KAYA WEBSITE PHOTO
WASHINGTON, DC – A Filipino-American organization that grew out of Filipinos for Obama during the presidential campaigns, called on members of the US Congress to stop political bickering and enact immigration reforms
The call issued by KAYA: Filipino Americans for Progress was spurred by the July 15 detention and subsequent release of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, filmmaker and immigration rights activist Jose Antonio Vargas.
US Border Patrol officers briefly detained Vargas in McAllen-Miller International Airport after attempting to board a flight to Los Angeles. He had traveled to the border area in Texas to document the ongoing humanitarian crisis unfolding in our country’s southern border as tens of thousands of minors flee escalating violence in their home countries in Central America.
“We believe that his detention highlights the daily struggle undocumented immigrants go through in America and the need for a comprehensive immigration reform that would provide a pathway to legal status for the millions of immigrants placed in limbo by our broken system,” the group’s statement said.
KAYA was founded in January 2009 to mobilize Filipino-American participation in electoral politics and develop leaders that can represent the community in policymaking institutions.
The organization bewailed what happened to Vargas as “an experience that is all too common among undocumented immigrants.”
It charged that countless immigrants—documented or otherwise—are subjected to being treated like common criminals, often being forced to unlawful searches and indefinite detentions on a daily basis.
“The conditions that immigrants are subjected to in lawless, constitution-free border zones are degrading and we as Americans must call on our government to implement humane policies concerning the treatment of immigrant in borders and international entry points. Kaya stands with Jose Antonio and other victims of these inhumane policies and calls for these rules to end,” the group declared.
Vargas and the 12 million Americans like him deserve better treatment from the government, the group said, demanding that members of Congress “stop the political bickering and pass a comprehensive immigration reform that provides undocumented immigrants already in the country a pathway to legal status; humane treatment for immigrants in border areas and international entry points; and an immigration process that does not place undue burden on the applicants.”
RELATED STORIES
Fil-Am Pulitzer Prize winner Vargas detained by US Border Patrol
Fil-Am leaders attend White House briefing and ‘network’ in DC