The compromise legislative plan for immigration that was unveiled by a bipartisan group of senators last week does nothing for LGBTs – either those who are immigrants themselves or those who are in a binational relationship. There is great uncertainty whether the proposal will make it out of Congress, and fears that its present form will harshly impact LGBT immigrants.
The deal, as noted in a New York Times editorial, badly erodes two bedrock principles of American immigration: that employers can sponsor immigrants to fill jobs and that citizens and legal permanent residents have the right to sponsor family members. Of course, as it stands now, LGBT citizens or legal permanent residents cannot sponsor their domestic partners or spouses, and that doesn't change in the new proposal. That is unacceptable.
Queers for Economic Justice also firmly opposes the bill, known as the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2007. The group notes that among the so-called border security provisions there will be an expansion of detention capacity, calling for up to 27,500 detentions per day per year. "Any bill that calls for expansion of detention is bad, especially for transgender and gender non-conforming immigrants," the group said in a statement. Such immigrants are routinely denied hormone treatment and face sexual violence in detention facilities. Those who are HIV-positive are routinely denied access to life saving medications while in detention.
The "Z visa," which promises a path to legalization, calls for steep fees of up to $5,000 and has restrictions on sponsoring family members. Queers for Economic Justice also noted that there is no indication in the legislation that the HIV inadmissibility bar will be waived for those applying for permanent residency through the program.
We fear that under the current plan, families will be torn apart and that the point-based system for the distribution of green cards will unfairly favor those with more education and skills at the expense of those who are poor or who are leaving a country due to persecution.
Real immigration reform would include LGBTs and those living with HIV/AIDS in any legislation. The HIV ban should be repealed. The REAL ID Act (mandatory federally-issued IDs) should be repealed.
Earlier this month, Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) reintroduced what is now called the Uniting American Families Act. This bill would give the same rights to gay and lesbian couples with foreign, permanent partners as heterosexual couples receive when one member is seeking to bring a foreign partner into the country for immigration purposes. We urge its passage.
This is the structure lawmakers should be creating as they attempt to overhaul the immigration system. But even the Nadler-Leahy bill is only a first step in expanding the definition of "family." The way it is now, immigration reform is moving toward a "merit based" rather than "family based" system. But it's important to note that for LGBTs and others, the concept of "family" must be broadened; the current proposal does not accomplish that goal.