The Untold Stories of Separations Vital in the Immigration Reform Campaign
BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA
NOVEMBER 13, 2009

SUGAR LAND: “And I’m sure that many of you know people who have been separated for years – sometimes 7 to 10, or even more – of a child or aged parents from their immigrant family,” Karen Narasaki said gently but with great impact, “before they are allowed into the country. Imagine an 11 year old child, finally meeting her parents ten years later. She isn’t a child anymore and the togetherness of the childhood years is gone forever.”

It is these personal stories of separation and endured hardships that Narasaki would like to receive and collect as she believes they will help to set the tone for the campaign to reform the current US immigration policy.

A third-generation Japanese-American from Seattle, Narasaki packs a lot of motivation and facts in her demure frame. She gripped the audience of community and media representative with her quick paced delivery of the flaws inherent within the Immigration Reform Act of 1996, which was passed during the Clinton Administration and is still the governing statute for immigration into the US. For her and the Asian American Justice Center in Washington, DC that she heads as the President and Executive Director, the issue of family separation strikes at the heart of the Asian community which is known for its close knit families.

Narasaki was in town on Monday, November 9 to meet with the South Asian community at a reception held at the home of well-known immigration attorney George R. Willy and his wife Shanti in the Greatwood subdivision in Fort Bend County . Willy, a native of Sri Lanka who has been in practice for 25 years in the Houston area, has built his reputation in fighting complex immigration cases and has expanded his firm to Atlanta , Georgia , Canada and Pakistan . But as an activist, Willy has often involved himself in humanitarian and social-reform causes since he first started his firm.

Willy’s daughter, Shangrila, introduced Narasaki to the guests assembled at round tables on the backyard patio by the large undulating outdoor swimming pool under tall Live Oaks where a buffet dinner from Madras Pavilion was also served. Later, Willy’s younger daughter, Shivanti, who heads up the Atlanta office, introduced him before he spoke, leaving him choked up with fatherly pride. It was a pleasant, cloudless Monday night and about 80 people came to listen to the impact of immigration issues on people’s lives.

The mission of the AAJC, they heard Narasaki say, is to advance the civil and human rights of the Asian American community. It works with over 100 community organizations in 24 states and has helped in passing the Hate Crimes legislation that was signed just last week after working on it for 12 years. The AAJC is focused on getting comprehensive immigration reforms instituted dealing with family unity; H1B issues; due process at airports and other centers stemming from perceived ethnicity and religion; employer laws; health care availability to include children; legalization for the nearly 10% of Asian Americans who are not documented; liaison on issues with the larger Latino American community; deportation of persons involved in mixed-status families and backlogs for sponsorships filings that can last up to 24 years in the case of Filipinos.

“George understands this; that family members, including siblings, can make a contribution,” said Narasaki. Willy is on the AAJC Advisory Council and the reception and dinner was heralded as the kick-off for the immigration reform campaign in Houston , which he will head. The campaign will depend on newspaper articles, cellphone texting, radio telethons and advertising to educate the public on the need for a comprehensive immigration reform bill passing in this coming year as well as seeking monetary contributions to the AAJC, which is a non-profit group. An energized Willy sought the support of the South Asian community to help him lead the charge.

The reform must happen on many levels, as Narasaki outlined, from reducing excessive naturalization fees to bureaucratic delays for issuing Green cards and fixing the H1B process.

She cautioned that reform is a heavy lift and the challenge is that it affects the Asian community in many insidious ways that are hard for coalesce at once. Educating people on these issues is the key. She encouraged working with Asian religious groups to fan out to interfaith groups; meeting with elected and appointed officials, like the two Senators from Texas , Hutchinson and Cronyn, and holding them accountable by not be negative to the Asian American needs.

Narasaki suggested signing petitions, involving the local Chambers of Commerce, faith based initiatives, showing up for the major campaign in large numbers. “A major problem is that Asian Americans do not see current immigration laws as adversely affecting them,” she explained. “They see it as mostly affecting the Latino American community. But over a third of the H1B visas are issued to Asian Americans and so we have a different agenda to fight for.” At present, there are not enough Green Cards that can be issued for a H1B applicant, even if the employer applies for it.

Responding to the needs for elderly parents who have joined their children as immigrants after 1996 could be a galvanizing issue, suggested a reporter during a lively questions and answer period. Under the 1996 Act, these seniors are not entitled to purchase Medicare insurance unless they first become citizens or have contributed several quarters into the Social Security system, which they are often physically unable to do. Since private health insurance is often unaffordable or available to them, these seniors often become dependent on the local City or County clinics or the goodwill of physicians and emergency rooms if the need is more serious.

George Willy expanded on these issues as he blasted the 1996 Immigration Reform Act for its draconian provisions that stepped on individual rights. He cited examples where a person can be deported back from the airport if an officer sees that he has ever worked in the US illegally and the enormous pressures on administrative judges to deny entry.

“Over the past 10 to 15 years, the system has developed contempt for the immigrant,” he denounced. “So much so that many would be immigrants are now going to other countries that want him. We have lost many brilliant people this way – future Bill Gates, Einsteins and Nobel Prize winners – and now we have to welcome him back.”

In order to do so, Willy’s goal is to mobilize the South Asian community and solicited the guests “the leaders of the community and the media” to play a major role in the upcoming campaign.

He ended with a fable that he once told his children. Several homeless people congregated in a park and decided to share their meager portions of rice to make a meal. One by one, they threw their handful of rice in a boiling cauldron. But when it was done and they went to get a bowl, they were surprised to find that there was no rice in it at all! It seemed that each person had thought that the next one would throw in some rice, but none had!!

“We must all do our part to help the new immigrant,” Willy implored those who had become well settled in the US . Though there are only 15 million Asian Americans in the US , or 2% of the total population, Narasaki is undaunted by the road ahead. “Asian Americans can be the margin of difference in the final vote,” she beamed.

For more information on the Asian American Justice Center , visit www.advancingequality.org or contact AAJC at 1140 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 1200 , Washington , DC 20036 , 202-296-2300.

George R. Willy, P.C. can be reached at 1200 Soldier’s Field Drive, Suite 100, Sugar Land, TX 77479, 281-265-2522 or www.grwpc.com