wfn.org | Immigration Law

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)]

Reply-to: owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (337
notes).

Note 337 by UMNS on Sept. 19, 1997 at 15:58 Eastern (4048 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Bloom						525(10-21-71B){337}
		New York (212) 870-3803				Sept. 19, 1997

UMCOR urges extension
of part of immigration law

	NEW YORK (UMNS) -- United Methodists are being asked to urge their
Congressional representatives to extend a section of the U.S. Immigration Law
that is due to expire Sept. 30.
	The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), which deals with immigrant
and refugee concerns, has issued an "action alert" regarding Section 245 (i)
of the law. The section allows spouses and children of U.S. citizens and
permanent residents to complete the final processing of their immigrant visa
applications in the United States.
	Without the extension, according to Lilia Fernandez, an UMCOR executive,
those people would have to leave the country to get their immigrant visas at a
U.S. consulate abroad and then be subject to the 1996 Immigrant Act, which
bans re-entry for three to 10 years.
	" ... Unless Congress votes to extend this practical and humane program, tens
of thousands of immigrants will have to return to their countries of origin to
go through the final stage of their visa application and could face years of
separation from their family members," the alert stated.
	The Rev. H. Lively Brown of Granbury, Texas, a retired United Methodist
pastor and former council director for the Central Texas United Methodist
Annual Conference, has an all-too-real example of how families will be
separated if Section 245 (i) is not extended.
	Brown has been assisting a man who works for him. The man, who came to the
United States 10 years ago, is a permanent resident and has applied for
citizenship. His wife, who immigrated from Mexico five years ago, applied for
legal residency after the couple was married in August, 1993.
	Since then, the couple has had two children, who are both U.S. citizens.
Without the extension, Brown said, "they are saying to her that she has to go
back to Mexico and stay another 11 months before she's eligible for
consideration."
	Brown noted that the husband works several jobs, owns a bit of property and
is not in debt. "He's just a good candidate for citizenship," he added.
	To separate the mother from her children because of what he considers a
"poorly-written" law (the 1996 immigration act), "is a real injustice,"
according to Brown.
	A former Republican precinct chairman, Brown intends to lobby his
Congressional representative and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich after he
arrives in the Washington, D.C., area Sept. 19 for a family visit.
	The Rev. Janet Horman, a United Methodist pastor and attorney, knows of a
case similar to Brown's through her work at Just Neighbors Ministry, an
immigration mission project of the Arlington District of the Virginia United
Methodist Annual Conference.
	Although the U.S. Senate has passed a permanent extension of Section 245 (i),
it has yet to be passed by the House and faces some opposition there.
	"We just have some heartbreaking situations of people who are in a
last-minute panic trying to decide what to do," Horman said. "Even after the
law is passed, it's going to take awhile before we know how INS (Immigration
and Naturalization Service) is going to implement that law."
	She knows of one case of an immigrant with religious worker status, serving a
United Methodist church, whose family cannot get a visa number until Oct. 1 --
one day after the expiration date of the current law.
	Horman has had calls from pastors in several other states, seeking advice.
"Clergy are being affected by it all over and are starting to say, 'how do we
help?'"
	Fernandez noted that some eligible families may not have applied for a change
of status yet because they didn't have the $1,000 penalty fee required for
completing the visa process in the United States.
	UMCOR is urging United Methodists to call their representatives through the
Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and Gingrich's office at (202) 225-4501
to show support for the extension of Section 245 (i).
#  #  #

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 This article sent to both the umethnews list <umethnews-request@ecunet.org>
 and also to the Worldwide Faith News list wfn-news <majordomo@wfn.org>
 Look at the header files to figure out which this is.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------