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SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, United States citizen children throughout
3 Illinois and the nation are being separated from either their
4 father or mother because of our broken immigration laws; this
5 causes great emotional and financial harm to these children and
6 violates the right to family unity; and
 
7     WHEREAS, The thirty-five families, which come from nearly
8 all of the congressional districts in Illinois and are known as
9 La Familia Latina Unida (La Familia), represent families
10 separated, or threatened by the prospect of separation, by the
11 broken immigration laws and regulations that span the State of
12 Illinois; these individuals are mothers or fathers of U.S.
13 citizen children and are married, in most cases, to U.S.
14 citizen spouses; the hardship claimed in each case is the
15 hardship on these U.S. citizens that has occurred due to the
16 separation or imminent separation of their families; and
 
17     WHEREAS, These thirty-five families, including their one
18 hundred U.S. citizen children, have waged a courageous public
19 campaign on their own behalf and on behalf of similarly
20 affected families throughout the nation; the hardship faced by
21 these families is both economic and emotional; and
 
22     WHEREAS, HR 3856, a private bill in the United States
23 Congress, was introduced by Congressman Bobby Rush in September
24 of this year on behalf of the La Familia group; this bill would
25 confer legal status on the mothers or fathers of these families
26 and allow for their permanent unification; and
 
27     WHEREAS, The immigration cases that are represented
28 encompass a range of human and legal situations that will be
29 highly instructive to the immigration debate in the U.S.
30 Senate; in many of these cases, the individuals have presented
31 themselves fully and completely through the process dictated

 

 

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1 and have been denied because of the rule that restricts travel
2 to their country of origin in family emergencies, even though
3 they have fully presented themselves in their required
4 applications; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Due to the difference in House and Senate rules
6 relating to private bills, the introduction of a companion bill
7 in the U.S. Senate will provide for the more immediate security
8 of these families and allow them to continue their public
9 testimony, a testimony vitally in the public interest in the
10 midst of the upcoming debate over reform of immigration laws;
11 and
 
12     WHEREAS, Support for the private bill in the House and
13 Senate does not represent support for any particular
14 immigration reform bill; therefore, be it
 
15     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL
16 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we strongly recommend
17 passage of HR 3856 and the introduction of its companion in the
18 U.S. Senate; and be it further
 
19     RESOLVED, That we encourage the United States Congress to
20 take action on federal immigration reform, which would provide
21 for family unification as part of comprehensive immigration
22 reform; and be it further
 
23     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
24 forwarded to the Speaker of the United States House of
25 Representatives, the President pro tempore of the United States
26 Senate, and to each member of the Illinois Congressional
27 delegation.