On Friday, the Administration announced a welcome policy change known as the “Family Unity Visa Waiver”, which enables undocumented spouses of US citizens to apply for a waiver before returning to their home countries to obtain their green cards.
Currently, these immigrants are faced with a bar from returning to the United States for either 3 or 10 years (known as the 3 or 10 year bar), depending on how long they had been in the United States without papers. Some, like Alan Colmes who runs Liberaland, applauded the move, noting that the change will “allow the undocumented to spend more time with their families.”
That sounds sensible and reasonable, right? Not if you’re notorious Kris Kobach, author of all those infamous anti-immigrant laws, who called it “amnesty” on CNN as he was debating seasoned immigrant rights advocate, David Leopold. “It’s part of an amnesty. It’s part two of an administrative amnesty” he told CNN. Watch:
Or if you’re Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), who currently serves as the Chairman of House Judiciary Committee, who called the proposal an “abuse of administrative powers.” Conservative blog Hot Air echoed that sentiment, called it an executive fiat, and tried to persuade readers that the Administration is sticking it to Republicans.
Conservatives like Kobach, Smith, and the folks at Hot Air are missing that those most benefiting from this change are US CITIZENS whose prolonged separation from their spouse would cause them extreme hardship. Or perhaps they just don’t care?
It was all so predictable, as Joan McCarter at Daily Kos concluded in her piece yesterday, opining that it’s only a matter of time before Republicans hold a hearing about this “unconstitutional power grab.”
We’ll let you know when the date for that is set.
