http://catholicnewworld.com/cnw/issue/2_071705.html

Church battling to keep immigrant families united

By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

Carmen Estacio isn’t a statistic. Estacio, a native of the Philippines, is a Chicago resident, a naturalized U.S. citizen, a worker in a state government office. When it comes to immigration law, she did everything by the book, including applying for a visa for her 18-year-old son to join her in the United States.

She filed the application in 1991. Her son, now 33, arrived in June 2005.

“I waited and I waited and I waited,� said Estacio. “I requested help from congressmen. I thought about getting a lawyer, but I knew it was very expensive.�

Estacio’s story gives an example of the way U.S. immigration law is not working, keeping working people away from their loved ones for years, according to advocates for immigration reform.

Family division is one area the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops emphasized when they announced “Justice for Immigrants: A Journey of Hope,� a campaign for comprehensive reform that would respect the dignity of immigrants, in May.

In Chicago, Auxiliary Bishop John R. Manz addressed the issue directly when he said, “This broken system forces many immigrant families to be separated from loved ones for years, even decades. We, especially, need to change the laws that separate families.�

“Decades� is not an exaggeration, said Fred Tsao, policy director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

The longest wait time, for siblings of legal residents from the Philippines, is 22 years, said Tsao, the son of a Chinese immigrant. Overall, the average wait time for family-preference visasâ€â€