BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AJR 25
Author: Furutani (D), et al
Amended: 5/24/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 05/24/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Filipino veterans: family reunification
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution requests the United States
Congress to pass, and the President to sign, the Filipino
Veterans Reunification Act, legislation that would exempt
the children of certain Filipino World War II veterans from
numerical limitations on immigrant visas.
ANALYSIS :
This resolution:
1. States that Filipinos honorably served in the United
States (U.S.) Armed Forces and aided the United States
during World War II.
2. States that the Supplemental Surplus Appropriations
Rescission Act of 1946 denied the service of Filipino
veterans in the U.S. Armed Forces, and that it was not
CONTINUED
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until the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
that the service of Filipino World War II veterans was
officially recognized, for the first time, as active
military service in the U.S. Armed Forces.
3. States that the Immigration and Naturalization Act of
1990 offered Filipino World War II veterans who had not
been naturalized pursuant to the Nationality Act of 1940
the opportunity to obtain U.S. citizenship, despite
those veterans remaining ineligible for most benefits
provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
4. Asserts that many Filipino World War II veterans, now
age 80 or older, filed for visa petitions for their
children shortly after passage of the 1990 Act, but
continue to wait to be reunited with their children, who
languish on the visa waiting list because our current
immigration policies limit the chance for these families
to reunite.
5. Memorializes the Legislature to join the U.S. Congress
in acknowledging the service of Filipino World War II
veterans by recognizing that they should be reunited
with their children during their golden years.
6. Memorializes the Legislature to request the U.S.
Congress to pass, and the President to sign, S. 1337 and
H.R. 2412, which would exempt the children of certain
Filipino World War II veterans from the numerical
limitations on immigrant visas, thus allowing for family
reunification
Comments
According to the Assembly Third Reading analysis:
Over 60 years after the end of World War II, most
surviving Filipino veterans are now in their eighties
and nineties. According to the author, many of these
veterans have been waiting, in some cases over a
decade, for the U.S. government to approve immigrant
visa petitions that would allow their children still
living in the Philippines to join them in this
country-children whose care and support many of these
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veterans now need in their old age. The author
attributes this immigration backlog to the strict
numerical limitations on immigrant visas that may be
issued to the children of Filipino veterans under
existing immigration law. Therefore, in order to
further recognize the service of these veterans and to
promote reunification of their families, this measure
seeks to have the Legislature request the U.S. Congress
to pass, and the President to sign, the Filipino
Veterans Reunification Act (S. 1337 and H.R. 2412),
legislation introduced in Congress last year that would
exempt the children of certain Filipino World War II
veterans from these numerical limitations on immigrant
visas.
Unfortunately, the valuable support provided by
Filipino soldiers in service to the U.S. military
during World War II has gone largely unrecognized by
the American public in the decades since the war. This
may be in large part due to the U.S. government's own
failure to recognize the active military service of
these Filipino WWII veterans, as exemplified by passage
of the Rescission Acts of 1946, in which Congress
authorized an appropriation to the Commonwealth Army of
the Philippines on the condition that its members'
service was not deemed part of the active military
service of the United States Armed Forces. By making
this designation, the Rescission Acts had the effect of
withdrawing the U.S. government's promise to provide
full veterans' benefits to Filipino soldiers who fought
on behalf of the U.S. during WWII. The rescission of
that promise has been described by Congressman Mike
Honda (D-CA) as one of that body's "least decorous
acts." ("Veterans and Their Families Deserve Justice
and Honesty," San Jose Mercury News , November 10,
2006.)
Over four decades after the end of World War II,
Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act of
1990, which provided approximately 24,000 Filipino
World War II veterans, then in their 70s and 80s, the
opportunity to obtain United States citizenship.
According to the author, between 1990 and 1995, many
Filipino World War II veterans left their families
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behind in the Philippines to come to the United States
to be naturalized and establish residence in this
country. However, naturalized Filipino veterans who
filed visa petitions for their children back home still
await their arrival fifteen to twenty years later, due
to the immigration backlog created by numerical limits
capping the number of family-sponsored visas that can
be issued under Chapter 12 of Title 8 of the United
States Code.
H.R. 2412 exempts the children of Filipino veterans
naturalized pursuant to the 1990 Act from the numerical
limitations on immigrant visas. Rep. Mazie Hirono
(D-Hawaii) sponsored H.R. 2412 in Congress last May,
with a companion bill, S. 1337 sponsored by Sen. Daniel
Akaka (D-Hawaii), now pending in the U.S. Senate. This
resolution would request Congress to pass, and the
President to sign, the Filipino Veterans Reunification
Act to resolve this situation rooted in almost 70 years
of history.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/2/10)
American Legion, Department of California
Asian Law Caucus
California Immigrant Policy Center
Filipina Women's Network
Filipino American Development Foundation
Filipino Community of Sacramento & Vicinity
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nestande,
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Niello, Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin,
Salas, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland,
Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Yamada, John
A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Evans, Hall, Hernandez, Knight,
Nava, Norby, Saldana, Villines, Vacancy
TSM:do 8/3/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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