On October 4th,
late at night at Friday night, the President issued
a new proclamation targeting those who apply for
visas abroad. Immigrant visas. And what he requires now is that
immigrant visas show up with proof that they can obtain
insurance within 30 days, and if they cannot show that,
prove that they have the financial ability to pay for foreseeable medical costs
upon their arrival. The vague and opaque language
in the proclamation has left many concerned, and we share that concern with our
membership and our viewership. Now, the agencies have taken
no steps to help guide us on the effective date
which is November 3rd, a Sunday, and it will apply to anyone applying for an
immigrant visa on or after that date. Obviously there are many people
in the United States leaving for interviews in November
and those who are abroad, separate from their families or
soon to be separate from their families who honestly cannot make heads or tails
of what is required to show them and if so how they can stay
united with their family. One of the most problematic
aspects of the proclamation is that if forbids anyone to obtain
subsidized insurance and in fact lays out amorphous categories of
what the president considers approved health insurance. Let me tell you what we’re doing at AILA
to combat the presidential proclamation. We’ve joined forces with
the Justice Action Center, the law firm of Sibley Austin,
and the Portland based Innovation Law Labs to file a complaint in the district of
Oregon Federal Court, challenging the lawfulness of the
president’s action. We have many great individual plaintiffs
and an organizational plaintiff who will be severely affected and separated from their
hard-working family members. They’ve done nothing wrong. And they deserve to have their
immigrant visas approved, and not have their community
ripped apart due to Presidential fiat. One of our plaintiffs is
a United States citizen man, who goes to work every day
to raise his son. His wife remains in Mexico, And has waited years for a
chance at an immigrant visa. She has her interview
scheduled for November 6. Our plaintiff is disabled and relies on subsidized health
insurance which he pays for, and now he faces the daunting prospect
of being unable to bring his wife here. Simply because of
the president’s Proclamation. We’re excited to have a
great team working on this. It’ll be a long fight
but it’s a worthy fight. Because hard-working families who meet the statutory
requirements set out by Congress deserve their immigrant visa
and do not deserve to live separately and apart from their
family members here in the United States.