UAFA Hearing, June 3, 10 AM (EST)

by Kathy Drasky

Published June 01, 2009 @ 07:06PM PT

"The Uniting American Families Act: Addressing Inequality in Federal Immigration Law" Senate Judiciary Committee Full Committee

View a webcast of this hearing: http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=3876

DATE: June 3, 2009
TIME: 10:00 AM (EST)
ROOM: Dirksen-226

The hearing will also be televised on C-SPAN. Please spread the word.

Letter Writing - Week 14

by Kathy Drasky

Published June 01, 2009 @ 08:02AM PT

The Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) holds hearings on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA, S.424) this Wednesday, June 3 at 10 am (EST). Watch this space for viewing details and more info.

Because of the hearings -- Out4Immigration wants you to FAX your letters to two key members of the committee who have not signed on to UAFA yet -- but might be persuaded by your letter: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). We've also included emails for their staff. 

Here are the contact details and a sample letter you can use. This is a big week -- let's do our part to make it matter!

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D - MN)
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
202-224-3244 (ph)
202-228-2186 (fax)
www.klobuchar.senate.gov

Senator Dick Durbin (D - IL)
309 Hart Senate Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-2152 (ph)
(202) 228-0400 (fax)
www.durbin.senate.gov

Staff members for Senator Amy Klobuchar

jonathan_becker@klobuchar.senate.gov
simone_hardeman@klobuchar.senate.gov

Staff members for Senator Dick Durbin

lexi_saudargas@durbin.senate.gov
mayra_alvarez@durbin.senate.gov

[Today's Date]

Dear [Senator] [Staffer] ,

I am writing to you to ask for [your] [Senator's] support by becoming a co-sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA; HR 1024; S 424) sponsored in the House by Rep. Jerrold Nadler and the Senate by Sen. Patrick Leahy.

I am part of a group called Out4Immigration. [I am] [I know people who are] directly affected by the current unfair immigration policies in this country that deny gay and lesbian Americans in same-sex binational relationships the right to sponsor their permanent partner to live with them in the United States.

As you may be aware, these Americans in loving and committed relationships are often forced to make heartbreaking decisions to maintain their relationship. More often than not, these include having to leave the United States in order to be with the person they love. These American citizens are forced to give up careers, leave behind aging parents and young adult children who rely on them and leave a community which benefits from their ongoing and active participation.

The Uniting American Families Act simply seeks to provide gay and lesbian U.S. citizens and permanent residents the right to sponsor their partners for immigration. It includes the same process and penalties as applied in heterosexual sponsorship applications. By co-sponsoring the UAFA you are showing your dedication to equality and the belief that no American should be forced to choose between their country and the person they love.

Thank you for your time on this important matter. I hope that [your] [Senator's] name will be added to the list co-sponsors on this bill and support the UAFA in any discussions concerning Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Respectfully,

[NAME]
[ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER AND EMAIL]
Out4Immigration
www.out4immigration.org

We need your organization's support of Uniting American Families Act

by Amos Lim

Published May 29, 2009 @ 03:02PM PT

Below is a letter I sent out to my friends and allies.  Can you help us get more letter of support for UAFA to be sent to Sen Leahy?  information below...

Dear friends and allies,

I hope you are doing well.  Please accept my apologies for this mass email.  Same sex binational couple's immigration is one of the many issues that I have been working on for the past 10 years.... it will be 10 years to the day on 31st of May when I was finally able to land in the US of A to be with my husband after spending 4 years apart in 2 different countries.  
One of the main reason it took four years for me to be able to come here was because as an American, my husband does not have any rights to sponsor me for a green card.  In fact, for the first few years that I was here, we had to keep our relationship a secret because we were afraid that if INS (it is called ICE now) found out, I could be classified as an overstay risk and be denied entry back into the states as I was on a student visa.  Human Rights Watch & Immigration Equality estimated that there are at least 36,000 couples living in the US facing this struggles.  This statistics does not include couples being forced to live in separate countries or couples being forced into exile.

I have been raising awareness about a bill introduced in congress called the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) since it was introduced in 2000.  Now finally, after 9 years of speaking out and raising awareness, Senator Patrick Leahy is finally going to hold a hearing in Congress about the bill.  If you are interested in learning about the bill, you can find them here: http://tinyurl.com/aboutUAFA

This year, I feel that we are finally at a tipping point and the bill is finally getting some traction.  Sen Leahy is going to be holding a hearing about this bill next week and Rep Mike Honda is going to reintroduce the Reunite Families Act which will include language of UAFA in the bill.  We are also hoping that when Comprehensive Immigration Reform is introduced next month, LGBT Families will be included under the definition of families for family reunification purposes.

That said, we just heard word from Sen Leahy's office that he want to have letters from organizations in support of this bill.  I am now reaching out to you to urge your organization to write a letter of support for the Uniting American Families Act address to Senator Leahy, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The guidelines that for the letter should be as follows:

Paragraph 1 should be about who you are as an organization, and why you care about UAFA. 

Paragraph 2+ should be the distilled essence of your organization's personal stories. Focus should be more on immigrant rights, rather than those of the American citizen and/or same-sex marriage.

Can you spare a minute of your time and get your organization to sign on to support UAFA?  I feel that this year is the best year to pass this legislation and I need your help.

You can fax the letter to me at 415.826.7077 and I will collate them and send them off to Sen Leahy's office.  We need the letter latest by Monday, June 1st, 2009.  Please let me know by email if you are faxing the letter too.

At the same time, Rep Mike Honda is also looking for organization to endorse his bill, the Reunite Families Act.  Are you able to get your organization to endorse and support this bill?  If you can, let me know and I will collate the information and inform Rep Honda's office.  Please provide me with name of organization, email and phone of contact person.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  I look forward to getting your support for this bill.

Respectfully yours,

Amos Lim, Out4Immigration

UAFA Hearings, June 3 - More Details

by Kathy Drasky

Published May 27, 2009 @ 08:42AM PT

Immigration Equality has made available the following information if you are planning to attend the Senate hearings next week in Washington, DC. We'll continue to post more info as we receive it. We also understand that various organizations like Out4Immigration, Marriage Equality USA, Love Exiles and others have been asked to prepare a short brief on each organization's role, experiences with the US immigration system and member base profile -- so ALL of us will be represented at this hearing in some way.

Below are the details for attending, from IE:

The hearing will be held on June 3rd, at 10am, in room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Hearings are open to the public, but it's also important to know that hearing rooms are typically quite small, and attendees are seated on a first-come-first- served basis. So, there is, unfortunately, no guarantee that anyone who makes it to the Dirksen will actually be seated. For many hearings, attendees line-up as early as 7am or 8am, for a 10am slot . . . and even then, admittance is not absolutely guaranteed.

The hearing will be broadcast live on C-SPAN, and will be available as a live video stream on the Senate Judiciary Committee's website as well. That may be an easier option for actually watching the proceedings take place than visiting the Senate, where there is likely to be a long line of people trying to get entry to a very limited number of seats.

Letter Writing - Week 13

by Kathy Drasky

Published May 25, 2009 @ 01:45PM PT

Lucky 13! Out4Immigration's Letter Writing Campaign steps it up again. This week we write to Rep. Corrine Brown [FL-3] and Senator Roland Burris [D-IL]. We are also sending emails to their staffers urging them to talk to their boss and ask them to please sign on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). All contact info is below, as well as a generic message that you can adapt for Rep. Brown, Sen. Burris and their staffers.

As we've mentioned, on June 3 Senator Patrick Leahy will convene hearings on the UAFA in Washington DC -- so it is critical we get as much support from every ally we can think of. Please write, call, fax and email the people below -- and ask your friends, family & colleagues to join us, too.

Representative Corrine Brown
2336 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Fax: (202) 225-2256
www.house.gov/corrinebrown

Senator Roland Burris
387 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1305
Phone: (202) 224-2854
Fax: (202) 228-3333 

Chicago Office: (more district offices)  
230 South Dearborn, Kluczynski Federal Building
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Phone: (312) 886-3506
Fax: (312) 886-3514

Staff members for Senator Roland Burris:

Ken Montoya
ken_montoya@burris.senate.gov

Ursula Laurston
ursula_laurston@burris.senate.gov

Staff members for Representative Corinne Brown

Nick Martinelli
nick.martinelli@mail.house.gov

Lee Footer
lee.footer@mail.house.gov

[Today's Date]

Dear [Representative] [Senator] [Staffer] ,

I am writing to you to ask for [your] [Congesswoman/man.....] support by becoming a co-sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA; HR 1024; S 424) sponsored in the House by Rep. Jerrold Nadler and the Senate by Sen. Patrick Leahy.

I am part of a group called Out4Immigration. [I am] [I know people who are] directly affected by the current unfair immigration policies in this country that deny gay and lesbian Americans in same-sex binational relationships the right to sponsor their permanent partner to live with them in the United States.

As you may be aware, these Americans in loving and committed relationships are often forced to make heartbreaking decisions to maintain their relationship. More often than not, these include having to leave the United States in order to be with the person they love. These American citizens are forced to give up careers, leave behind aging parents and young adult children who rely on them and leave a community which benefits from their ongoing and active participation.

The Uniting American Families Act simply seeks to provide gay and lesbian U.S. citizens and permanent residents the right to sponsor their partners for immigration. It includes the same process and penalties as applied in heterosexual sponsorship applications. By co-sponsoring the UAFA you are showing your dedication to equality and the belief that no American should be forced to choose between their country and the person they love.

Thank you for your time on this important matter. I hope that
[your] [Congresswoman/ man ...] name will be added to the list co-sponsors on this bill and support the UAFA in any discussions concerning Comprehensive Immigration Reform.\

Respectfully,

[NAME]

[ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER AND EMAIL]

Out4Immigration

www.out4immigration.org

Hearings on UAFA Set for June 3

by Kathy Drasky

Published May 23, 2009 @ 05:30PM PT

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced this week that he will convene a Congressional hearing, on June 3rd, about the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). This extraordinary news means that, for the first time, our families will be the subject of a hearing specifically addressing the plight of binational lesbian and gay couples.  

Watch this space. We will be posting more information as we receive it from Immigration Equality.

Three More Co-Sponsors for UAFA

by Kathy Drasky

Published May 22, 2009 @ 08:05AM PT

Three more members of the House have signed on to co-sponsor the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) this week. And one of them -- Rep. Edolphus Town [NY-10] was the target of the Out4Immigration letter writing campaign just this week!

Please write and thank these three folks for standing up for equal immigration rights. We cannot do this without their support. The total number of co-sponsors in the House now is 102. There are 17 co-sponsors in the Senate.

Rep. Edolphus Towns [NY-10]
Rep. Donna F. Edwards [MD-4]
Rep. Paul D. Tonko [NY-21]