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US immigration plan said to threaten family values

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

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