Immigration Voice Advocacy Event
June 14th - 16th, 2015

Dear Friend,

During the last few months, we have made significant strides in our efforts to advocate for more fair immigration system. Soon we expect the Administration to announce the Report i.e. details of the Administrative fixes to the high skilled immigration system. These fixes will be part of President’s Executive Action on Immigration, which we shared in our newsletter dated November 19, 2014. We sincerely thank the Obama Administration for the fixes that will provide temporary relief to those of us stuck in green card backlogs. However, we need Congress to live up to its promise to create a fair process with more permanent fixes to the overall system.

That is why we must continue to focus on the fix for the root cause of decades long green card backlogs i.e. Elimination of Per-Country limits on Employment-Based Green Cards. The solution is - House bill H.R. 213 which eliminates the artificial and unfair per-country limits on EB green cards so no one in the system gets preferential treatment, and to reflect a cherished American value of "first come first serve". For many of us, until H.R. 213 is passed, our status will continue to be that of an "alien" for painfully long periods of time.

To create awareness for our issues and to gather more congressional support for H.R. 213, we are organizing another Advocacy Event in Washington D.C. We want your help to speak with your Member of Congress to cosponsor H.R.213 so the bill could be brought up for vote on the House floor. If you live, work, or study in a congressional district with a Representative who has not yet cosponsored H.R. 213, please sign up for this Advocacy effort and come to this event. Encourage your friends to sign up as well. If your Representative is already a co-sponsor of the bill, join us in D.C. all the same. Every voice counts!

This three (3) day event kicks off with Sunday (June 14th) devoted to sharing important background information on the current political scenario and mandatory training on how best to present our case in congressional meetings scheduled for Monday (June 15th) and Tuesday (June 16th). Without this training, it will be almost unreasonable to expect you to be an effective agent of change when advocating for H.R. 213. This is a unique opportunity and experience to participate in the democratic process. We request you to please finalize your travel plans and register for the Advocacy event at the earliest so we could share the logistics and other pertinent information with you.

 
You can also support your cause by contributing to organize the event. Regardless of the amount of your contribution, we will be grateful for your support.

This is a critical time as Congress will start to consider bills in the 2nd half of this year. Now is the best time to ask for vote on H.R. 213 on the House floor. The previous advocacy event in February 2015 helped to secure 22 additional Members of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 213. Our aim with this advocacy event is to help create more awareness for this bill so we could get enough Members of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 213 so the bill could be brought up for a vote on the full House floor. No one else is going to fight for our cause. You, WE, have to do it ourselves. This battle is long and tough, but as they say - as the going gets tough, the tough get going.

The most American thing to do is to speak up when you see something wrong. So join us in Washington D.C. on June 14th, 15th and 16th to seek justice and to ask for fairness.