Full Text of SR0523 94th General Assembly
SR0523 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, United States citizen children throughout | 3 |
| Illinois and the nation are being separated from either their | 4 |
| father or mother because of our broken immigration laws; this | 5 |
| causes great emotional and financial harm to these children and | 6 |
| violates the right to family unity; and
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| WHEREAS, The thirty-five families, which come from nearly | 8 |
| all of the congressional districts in Illinois and are known as | 9 |
| La Familia Latina Unida (La Familia), represent families | 10 |
| separated, or threatened by the prospect of separation, by the | 11 |
| broken immigration laws and regulations that span the State of | 12 |
| Illinois; these individuals are mothers or fathers of U.S. | 13 |
| citizen children and are married, in most cases, to U.S. | 14 |
| citizen spouses; the hardship claimed in each case is the | 15 |
| hardship on these U.S. citizens that has occurred due to the | 16 |
| separation or imminent separation of their families; and
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| WHEREAS, These thirty-five families, including their one | 18 |
| hundred U.S. citizen children, have waged a courageous public | 19 |
| campaign on their own behalf and on behalf of similarly | 20 |
| affected families throughout the nation; the hardship faced by | 21 |
| these families is both economic and emotional; and
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| WHEREAS, HR 3856, a private bill in the United States | 23 |
| Congress, was introduced by Congressman Bobby Rush in September | 24 |
| of this year on behalf of the La Familia group; this bill would | 25 |
| confer legal status on the mothers or fathers of these families | 26 |
| and allow for their permanent unification; and
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| WHEREAS, The immigration cases that are represented | 28 |
| encompass a range of human and legal situations that will be | 29 |
| highly instructive to the immigration debate in the U.S. | 30 |
| Senate; in many of these cases, the individuals have presented | 31 |
| themselves fully and completely through the process dictated |
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| and have been denied because of the rule that restricts travel | 2 |
| to their country of origin in family emergencies, even though | 3 |
| they have fully presented themselves in their required | 4 |
| applications; and | 5 |
| WHEREAS, Due to the difference in House and Senate rules | 6 |
| relating to private bills, the introduction of a companion bill | 7 |
| in the U.S. Senate will provide for the more immediate security | 8 |
| of these families and allow them to continue their public | 9 |
| testimony, a testimony vitally in the public interest in the | 10 |
| midst of the upcoming debate over reform of immigration laws; | 11 |
| and | 12 |
| WHEREAS, Support for the private bill in the House and | 13 |
| Senate does not represent support for any particular | 14 |
| immigration reform bill; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL | 16 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we strongly recommend | 17 |
| passage of HR 3856 and the introduction of its companion in the | 18 |
| U.S. Senate; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That we encourage the United States Congress to | 20 |
| take action on federal immigration reform, which would provide | 21 |
| for family unification as part of comprehensive immigration | 22 |
| reform; and be it further | 23 |
| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 24 |
| forwarded to the Speaker of the United States House of | 25 |
| Representatives, the President pro tempore of the United States | 26 |
| Senate, and to each member of the Illinois Congressional | 27 |
| delegation.
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