Uniting American Families

Some good news on the Uniting American Families Act front:

The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), a bill that grants equal immigration rights to Americans in same-sex binational relationships, garnered an unprecedented level of support in Congress this month when four more Senators and sixteen more Representatives joined in cosponsoring the legislation.

Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, and Maria Cantwell of Washington raised their level of support for UAFA and brought the total number of cosponsors to a record breaking eighteen Senators. The bill currently has 116 cosponsors in the House of Representatives.

My previous post on the subject. Keep pressing your representatives to get on board with this!

A one-two punch for local couple

A few of years ago, through the Wis-Kino filmmaking group, I met Lucie and Pam. Lucie had a show on WYOU, and both contributed regular short films to the group for our monthly screenings. I only got to know them a little bit--enough to know that they were a couple, that Lucie taught French out in Sun Prairie, and that both were active in various parts of the community.

Late last year, at a Wis-Kino organizer's meeting, Pam brought up the fact that they were currently fighting for Lucie's ability to stay in the country. Lucie, you see, is a French citizen, whereas Pam is an American citizen. Lucie's work permits were about to run out, and all of their efforts to extend her stay had failed. Legally married in Canada earlier this year, their partership is not recognized by the United States, and so Pam was unable to officially sponsor Lucie for citizenship, as heterosexual couples are able to do.

Lucie had to quit her job and head out of the country, leaving Pam behind. Melanie Conklin at the Wisconsin State Journal wrote an excellent piece on the couple and the problems they face in light of both US immigration and marriage laws. The article points out the absurdity of rules forcing a perfectly productive and loving couple to split up, and the bill currently stuck in committee that could change that:

Hathaway also calls it absurd that she is being forced to choose between her spouse and her country. But she is currently packing their belongings and quitting her job as a neighborhood organizer so she can move to Canada to be with Ferrari.

A year ago Ferrari left her post as a popular French teacher at Sun Prairie High School, where she is so missed the school has held her job in case she can return. Hathaway is seeking renters for their South Side home, hoping they will be able to legally return to Madison one day.

They pin much of that hope on a congressional bill called the Uniting American Families Act, which would amend immigration law to add the three words "or permanent partners" after each mention of spouse.

"It's a complicated situation and a very simple solution," Hathaway said. "If the laws change, our hope is to come back because we've built a life here. We don't want to move."

Both Tammy Baldwin and Russ Feingold support the bill's passage, and Baldwin has specifically said that she intends to tackle "immigration discrimination" and has formed an LGBT Equality Caucaus (currently with 70 members) to help on such issues. Obama has apparently even addressed and expressed support for the act.

First off, it strikes me as more than just a little ridiculous that our country would exclude people with a demonstrated desire and ability to hold a good (and important) job, who are active and positive members of their communities and abide by our laws, from gaining citizenship.

Secondly, this wouldn't have been a problem if this country would just get over itself and recognize same-sex marriages. Pam could have sponsored Lucie, and they would have had to prove the relationship just like any heterosexual couple has to do when one partner is sponsoring the other for citizenship. It's not easy, and nor should it be: but it's possible. And it should be possible for both different and same sex pairings.

We are a nation nurtured by immigrants from all walks of life, religion, country, experience, language, etc. and I believe that to be one of the major reasons that we are the diverse, colorful, intelligent, open, and relatively free society that we've become. Shutting down that source is xenophobic, harmful, ignorant, and mean-spirited.

I can only hope that Pam and Lucie find a way to come back to Madison, together, in the near future. I'd prefer that it be because we wised up and allowed them to enjoy the same rights and privledges as everyone else in this country.

Dey took er jerbs!

Through a series of Wikipedia-like random link clicks, I managed to land over at Widgerson Library & Pub, where I read a post by Deb Jordahl addressing Madison's recent fall from Money Magazine's "Top Places to Live" good graces.

We're still in the top 100, which is good, but we've fallen from our #1 slot in 1996 to #53 two years ago, and now, all the way to #89. Certainly, there are some interesting statistics cited by the magazine that point to problems in the city: lower math and reading tests scores than the national average, higher property taxes, and an increase in personal and property crime. These are all troubling statistics, and things of which I think/hope most Madisonians are aware.

As pointed out in the Wisconsin State Journal's op-ed about the ranking, though, it's important to be willing to take a hard look at our city and its various problems. It's also important, as they go on to note, not to place too much stock in the ever-changing qualifications for the rankings in the magazine. Madison may have dropped from its lofty heights on the list, but it's still in the top 100 out of tens of thousands of cities in the country.

Over at the Library & Pub, however, a much more dire picture is being painted, one where Madison is slipping into a dark abyss. The blame for this perceived state of affairs is placed squarely on the shoulders of "liberal policies" and "illegal immigrants," which is nothing particularly new. What's interesting is that this line of reasoning remains so persistent, even though 1) Madison still made the top 100, 2) the causes of slips in testing scores, employment opportunities, crime levels, and property taxes are many, varied and complex, and 3) there are pretty much no solid statistics or studies to back up their claims.

Do some immigrants sometimes commit crimes? Yes. Do some citizens also sometimes commit crimes? Yes. Will blanket anti-immigrant policies solve the crime problem? No, and they would likely just create a climate of fear and xenophobic nationalism, which is about as un-American as you can get.

The fact is that Madison has grown substantially in population and area over the last ten years, and coupled with the current national economic downturn, that's logically going to bring growing pains. We can't afford to ignore the problems, but we also can't afford to give knee-jerk responses to them. Pointing accusatory fingers at immigrants or liberals (or conservatives) isn't going to solve much of anything. We need to work together, and especially with those communities and populations most effected by the changes, to come up with comprehensive strategies that address not only the symptoms, but, more importantly, the root causes of the problems.

A larger gap between the wealthy and the working and middle classes, higher food and fuel costs, larger populations straining educational systems, less funding for school and community programs, and even pollution can all contribute to the things listed in the rankings. We need creative, compassionate, intelligent, and no-nonsense approaches to dealing with these various factors--not name calling, entitlement, resentment, selfishness or feelings of superiority.

Immigrant Punk

An interesting and somewhat troubling immigration case has recently bubbled to the surface here in Madison. Tope Awe, a Nigerian-born graduate student at the School of Pharmacy at the UW-Madison, was unexpectedly taken into custody by the Milwaukee office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, and is now being held in the Dodge County Jail awaiting deportation.

According to the Capital Times:

Friends said she had gone to discuss her immigration status. Awe reportedly came to the United States with her family at age 3, and friends said she knows no one in Nigeria.

ICE spokeswoman Gail Montenegro said Monday that Awe was an immigration fugitive with an outstanding removal order against her. Immigration fugitives typically do not have the right to a hearing before deportation, Montenegro said.

The 22-year-old student's father, Samuel Awe, lost an appeal for political asylum in 2003. That decision in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Samuel Awe's removal from his 1993-1995 stint as Nigeria's agriculture secretary, reportedly for not paying bribes to supervisors, and accusations that the frequent resident of the United States had ties to the CIA did not rise to the level of persecution.

Samuel Awe, his wife and three children were originally notified in 1998 that they had overstayed their visas, according to court documents. In denying Awe's appeal, the court granted the family voluntary departure to Nigeria.

Tope Awe was in custody Monday at the Dodge County Jail, which contracts with ICE. Also in custody was her brother, Oluwagbenga Awe, also seized on Thursday. He is a recent graduate of UW-Stevens Point and, according to family and friends, is married with a young child.

Samuel Awe and his wife, Julianah, live in the Milwaukee area where he is receiving medical treatment, according to published reports.

It's difficult to get a firm handle on the situation, as the details of the Awe's visa status are still murky. The family claims that the father's B-1/B-2 visa, for business and medical purposes, allows them to stay here until his treatment is finished. It is unclear, however, if 1) the visa applies to just Sam or to the whole family and 2) the visa is good until the completion of treatment. Sam Awe has kidney disease and has been undergoing treatment for it in Milwaukee for a number of years. I can't imagine he'd be able to get the same level of care if sent back to Nigeria.

Perhaps more confusing is Tope's student status. Having lived in Wisconsin for several years prior to enrolling both as an undergraduate at UW-Milwaukee and as a graduate student at UW-Madison, state residency was apparently not a problem to prove. But if the Awe's were notified in '98 that they were supposed to leave the country, how did they manage to stay on (and, for the children, attend state schools) for another 10 years? How did this never come up during enrollment?

Personally, I believe that anyone who has proven a commitment to being a contributing and law-abiding member of society should be granted permanent resident status. The Awe's seem to have done just that, but were instead rewarded with a denial of either an extension to their stay or a path to citizenship. Tope appears to have been an exemplary student, highly involved in campus life and advocacy while pursuing her studies. That she was asked to come in for a meeting to "regularize her residency status," voluntarily complied, and then simply arrested seems sketchy at best.

Still, all of the facts remain to be seen, and for better or for worse, the law is the law. So the trouble may be less that the law was enforced, and more that the law is broken.

This family clearly wanted to stay in the United States, and were, from what I've read, doing everything they could to do so legally. They paid taxes, registered cars, contributed to their communities, and plead their case all the way up to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals--only to meet with a door slammed in their faces. I can't blame them for fighting tooth and nail to stay here. Unfortunately, with the way the laws work now, they may have little to no recourse in this situation.

It is heartening to know that a significant number of Tope's fellow students and teachers are going to bat for her, pushing for her to be allowed to stay in the country at least until she graduates in 2009. An online petition has already garnered hundreds of responses, a number of UW officials are advocating for her, and state representatives have at least been contacted about the case.

This all just serves as yet another reminder of how complicated and dysfunctional our current immigration laws are. We really do need to find a way to get past all of the jingoism and knee-jerk reactions to the subject, and find a way to meaningfully debate and rework our policies. Policies that should have nothing to do with xenophobia and "dey took er jerbs!" style fear. We are, after all, a nation founded by immigrants (I'm talking about the nation founded long after the first inhabitants arrived here--which is a whole other story, of course). Ignoring that heritage, willfully or not, is hypocritical at best, dangerous at worst.