A group of legislators from the House of Representatives has launched a campaign aimed at putting an end to separating immigrant families. Such initiatives can only be applauded. 

In a time of an economic downturn and a budding war with Libya (or however one would call the U.S. military expedition to that country), it is rather hard to expect the White House and Congress to entertain a serious debate on comprehensive immigration reform. All the more strongly, then, do we need to applaud the initiative of the congressmen who are not giving up in their attempt to bring at least partial relief to the lives of thousands of people.

A group of Democratic congressmen, including Luis Gutierrez (IL), long known for supporting immigrants without proper documentation, has come forward with a noble initiative called the Campaign for American Children and Their Families. They want to mobilize the population in at least 20 big cities to come out and support their action.

The U.S. nation does not lack compassion for the vulnerable. The bombing of Muammar Gaddafi's regime forces is quite rightly justified on a humanitarian basis – the protection of an oppressed nation. Within that context, how can one understand the U.S. callousness regarding the hardships of so many immigrant families and deportation of small children?

A couple of weeks ago we were shaken by the news of a four-year-old, U.S.-born girl who was sent back to Guatemala because her grandfather – a Guatemalan citizen, who accompanied her on a trip from his country – violated immigration law two decades ago and was not admitted to the United States. Luckily, the girl came back to the States to unite with her parents; yet, it is hard to tell whom to blame for what she had to go through: the immigration officers, or bureaucratization of the system. It may not be a typical example of the distress endured by undocumented illegal immigrants; however, it does reflect the approach to immigrants in this country.

President Barack Obama has dissipated the dreams of those who counted on his campaign promises to energetically get down to reforming the immigration system. Instead, as he recently announced, he has no power to stop mass deportation. In the last two years, close to one million women, children and men have been expelled from the United States.

Judging from past experience, there is no real chance of a speedy repairing of the broken system. But one cannot give up all attempts to eliminate the most tragic consequences of the unsolved problem, i.e. separating mothers from children. 

It would be an exaggeration to say that only one party is fighting for it. Although with much less force, also some Republicans are trying to come forward to help undocumented immigrants. For example, the G.O.P. dominated Utah legislature recently approved a bill to introduce a guest worker program.

Polish families are among those who fall prey to harsh bureaucratic immigration regulations – on multiple occasions Nowy Dziennik has written about this issue. That is why the Polonia must participate in initiatives aimed at exerting pressure on local U.S. legislators to join Rep. Gutierrez and his colleagues' action.