Takai's Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Bill is Incorporated into President Obama's Visa Recommendations

Statement

Today, Congressman Mark Takai (HI-01) released the following statement after learning the first bill he introduced is incorporated into visa recommendations for President Barack Obama:

"I am extremely pleased to hear that the interagency recommendations to modernize and streamline the U.S. Immigrant Visa System include first bill I introduced in Congress, the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act. This bipartisan bill creates an exemption for the children of Filipino World War II veterans to be able to immigrate to the United States. More recently, due to Congress' failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform that passed the U.S. Senate last Congress, I also wrote a letter, and was joined by the entire Hawaii delegation and 18 other Members of Congress, to ask the President to use his executive authority to enact this exemption," Takai said.

"It is our duty to see this obligation through and take care of those who have fought for this country. I will continue be a champion for this issue and an advocate on behalf of Hawaii's citizens. These family members wish to be able to provide support, care, and be reunited with the approximately 6,000 Filipino American World War II veterans still alive. This has been an issue that the Hawaii delegation and Congress as a whole has sought to address for years. Today's announcement of these recommendations is the first significant step towards fulfilling our moral obligation to the families of Filipino servicemembers who bravely served alongside our forces in the Pacific," Takai added.

President Obama had previously directed the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to lead an interagency effort to develop recommendations to streamline and modernize the U.S. Immigrant Visa System. President Obama will now decide which recommendations to follow.

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