Senator Mazie Hirono's office issued the following yesterday:
September 18, 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono
(D-Hawaii) and 13 Senate Democrats wrote to Ken Cuccinelli, the acting
director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, urging him to
rescind the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate the Filipino
World War II Veterans Parole Program (FWVP).
“Over the past two years, the Trump
administration has repeatedly attacked immigrants, and once again, its
anti-immigrant disposition is reflected in this harmful and unnecessary
action to end a program that helps elderly World War II veterans—who are
now in their late 80s and 90s—reunite with their children and siblings.
By abruptly and cruelly terminating this program nearly two years
early, you are breaking yet another promise to Filipino World War II
veterans and denying them the relief they deserve for their service to
our country. We strongly urge you to reverse your decision to keep these
veterans separated from their families by ending the Filipino World War
II Veterans Parole Program,” the Senators wrote.
Filipino veterans were granted citizenship in
recognition of their service to the United States during World War II.
Many of their children, however, were not. Due to the volume of
immigrant visa applications from the Philippines, it can take more than
20 years for families to be reunited. Under the FWVP program, the adult
children of Filipino World War II veterans, along with their spouses and
children under age 21, can finally be together in the United States
while they await an available immigrant visa. Senator Hirono was instrumental in creating the program in 2016 and encouraged the Trump Administration to continue the program in an April 2017 letter.
In July, Senator Hirono met for a second time with the Milla Family –
the first family in Hawaii to benefit from the FWVP program in 2017.
After waiting more than 20 years for an immigrant visa, the FWVP program
enabled Jeorge Milla to be reunited with his mother in Hawaii while
awaiting his visa. Jeorge and his wife Juseline are now employed in
Hawaii, their two daughters Jasmine and Jeraldine are attending college,
and they have all earned their green cards.
In May, Senator Hirono reintroduced bipartisan,
bicameral legislation to build on the FWVP program to reunite Filipino
World War II veterans with their families in the United States. Senator
Hirono has introduced the bipartisan legislation in the 113th, 114th, and 115th Congresses and successfully added it as an amendment to the Senate’s 2013 bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill, S. 744, which passed the Senate.
Joining Senator Hirono on the letter to Acting
Director Cuccinelli are U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.),
Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif),
Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Catherine Cortez
Masto (D-Nev.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth
Warren (D-Mass), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif)
The full text of the letter to Acting Director Cuccinelli is available here and below:
The Honorable Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II Acting Director U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services U.S. Department of Homeland Security 20 Massachusetts Avenue NW M.S. 2090 Washington, D.C. 20529 |
Dear Acting Director Cuccinelli:
We write to express our serious concerns about
your recent decision to terminate the Filipino World War II Veterans
Parole Program. Over the past two years, the Trump administration has
repeatedly attacked immigrants, and once again, its anti-immigrant
disposition is reflected in this harmful and unnecessary action to end a
program that helps elderly World War II veterans—who are now in their
late 80s and 90s—reunite with their children and siblings. By abruptly
and cruelly terminating this program nearly two years early, you are
breaking yet another promise to Filipino World War II veterans and
denying them the relief they deserve for their service to our country.
We strongly urge you to reverse your decision to keep these veterans
separated from their families by ending the Filipino World War II
Veterans Parole Program.
In 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) created this program to reunite aging veterans with
their children and siblings, in recognition of “the extraordinary
contributions and sacrifices of Filipino veterans who fought for the
United States during World War II” and the benefits of enabling “such
elderly veterans and their spouses to obtain care and support from their
family members abroad.” World War II ended nearly 75 years ago, and yet
these veterans still have not received the full benefits they were
promised. Today, there are fewer than 6,000 surviving Filipino veterans,
and many are still waiting to reunite with their children.
During World War II, more than 260,000 Filipino
soldiers answered the United States’ call to arms to fight for the
United States. These Filipino soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder with
U.S. servicemembers, and many of them died in fierce and bloody battles.
The sacrifices of these valiant Filipino soldiers played a critical
role in the war’s outcome. Despite their bravery, honor, and service
under the U.S. flag, Filipino World War II veterans were not awarded
U.S. citizenship until President George H.W. Bush signed the Immigration
Act of 1990 – more than 40 years after they risked their lives for our
Nation.
Moreover, when these veterans became citizens,
they were separated from their children and certain family members who
were caught in the backlog of immigration visas, which exceeds twenty
years. This meant that, even though their family members were approved
for family-based immigrant visas, these elderly veterans were forced to
wait decades to reunite with their children – years that many of them
did not have.
To address these “urgent humanitarian concerns,”
USCIS established the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program to
allow the elderly Filipino veterans to petition for humanitarian parole
for certain family members who have been approved for family-based
immigrant visas but are stuck in the current visa backlog. Under the
program, if USCIS determines that these family members meet the
conditions of the program and “merit a favorable exercise of
discretion,” it may issue parole so that the family members “may wait in
the United States until they are able to adjust status under existing
immigration laws.” The initial period for the program was set for five
years, subject to renewal. At minimum, these families expected to be
able to submit applications for at least five years—or until June 7,
2021, as USCIS had previously confirmed.
We were deeply troubled to learn, however, that
USCIS recently decided to prematurely terminate the Filipino World War
II Veterans Parole Program by claiming that such an action is
“consistent with Executive Order (E.O.) 13767” that was issued in
January 2017, and helps “better ensure that parole is used only on a
case-by-case basis.” And in announcing its intent to end this program,
USCIS inaccurately described the program as a “categorical parole
program” that allows individuals to “skip the line and bypass the proper
channels established by Congress.” Such claims not only conflict with
USCIS’s own description of the program in the Federal Register, they
also conflict with USCIS’s actual implementation of the program.
Congress provided authority for USCIS to
implement the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program in 8 U.S.C.
1182, which allows for discretionary parole “on a case-by-case basis for
urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.” In
establishing the program, USCIS made clear that “[i]n all cases, whether
to parole a particular individual under this policy is a discretionary
determination that will be made on a case-by-case basis” and those with
“overriding adverse factors (e.g., criminal history) would not be approved.”
USCIS further recognized that “the parole of
qualified applicants who establish on a case-by-case basis that they are
eligible for consideration under this policy and merit a favorable
exercise of discretion would generally yield a “significant public
benefit” and “would often address urgent humanitarian concerns.” And the
fact that USCIS has denied 32 percent of applications for parole
confirms that it is implementing the program on a case-by-case basis,
rather than a “categorical” basis.
Moreover, the program has nothing to do with the
stated purpose of E.O. 13767, which purported to “secure the Nation’s
southern border” and address immigrants who entered the United States
without screening or authorization. By contrast, the Filipino World War
II Veterans Parole Program focuses on certain family members of veterans
who have already been approved for visas.
These Filipino World War II veterans served our
country with great courage and deep loyalty. They deserve our respect
and gratitude. We ask that you rescind your decision to terminate a
program that “recognizes the extraordinary contributions and sacrifices
of Filipino veterans who fought for the United States during World War
II.”
In addition, in light of the concerns noted
above, please provide responses to the following questions no later than
September 26, 2019:
1. In deciding whether to
terminate the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program, what
assessments did you conduct to determine the impact of terminating the
program on veterans, including how many elderly Filipino veterans will
never be able to reunite with their children without this program given
the current immigrant visa backlog?
2. Did you consult with the
Department of Health and Human Services, or relevant state and local
agencies, to determine whether terminating the program would result in
increased costs to provide the care and support for elderly Filipino
veterans that a family member would have provided under the program?
3. Did you consult with the
Department of Defense to determine whether the “the extraordinary
contributions and sacrifices of Filipino veterans who fought for the
United States during World War II” that justified this program are no
longer valid before deciding to terminate the program?
4. Given that this program had
already set an initial timeline of five years, which ends on June 7,
2021, please (a) explain the reasons justifying your decision to expend
resources to prematurely terminate the program now, and (b) identify the
new termination date of the program.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
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