|
Millions
of Americans are celebrating Donald Trump’s election loss. But
for some of us, it’s also deeply personal. To my family,
Trump’s loss means the possibility of reunification. My
parents, who are Indian citizens living in the United Arab Emirates,
have been waiting to spend their golden years with their daughter and
grandchildren—a reward for decades of hard work that helped
finance American college education for three daughters. But because
of Trump, they remain alone and separated from me.
In
April 2020, just as I was putting together the final stages of an
arduous sponsorship application for my parents to obtain legal
residency, President Trump signed an executive
order
upending
our lives. Under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic, he enacted a 60-day
suspension of most immigrant visas including those that enable
citizens to sponsor their non-citizen parents. Two months later,
Trump added more visa categories to the ban and extended
it
until
the end of the year.
Although
the authority to change immigration laws lies with Congress, Trump
managed to push through many aspects of an anti-immigrant wish list
he has been touting for years. Americans like me suddenly have no
access to the same rule that first
lady Melania Trump
used
to sponsor her parents from Slovenia.
While
the horrifying cases of family
separation
at
the U.S.-Mexico border have justifiably drawn public indignation, the
spectrum of separation is broader than most Americans realize.
According to the advocacy group Value
Our Families,
Trump’s green card ban affects people like my parents who are
being sponsored by their adult U.S. citizen children, as well as the
spouses and children of green card holders, and the children and
siblings of U.S. citizens. An estimated 358,000
people
attempting
to immigrate through available legal processes are affected.
But
Trump’s green card ban is just one aspect of a mind-numbingly
difficult-to-navigate immigration system. Conservatives who have for
years excoriated outsiders to “get in line” and “follow
the rules” have little idea of how difficult it is to
immigrate. For nearly 30 years, I experienced firsthand the onerous
complexity of a system designed to frustrate. I first entered the
United States at the age of 16 on an F-1 visa for undergraduate study
at the University of Texas at Austin. Over nearly a decade of F-1
visa renewals and nerve-racking work permit applications (at one
point immigration officials lost my paperwork, threatening my status
in the country), I studied, graduated, and worked.
But
my work permit was temporary, and once I completed my education,
there were few avenues to remain in the country I had grown to love.
Eventually, I applied for a green card because I married a man lucky
enough to be a U.S. citizen. After waiting the requisite five years,
I applied for citizenship and dutifully jumped through myriad and
expensive hoops, only to be caught in the Bush administration’s
post 9-11 anti-immigrant dragnet that delayed citizenship for
thousands of people seeking naturalization. Three long years passed.
It wasn’t until I became a lead
plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit
against
the federal government that I was finally afforded my rights.
Today
I face yet another obstacle. My family’s hopes are now pinned
on President-elect Joe Biden—will he do the right thing to
ensure my family can be together?
The
good news is that there is a starting point for President-elect
Biden. My congressional representative Judy Chu (D-CA) has introduced
the Reuniting
Families Act
in
the House, a bill that would, among other things, reduce the backlog
of family-based visa petitions. The process for a U.S. citizen to
sponsor a family member has always been arduous, expensive, and
inordinately lengthy, but under Trump, the number of visas being
processed fell
dramatically
(even
before he enacted his green card bans), increasing the size of an
already-formidable backlog. Chu’s bill would address the
backlog by increasing the number of available visas.
The
bill would also address how undocumented families are kept apart,
indicating rightly that there is little difference in the pain felt
by my family’s separation and that of someone who is here
without papers. And it would broaden categories of sponsorship that
enable families to be together.
As
we wait for Biden to take the reins of government and do the right
thing, my family will remain separated. Meanwhile, each day I can see
from my backyard the newly built home, financed through the savings
of my foreign-born parents, that sits empty and waiting for them.
This
article was produced by Economy for All,
a
project of the Independent Media Institute.
|
