Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center applauds Senator Leahy for reintroducing and holding hearings on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which continues our nation’s commitment to family unity as a bedrock principle of our immigration policy. UAFA would ensure stability, continuity, and safety for thousands of families whose ties to each other and to the United States currently receive no recognition under immigration law.
Testimony of Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director,
Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center
Submitted to the
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Hearing on
The Uniting American Families Act:
Addressing Inequality in Federal Immigration Law”
June 3, 2009
The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) applauds Senator Leahy for reintroducing and holding hearings on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), S.424, which continues our nation’s commitment to family unity as a bedrock principle of our immigration policy. UAFA would ensure stability, continuity, and safety for thousands of families whose ties to each other and to the United States currently receive no recognition under immigration law. As we work to fix our broken immigration system, it is essential that these families are included in any comprehensive reform. The law currently does not recognize same-gender permanent partnerships for immigration purposes, regardless of whether the parties have celebrated a state sanctioned marriage. Under the proposed bill, same-gender partners would have to satisfy immigration authorities that they meet the same exacting standards required for opposite-gender partners seeking immigration benefits, including a lifelong intimate commitment to each other and financial interdependence.
NIJC, a program of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, is an advocacy and legal aid organization based in Chicago. NIJC provides low cost and free legal services to approximately 8,000 individuals annually, and engages in advocacy at local and national levels to secure fair and humane treatment of immigrants. NIJC maintains a project, the National Asylum Partnership on Sexual Minorities, specifically devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) immigrants.
As a large-scale provider of low-cost legal services to immigrants, NIJC interviews many prospective clients who wish to remain in the United States with permanent same gender partners. Currently, NIJC must advise these individuals that immigration law does not recognize their relationships. While the impact of this discrimination is profound and disruptive for all families denied recognition, its impact can be particularly cruel for LGBT immigrant partners from countries that have severe patterns of discrimination and violence against LGBT people. Although asylum might be available as an alternative relief for certain threatened LGBT individuals, it does not protect against discrimination and is an unusual and rare form of relief. Forcing same-gender partners and their families to either separate or to relocate to potentially unfriendly countries jeopardizes the welfare, human rights, and potentially the safety of them and their children.
Thank you for considering my statements on behalf of the National Immigrant Justice Center and Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights.