Throwing out the bedrock principle of family unification so as to specifically deprive the estimated twelve million undocumented immigrants the right to sponsor their close family members to join them in the United States after legalization is immoral. (And it appears this punitive measure would apply to all U.S. citizens, as well.) We've allowed for the sponsorship of brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, minor and adult children for generations. However, it is clear that radical right wing restrictionists (the Lou Dobbs amen corner) in the Congress and their white supremacist, English-only crazies in the heartland have taken this opportunity (known as the much hoped for "Comprehensive Immigration Reform") to shift the system away from families to a primarily skills based program.

This blogger has no quibble with facilitating the immigration of highly skilled workers, but all immigrants should be treated equally went it comes to the issue of family unification; nonenone should forcibly separated from their loved ones. We are making it possible for them to come here and make the U.S. economy more competitive and vibrant; their demographics are youthful, their energy abounds, their tax dollars fill the coffers emptied by pointless, wasteful war and entitlements paid to a graying population. There is no defensible reason to deny them the chance to live here with their family. Those families represent the support systems that allow new immigrants a safety net, i.e. a pooling of resources, as they integrate into our society and our economy. Why strip them of it? Why separate parents and children?

We can do achieve both of these goals and it need not take an estimated 13+ years: we can allow for much needed employment based immigration and provide sufficient green cards for an orderly, legal immigration of family members of those new immigrants once they have become permanent residents and citizens. Democrats must fight any effort to scale back family based immigration. This is a Hobson's Choice; restrictionist negotiators make it out to be a choice of one or the other. They are finally seeing their long fought agenda coming to fruition, as they have for years tried to peel back or eliminate various family categories. Democrats must draw a line in the sand. Family unification is a human rights issue.

Look back for a moment at your family tree and imagine your ancestors alone, without siblings, parents, children and spouse. Imagine if your ancestors had to wait decades to see a sibling (would they recognize each other) or a parent. The system today has backlogs as long as one or two decades for some categories. The answer is to immediately increase the number of green cards available so that all categories are "current" i.e. so that all backlogs are eliminated. The time is now.