We are all in this together
I learned something new a couple of weeks ago - about the large number of Burmese immigrants living in Wyandotte County. There are a lot of them - and most have come to the U.S. as refugees, fleeing persecution in their home country, spending years in refugee camps in neighboring countries before finally making it to the U.S.
In my immigration law practice, I do not deal very much with the Burmese immigrants, because the Refugee Resettlement agencies handle that kind of work. But, recently, we have learned that the Trump Administration is reviewing the Burmese cases and calling over 1700 of them in for voluntary interviews with the risk that they might lose their status in the U.S. The goal is to root out fraud in the refugee process - fraud that might have happened 8-10+ years ago!
In the meantime, these families have re-settled into the U.S., established homes and had children, paid taxes and some of them are even ready to apply for citizenship. This kind of reminds me of the Administration's decision to start terminating Temporary Protected Status for Hondurans and Salvadorans who have lived here for 15+ years.
The U.S. provided these people with temporary work permits and allowed them to stay in the U.S. in a quasi-legal status, while paying taxes, buying homes and raising families. Reminds me also of the Liberians who were given another type of temporary status for the past 20+ years and now, will be told that the ride is over and they need to leave. These families are part of the fabric of our communities. Suddenly, the fabric is being torn apart and the blame for this human suffering can be laid directly at the feet of Congress.
We are in this together, because we ARE a Nation of Immigrants, and we need to continually remind ourselves to speak up for the rights of the others. I encourage you to contact Congressman Yoder's office and express your dismay at the lack of action in Congress on Immigration Reform and remind him that we need to protect our neighbors.
