Craig Schaub wants the U.S. to be a more welcoming place for immigrants.
After all, Schaub says, “We are a community of immigrants.”
Schaub, the pastor of worship and outreach at Plymouth Congregational Church in Syracuse, is a member of a coalition of groups advocating for more open immigration policy and for rights immigrants and their families. The coalition is called the Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse, or ACTS. It includes 37 religious organizations and the New York Civil Liberties Union. It calls for quickening the processes to become a citizen and to get visas to the United States, a halt to deportations that break up immigrant families and for more opportunities for undocumented immigrants to become citizens.
Immigration is a hotly contested political issue. Those who want tighter immigration policies say more open policies would help potential terrorists get into this country. They also do not want to make it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens, because they say it takes away jobs from Americans who are struggling to find work in these already tough times.
Congress has been unable to pass legislation because immigration is so controversial.
Advocates on behalf of immigrants say the inaction on immigration policy overlooks the reality of America’s changing population. The U.S. is home to a growing number of immigrants, many of whom are here illegally.
Some key statistics in the immigration debate:
- In 2009, nationally, the Department of Homeland Security estimates, 10 million immigrants were in the U.S without proper documentation.
- In New York, the state government estimates 550,000 immigrants are here without documentation.
- In 2008, in New York, the state’s Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance estimates, 5,688 legal immigrants were helped by the bureau’s programs across the state.
- In Onondaga County, in 2008, the bureau reported serving 31 immigrants in its citizenship programs and 685 people in both its citizenship and refugee programs.
In Syracuse, to advocate on behalf of immigrants, the Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse, or ACTS, was founded in 2000.
Immigrants continue to struggle with many challenges, say their advocates.
Getting visas is a huge problem for immigrants, say immigrant-rights advocates. Immigrants with family already here can get what are called “family sponsored visas” if the relatives can help support the newcomers, according to the U.S. State Department. But only 226,000 family-sponsored visas are issued each year. Visas to come to the U.S. to work are limited to approximately 150,000 for 2010, according to the U.S. Department of State.
This has created an enormous backlog of applications and left many people waiting for visas. The worldwide waitlist for visas is approximately 3.5 million people, according to the U.S. Department of State.
“We have people that are waiting five years, seven years, ten years for a visa to come to the United States,” says Jose Perez, one of the leaders of a local Latin American advocacy group called the League of United Latin American Citizens. The delays in getting visas for people to come to the U.S., said Perez, encourage people to come into the country illegally.
Another concern for immigrants and their advocates is the potential for families to be split if some members are deported. Immigrants without legal documentation can be deported back to their home country. But many of those immigrants have been in the U.S. for years, say immigrant-rights advocates, and are the parents of children born in the states as American citizens. The children born here can stay. The parents cannot.
On getting more opportunities for undocumented immigrants to become citizens, advocates say immigrants can contribute to American society by working and paying taxes. “Immigrants are actually the people who are keeping the economy as it is right now,” says Perez of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
To achieve its goals, the Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse, the coalition of immigrant-advocacy groups, lobbies lawmakers, works with immigrant families and occasionally takes its cause to the streets. For example, on Feb. 16, groups that support less restrictive immigration policies rallied outside the federal building in Syracuse to urge lawmakers to make changes to the current system.
For his part, Craig Schaub of Plymouth Congregational Church says something needs to happen soon for immigrants. “We need to make sure that we get legislation this year,” says Schaub, “that fixes a tragically broken system.”
(Kara Labs is a graduate student in broadcast journalism.)
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