Just about the most junior member of the New York’s delegation is
Just about the most junior member of the New York’s delegation is taking on the state’s most powerful lawmaker on the racial impact of an immigration bill.
Thirty seven-year-old freshman Rep. Grace Meng, (D-Queens) on Tuesday wrote Sen. Chuck Schumer to argue a bipartisan immigration overhaul he helped author “contains a number of provisions that are disadvantageous to the Asian American community and detrimental to our immigration system and American economy at large.”
After thanking Schumer and praising parts of his bill, which is scheduled for a Judiciary Committee vote Thursday, Meng takes issue with a part of the bill that alters a family-sponsored visa program. The plan ends a system allowing “family reunification” between adult siblings to be the sole basis for immigration.
The new point-based, merit system gives few points for adult-siblings. It also caps the age of adult children who can seek reunification with parents. That means many people who can now get visas for a sister or son would likely not succeed under the new system, Meng, who is New York City’s first Asian-American congressional representative, argues.
She says that because Asian Americans make up 60 percent of today’s foreign born popultion and 1.3 million of 4.3 million people in line for family immigration visas, they would be disproportionality impacted by the policy.
Asian-Americans also make up 13 percent of New York City’s 8.2 million residents, Meng says.
“The need for family reunification is foremost in the hearts of the Asian American community, and the underlying assumption that these particular family relationships are attenuated is simply false,” Meng writes to Schumer.
Meng spokesman Jordan Goldes said he Congresswoman and staffers met with Schumer’s staff about her concerns.
“We haven’t heard anything yet,” Goldes said.
Schumer spokesman Max Young said the bill would boost immigration from Asia.
“Under our bill, the number of Asian Americans that will come to N.Y. and America will greatly increase, far more than under the status quo,” Young said. “By clearing the visa backlog, it will reunite hundreds of thousands of Asian American families. No one will get everything they want with this bill, but it is very good for the Asian community.”
Critics of the policy shift have said Schumer’s office had told them changing the immigration bill is hard because it is the product of a sensative bipartisan deal.
Meng also argues an electronic verification system proposed in the bill to ensure employers hire U.S. citizens would especially harm immigrants not aware of their rights and the many small business owners in New York who lack language skills or technical background to properly use the new system.
She writes that “many Asian names are also not easily tracked within the existing E-Verify system, leading to erroneous outcomes for many Asian American workers.”
Read Meng’s letter here:
via www.dailynews.com