WASHINGTON (AFP) — US lawmakers on Thursday unveiled legislation to help reunite families split apart for years by the creaky immigration system -- including, controversially, same-sex partners.
The bill was a salvo in an upcoming battle to reform immigration in the United States -- an issue which President Barack Obama is expected to take up within weeks.
Representative Mike Honda, who heads the caucus of Asian Americans, said that some families are split apart for decades due to the severe backlog in US immigrant visas for relatives of some nationalities.
"The benefits cannot be overstated," Honda said. "American workers with families by their side are happier, healthier and more able to succeed than those distanced from loved ones for years on end."
The legislation, of which a similar version has been introduced in the Senate, would make family reunification a priority in immigration and raise the number of potential visas by rolling over those unused in previous years.
It would also allow Americans to bring in same-sex partners as family members. The provision has triggered the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church, which usually supports measures to liberalize immigration.
Neil Abercrombie, a Democratic congressman from Hawaii, said that excluding gay partners was a form of discrimination of the type seen periodically throughout US history.
"There has always been somebody ... after they got here, then they wanted to close the door," Abercrombie told reporters.
"We didn't learn anything about discrimination," he said. "This is something we're not backing down on."
Honda's legislation also puts a priority on immigration by World War II veterans from the Philippines.
Obama earlier this year signed a measure spearheaded by Honda to extend benefits to Filipino veterans, who had fought alongside US forces but were stripped of payments soon afterward.
Obama is expected to unveil his own package on immigration reform in coming weeks. It is expected to focus on finding ways for millions of undocumented workers to legalize their status.
Initiatives by Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, all died in Congress as some members of Bush's Republican Party opposed "amnesty" for illegal immigrations.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pledged Thursday to work on immigration reform, calling it one of three legislative priorities for the Democrats this year along with health care and global warming.
Separately, the State Department said it was speeding up visa applications for non-immigrant researchers and graduate students in the sciences.
The scientists, many of them from India and China, complained that they had been waiting months for visas to come to US universities, laboratories or even academic conferences.
The State Department has added staff and made procedural changes and now expects to process researcher visas in around two weeks, said David Donahue, the deputy assistant secretary of state for consular affairs.
"We think that we're the best place to do this kind of work. We're cutting edge," Donahue told AFP. "We want people to feel comfortable about coming here."
US universities -- where foreign students often account for a large number of spots in graduate programs -- had voiced concern, fearing that students would turn to other countries due to the hassle of obtaining US visas.
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