I have six children, four of them are grown and no longer live at home but they always will be my "kids." My feelings for them now that they're in their 20s are no different than when they were little.
I always considered my sisters, my brothers, and my parents when they were still alive, as part of my immediate family. This sense of family is an integral part of what makes me a Latino, what makes me an American.Yet the sponsors of immigration legislation in this supposedly "pro-family" Congress - Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo. - apparently disagree.
They have taken a decades-long policy whose cornerstone is the reunification of immediate families, and gutted it.
Under Sen. Simpson's bill, Americans no longer will be able to reunite with their own children if they are over 21, nor will they be able to reunite with their parents or their siblings.
Moreover, the legislation calls for deep cuts in the overall number of people who will be able to come to the United States legally.
The bottom line is that U.S. citizens and legal residents who have done what they are supposed to do - follow the rules and wait patiently, often for years - will be permanently prevented from reunification with their closest family members.
The most tragic aspect of this rush to legislate is that it is totally unnecessary. There is no serious expert on the subject who argues that too many legal immigrants are coming into this country.
The legal immigration process is well-run, orderly, and while in some cases slow, certainly isn't "broken." Furthermore, every study on legal immigration has concluded that legal immigrants are a boon to America.
Just this month a University of Southern California study noted that, thanks to hard work and strong motivation, "the speed of immigrants' upward mobility is striking - reflecting their rapid incorporation into the American economy and society."
The study also confirms what other scholars have found, that immigrants assimilate rapidly and take American values to heart. What message, then, are we as a nation sending to our fellow Americans who happen to be immigrants or related to immigrants?
That the United States believes in justice and fairness but not for them?
That the United States believes in close-knit families but only for those composed entirely of native-born Americans?
That hard work, loyalty and playing by the rules pay off but only if you are not an immigrants?
Clearly, the wisest thing to do now is enact legislation that strengthens the nation's ability to control illegal migration, while reaffirming a family-friendly legal immigration policy. For more than three decades, this policy has served the nation well; Congress will endanger all that we value most - our families and our spirit as a nation of immigrants - if it undermines this principle now.