More than 20 South Asian organizations have expressed strong opposition to the White House immigration plan that was revealed in late March. [The plan would grant work visas to undocumented immigrants but require them to return home and pay hefty fines to become legal U.S. residents.]
In a joint statement, the organizations say that immigration policies affect all segments of this community – including students, undocumented workers, family members, business owners, and women. “Yet, the White House plan seeks to create burdens and obstacles for South Asians and other immigrants to legalize, obtain green cards, or unite with family members,” the statement said. “In addition, it does nothing to reverse the current laws and policies that spread fear and separate families through raids, detentions and deportations.”
Of the over two million South Asians living in the United States today, the overwhelming majority were born outside the country with families still living away from them.
“We are deeply concerned that the White House plan fosters family disunity and disintegration, while harkening back to anti-immigrant policies and national origin quotas from the early 20th century. It fails to provide any reasonable or workable solutions towards addressing immigration in this country,” said Deepa Iyer of South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow, a national non-profit organization that conducts advocacy around civil and immigrant rights issues.
For example, the White House plan eliminates certain family-based visa categories, including siblings and adult children of those legally residing in the United States. Many South Asians have been waiting for over 10 years to be reunited with family members. Those with applications currently backlogged in the system would have to reapply and pay additional fines.
“With the significant numbers of family-based applications filed by South Asians, any gutting of the family-based system will have a tremendous impact. Family is at the heart of immigration and American society,” said Aparna Bhattacharyya of Raksha, a Georgia-based nonprofit support and referral network that promotes a stronger and healthier South Asian community.
The White House plan would also revamp the green card application process through the creation of a “merit-point” system that would effectively allow only the wealthy and highly-educated access to permanent resident status. The criteria set forth in determining legal residency status include home ownership, health insurance, and the educational success of one’s children.
“We are concerned that this system will disadvantage individuals who are not at the top of the socio-economic spectrum,” said Nahar Alam of Andolan, a not-for-profit, membership-based group that organizes and advocates on behalf of low-wage, immigrant South Asian workers in New York City. “How are working class South Asians expected to become permanent residents under such an unfair system?”
The White House plan also proposes and unworkable temporary worker Y-visa program. Y-visa recipients would not be able to bring family members to the country and will not have access to basic services and benefits. Y-visa recipients would also be subjected to the new green card system outlined above.
“According to the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics, in 2005, over 200,000 individuals from South Asian countries worked in the United States on temporary visas,” said Vikram Sanghani of the Indo-American Center, a non-profit organization in Chicago that addresses the wide spectrum of needs in the South Asian immigrant community. “The White House proposal does not treat workers with dignity or respect.”
Finally, the proposal’s attempts to address those who are currently unauthorized make legal status completely out of reach for many. After registering with the government, undocumented immigrants could apply for a Z-visa, which must be renewed every three years and is accompanied by fines. In order to adjust to permanent residency status, Z-visa holders must pay an additional $10,000.
“The issue of legalizing the undocumented is pressing for the South Asian community,” said Atashi Chakravarty of Narika, a non-profit organization in the San Francisco Bay area that addresses domestic violence in the South Asian community. “There were over 280,000 undocumented immigrants from India alone in 2005, jumping 133 percent from 2000, according to the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics. This proposal fails to provide a workable and realistic solution to bring out from the shadows millions of undocumented immigrants. True immigration reform would encourage individuals to legalize rather than create disincentives.
“We urge Congress and the White House to abandon plans such as the one outlined above, and to instead consider fair and humane immigration policies. The White House proposal does nothing to fix the broken immigration system.
“Other proposals set forth dramatically different provisions than the White House plan. Our organizations support a comprehensive solution that promotes family unification, provides accessible avenues to citizenship for incoming immigrants and the undocumented, ensures robust worker protections for all workers, and protects the human rights of all immigrants,” Chakravarty said.
