Would Allow Gays to Sponsor Foreign-born Partners

Senator Leahy submits Gay Rights Amendment to Senate’s Immigration Bill On May 7. 2013, Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) submitted to the Senate’s Immigration Bill an amendment that would allow legally married gay Americans to sponsor foreign-born partners for green cards. The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the bipartisan immigration reform bill on May 9, 2013 as Congress returns from recess. The bill is expected to head to the full Senate in June.Over the last decade through his push for the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), Leahy has championed the issue for binational same-sex couples. Leahy endorses that “for immigration reform to be truly comprehensive, it must include protections for all families. We must end the discrimination that gay and lesbian families face in our immigration law.” President Barack Obama backs the amendment as the “right thing to do.”Leahy doesn’t believe his efforts to allow U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to petition for the foreign same-sex partners to come to the U.S. will harm the legislation prospects. Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, although he supports the amendment, warned on television that the group of negotiators didn’t have “a specific agreement.”Expected Opposition to the AmendmentRepublicans feel that the inclusion of LGBT rights into the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act will “kill” the Senate’s Immigration Bill, crafted by eight senators, that would increase border security, create new work-visa programs and offer a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants in the nation.Says Marco Rubio, perhaps a Republican hopeful for the next presidential election, “there is a coalition of groups who are supporting immigration reform who will not support it if that’s in there.” Rubio, a Cuban immigrant, is not the only Republican sparring with the Democrats over this issue.Jim DeMint, president of the Heritage Foundation, said on television the week of May 6 that his conservative think tank this week would argue that the immigration proposals would “cost Americans trillions of dollars” as unauthorized immigrants gain legal status and drain our government, taking government benefits.As Senator Durbin said, “both sides may have to accept parts of the bill they don’t like.”[Excuse me:  Rubio was BORN IN THE US, like Obama.  So he is not an immigrant.] 
Source:http://charliemetro.blogspot.com/2013/05/would-allow-gays-to-sponsor-foreign.html

Would Allow Gays to Sponsor Foreign-born Partners Images

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