Yvette Clarke, the Democratic Congresswoman from Brooklyn, has said efforts are being made to introduce comprehensive immigration reforms bill in the U.S. Congress during the current year to give legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants, and to fix the broken immigration system. However, she added, right now a healthcare reforms bill remains a priority on which, unfortunately, no consensus has so far been developed.
During a chat with the New York based Pakistani media after inaugurating a law office in Brooklyn, Congresswoman Clark, who is also chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cyber Security, and Science and Technology of House Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, spoke of the deep concern over the U.S. drone attacks on the Pakistani territory, saying: "I feel that America's Afghan policy needs to be re-evaluated."
She said healthcare reform was also the need of millions of Americans, adding that the Congress was behind the deadline (for the passage of the bill). "We are trying to build consensus on the bill," she explained.
Regarding the issue of immigration reform, she said Democrats wanted to devise a comprehensive immigration policy. "We neither want to favor any particular group nor do we want to deport any one." She said she would favor a maximum number of (undocumented) immigrants getting permanent residency. The political forces, she added, needed to move forward in unison on the subject. She said immigrants were the beauty of America.
The Congresswoman, who is very popular among the New York-based Pakistani American community, said every immigrant who comes to this country deserves equal opportunities. She said favoring any particular group or benefiting any one had never been the policy of the American government. She also said that all U.S. citizens or Green Card holders of Pakistan origin should help their next of kin in Pakistan. She said she believed that all those people who were living in the United States without any status should be given legal status. She hoped that majority of the undocumented immigrants will adjust to immigration reforms. She called on the Attorney General, the FBI and the immigration authorities to resolve the challenges on the immigration front through extensive cooperation.
As for the U.S. drone attacks on Pakistan, Yvette Clarke gave a very diplomatic answer, saying, "We are concerned about the civilian deaths in these attacks." She said she would raise the issue in the House as well. She said that all parties involved with this issue – Pakistan's political and military leadership, Afghanistan and the United States – should pay attention to the problem (of civilian deaths in drone attacks). While maintaining that the United States wants peace in the world, Congressman Yvette Clarke said Washington needed to review its Afghan policy.
