SR0523 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0523 LRB094 15131 RAS 50304 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, United States citizen children throughout Illinois and the nation are being separated from either their father or mother because of our broken immigration laws; this causes great emotional and financial harm to these children and violates the right to family unity; and

WHEREAS, The thirty-five families, which come from nearly all of the congressional districts in Illinois and are known as La Familia Latina Unida (La Familia), represent families separated, or threatened by the prospect of separation, by the broken immigration laws and regulations that span the State of Illinois; these individuals are mothers or fathers of U.S. citizen children and are married, in most cases, to U.S. citizen spouses; the hardship claimed in each case is the hardship on these U.S. citizens that has occurred due to the separation or imminent separation of their families; and

WHEREAS, These thirty-five families, including their one hundred U.S. citizen children, have waged a courageous public campaign on their own behalf and on behalf of similarly affected families throughout the nation; the hardship faced by these families is both economic and emotional; and

WHEREAS, HR 3856, a private bill in the United States Congress, was introduced by Congressman Bobby Rush in September of this year on behalf of the La Familia group; this bill would confer legal status on the mothers or fathers of these families and allow for their permanent unification; and

WHEREAS, The immigration cases that are represented encompass a range of human and legal situations that will be highly instructive to the immigration debate in the U.S. Senate; in many of these cases, the individuals have presented themselves fully and completely through the process dictated and have been denied because of the rule that restricts travel to their country of origin in family emergencies, even though they have fully presented themselves in their required applications; and

WHEREAS, Due to the difference in House and Senate rules relating to private bills, the introduction of a companion bill in the U.S. Senate will provide for the more immediate security of these families and allow them to continue their public testimony, a testimony vitally in the public interest in the midst of the upcoming debate over reform of immigration laws; and

WHEREAS, Support for the private bill in the House and Senate does not represent support for any particular immigration reform bill; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we strongly recommend passage of HR 3856 and the introduction of its companion in the U.S. Senate; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage the United States Congress to take action on federal immigration reform, which would provide for family unification as part of comprehensive immigration reform; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be forwarded to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, and to each member of the Illinois Congressional delegation.