship. Want to know what’s worse than that? Because of what is essentially a paperwork error, the USCIS website makes deportation a clear and real threat (“Conditional Permanent Residence”). To serve and support our immigrant families, we should invest in a helpful support team at USCIS, ensure deportation is not paperwork related, simplify the naturalization process, and cut down costs to immigrants by at least 75%.

American Families United Act – A Promise of Rectification

Here’s some good news – American Families United Act wants to fix some of these things. Finally, the AFUA can be the superhero that saves families and eases some of the burden that the immigration process generates. The AFUA is absolutely a call to action, asking everybody to come together and show love and support to our immigrant families who need us.

Determination

How can we help? First, you should start by reaching out to representatives. Next, ask them to support and back the AFUA. You will need to write them emails and make phone calls. Furthermore, you should join local efforts that raise awareness: if you are a blogger, blog; If you are Vlogger, vlog; and if you’re a tweeter, then tweet. Finally, teaming up with community groups makes our voice stronger, giving more support to immigrant families. We will spread the word and back the AFUA to ensure a fair and caring immigration system that values family unity.

Works Cited