Hirono, Duckworth Introduce Legislation to Promote Family Unity in U.S. Immigration System

~ Bill includes Hirono's Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act, legislation that would speed up the visa process for children of Filipino World War II veterans ~

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) introduced the Reuniting Families Act, legislation that would promote family unity in our country's immigration system, reduce the family-based immigration backlogs, and update our laws to reflect how families immigrate to the United States. The bill also includes Senator Hirono's Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act, legislation that would speed up the visa process for children of Filipino World War II veterans.

"As the only immigrant currently serving in the U.S. Senate, I am proud to introduce the Reuniting Families Act to update our country's family immigration system and promote family unity," said Senator Hirono. "By implementing changes to reduce the backlog of family-based immigration visas, exempting close relatives from visa caps, and preventing the separation of LGBTQ+ families, this bill will better prioritize family unity in our immigration system. We desperately need comprehensive immigration reform, but in the meantime, the Reuniting Families Act is a step in the right direction to help reunite or keep families together as they navigate our immigration system."

"Our country's broken immigration system is riddled with unnecessary barriers that have created backlogs and kept families apart for years," said Senator Duckworth. "This legislation would implement commonsense reforms to help end family-based backlogs, which keep too many with approved green card applications stuck in bureaucratic limbo, and get more families where they belong-together."

Specifically, the Reuniting Families Act would:

• "Recapture" unused visas from previous years, adding them to the number of visas United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may distribute;
• Exempt close relatives from visa caps, extending the current exemption to spouses, unmarried children under 21, and certain parents of legal permanent residents;
• Raise the per-country family-based immigration caps, allowing more visas to go to a single country such as India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines;
• Provide discretion to the government when applying certain "bars" on individuals, eliminating unfair requirements for individuals to go to their home countries if that individual unlawfully entered the United States;
• Protect children from "aging out" after 21, extending protections for step-children and children of visa holders;
• Expand cancellation of deportation orders, making it easier for noncitizens to apply in cases of extreme hardship to a family member who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident; and
• Eliminate discrimination against LGBTQ+ families, ensuring our immigration system treats those in same-sex relationships equally, including resettling partners together with their refugee spouses and allowing spouses to come to the U.S. if their partner is granted asylum.

Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last year by Representative Judy Chu (D-CA), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC).

The Reuniting Families Act, is endorsed by: Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), FWD.us, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), African Communities Together (ACT), Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC), Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), and National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA).

"Like many immigrants, millions of Asian Americans started their American story because of family, and often through the family-based immigration system," said Asian Americans Advancing Justice. "The last significant legislative change to the family-based immigration system happened in 1990. Yet over 30 years, the system that shapes our country and future has broken down, failing to live up to our values and hopes. The Reuniting Families Act is a vision for a better immigration system - one that recognizes that families belong together. We thank Senator Hirono for reintroducing this bill, which will help reduce needless and punitive barriers in our immigration system that separate parents from their children and permanent partners and spouses from their loved ones."

"Many AAPI individuals live in constant fear of deportation or a constant state of waiting to see their families due to the backlogs of millions of cases. The Reuniting Families Act would strengthen the family-based immigration system and bring us one step closer to creating a fair system that facilitates family reunification," said Gregg Orton, National Director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA). "We are grateful for Sen. Hirono's commitment to advancing the Reuniting Families Act, and we are thrilled to continue the critical work to ensure that families can stay with their loved ones."

"Nearly 50 years ago, Southeast Asian families were separated while being forced to flee their homes due to war," said Quyen Dinh, Executive Director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC). "As we near our community's 50th year of resettlement, many SEAAs still wait to embrace their loved ones as a result of the U.S.' severely backlogged family immigration system. We thank Sen. Hirono for introducing legislation that centers humanity and will reunite relatives to the care and love of their families and community, where they belong."

"Families should not have to be stuck in decades-long backlogs due to our failed and outdated immigration system," said Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us. "The Reuniting Families Act offers smart and moral policies, such as recapturing unused visas lost to bureaucratic delay and repealing the harsh and ineffective immigration bars that separate families, to help end the decades-long backlogs and finally begin the process of modernizing our family-based immigration system."

"The Reuniting Families Act emphasizes the importance of a family reunification framework that keeps American families together," said Kiran Kaur Gill, Executive Director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF). "As SALDEF and other communities work to combat disinformation and the negative framing of immigrants, it is crucial to push through false narratives and support our immigrant families. This bill will help millions of people caught in family immigration backlogs, making families whole again and affirming our right to be with our loved ones. SALDEF commends Senator Hirono for her leadership in improving our family-based immigration system that has historically separated many from their families."

"We welcome the introduction of the Reuniting Families Act in the Senate and reaffirm its importance to ensure family unity for many of our members," said Nils Kinuani, Federal Policy Manager for African Communities Together (ACT). "By increasing the number of visas available to families and setting time limits on visa processing, this bill will modernize and streamline our family-based immigration system."

"Our outdated immigration system is failing our families by keeping them separated for years, sometimes decades," said Senior Policy Attorney & Strategist Elizabeth Taufa at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC). "The Reuniting Families Act will go a long way toward eliminating the unnecessary bureaucracy and delays and will bring relief for families who have been stuck in administrative purgatory for far too long."

"The Reuniting Families Act, reintroduced today by Senator Hirono, is an important step toward a more fair and efficient family-based immigration system," said Ben Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). "This common-sense bill was first introduced more than a decade ago; since then, the harm caused by delays and separation have only gotten worse. The outrageous backlogs cause immense hardship to American families and stifle our nation's social and economic growth. This solutions-oriented bill will provide much-needed relief to loved ones that have endured, in some cases decades-long waits, and will prevent others from suffering the same fate moving forward."

"The Reuniting Families Act is common sense legislation that will help keep families together by increasing the number of family-based visas available and reducing the wait time for applicants," said Jung Woo Kim, co-director of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and directly impacted community member. "As someone whose petition has been caught in the backlog since I initially applied in 2018, I understand firsthand the harm that systemic barriers - like processing times and arbitrary quotas - does to individuals, families, and communities. We are grateful for the continued work of Senator Hirono to fight for the rights of immigrant families. Every family - native-born, naturalized, and immigrant alike, deserves to live and thrive together."

"We welcome the introduction of Reuniting Families Act by Senator Hirono," said Angelica Salas, Executive Director at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). "For 36 years CHIRLA has advocated on behalf of all immigrants regardless of their immigration status. In recent years, we have witnessed the consequences of our broken immigration system including significant backlog of family visas. This bill accounts for the various difficulties faced by immigrant families: it is about keeping families together, about reuniting those families that have been separated, and also about ensuring that thousands of people are given the opportunity to join their families in the United States."

"The Reuniting Families Act is a step in the right direction to ensure Pacific Islander families can be together again," said Karla Thomas, Interim Executive Director of Empowering Pacific Islander Communities. "As a community whose core values are rooted in family and unity, Pacific Islanders deserve an opportunity to live a full and meaningful life together with their loved ones. We thank Senator Hirono for her leadership in ensuring families are reunited and we hope that the family-based immigration system will be better because of it."

The full text of the bill is available here.

Senator Hirono is a leading champion in the fight to reform the country's immigration system, protect immigrant children, and keep lawfully-present immigrant families together. In November 2023, Senator Hirono led 15 of her CAPAC colleagues in urging President Biden to reduce the visa backlog, which keeps millions of immigrants-including many immigrants from Asia-separated from their families. In October 2023, Senator Hirono joined her colleagues in introducing new legislation to provide a comprehensive framework to reform the federal government's care and custody of unaccompanied noncitizen children (UC). The Protecting Unaccompanied Children Act would address gaps in our system by improving existing safeguards for the release of UC from government custody, increasing UCs' access to social services and legal protections, and creating new safeguards and services for children's safety. That same month, Senator Hirono also reintroduced legislation to provide unaccompanied children with access to legal representation when they appear in proceedings before an immigration judge. Earlier that year, Senator Hirono reintroduced the Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits Access Restoration Act to eliminate the current five-year waiting period for access to federal public benefits for immigrants.

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