When U.S. citizens sponsor their husbands and wives for immigration, too many become trapped in the unthinking and counterproductive web of administrative violations that separate them from each other and their children or from America.
For far too many such violations, the immigration system’s only response is long-term or even permanent bars against admission to the United States. Sanctions on immigration violations have a purpose and a place. When the damage they do to families of U.S. citizens and our national interest in their well being is far greater than the damage done by the violation, we have turned the purpose of immigration law on its head. The right of U.S. citizens to marry whom we please, to form families and build a future for our children is far more important than incomprehensible immigration forms, administrative violations, paperwork errors, and minor offenses.
We are working for common sense reform of the existing waiver system (forms I-601, I-212), with uniform, objective standards that balance the national interest in family unity and fairness with the gravity of the offenses. Such a framework could be applied to sponsored workers and family members.
