Senators Mazie K. Hirono and Tammy Duckworth have introduced the Reuniting Families Act, a significant new bill aimed at reuniting families separated by the US immigration system. The bill also seeks to increase the per-country caps on family-based immigration visas, aiming to tackle long-standing backlogs and update the system to reflect modern family needs.

Senator Hirono, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, emphasized the importance of family unity in the immigration process. "As the only immigrant currently serving in the U.S. Senate, I am proud to introduce the Reuniting Families Act to update our country’s family immigration system and promote family unity," she said. The bill also includes the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act, which is designed to speed up the visa process for children of Filipino World War II veterans.

Senator Duckworth addressed the problems created by the current immigration system, stating, "Our country’s broken immigration system is riddled with unnecessary barriers that have created backlogs and kept families apart for years." She called for reforms to remove these obstacles and reunite families separated by bureaucratic delays.

Key features of the Reuniting Families Act include:

Recapturing Unused Visas: The bill allows the recovery of unused visas from previous years, increasing the number available for distribution by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Exempting Close Relatives from Visa Caps: It would extend exemptions to spouses, unmarried children under 21, and certain parents of legal permanent residents.

Raising Per-Country Caps: The legislation proposes raising the number of family-based visas allocated to countries such as India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines.

Protecting Children from Ageing Out: It includes provisions to protect children who risk losing their eligibility for visas after turning 21, along with expanded options for cancelling deportation orders based on extreme hardship.

Addressing LGBTQ+ Family Discrimination: The bill seeks equal treatment for LGBTQ+ families, ensuring that partners and spouses can resettle together.

Advocacy groups, including Asian Americans Advancing Justice, have welcomed the bill, noting that the last major reform of the family-based immigration system took place in 1990. They argue that the current system does not reflect American values of family unity.

Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, supported the bill, saying, “The Reuniting Families Act offers smart and moral policies to help end the decades-long backlogs and modernize our family-based immigration system.”

Kiran Kaur Gill, Executive Director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), stressed the importance of this legislation in countering disinformation about immigrants and upholding the right for families to remain together.