CHICAGO: President Barack Obama has set his sights on overhauling the immigration laws. He has assured his good number of supporters that he would do something in the matter sooner rather than later.
A US Senate panel recently voted 82-15 to move forward on debating the comprehensive immigration reform bill, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.
This bipartisan bill is largely in response to growing public pressure to address the status of over 10 million undocumented immigrants including thousands of Indians living without proper documents in the United States. This bill includes two key provisions: 1) Extension of legal status to undocumented immigrants leading its path to U.S.
citizenship. 2) Strengthening of border security, and bolstered work programs to facilitate the hiring of both high and low skilled workers.
The assurance on immigration reforms was conveyed to Indian Americans attending a DCCC dinner reception held recently at Chicago Hilton. Close to thirty plus Indian Americans and others had an opportunity to meet and greet President Barack Obama. Among those attending were Balwinder Singh, a community activist, Iftekhar Shareef, Trustee-Chairman, Federation of Indian Associations, Vinesh Viirani of Art of Living, Sunil Shah founder President of newly set up FIA, Jagmohan Jiyara and Sunil Puri, both front ranking businessmen,
The reception was by invitation. In a private photo shoot session, Shareef asked President Obama on the Immigration Reform bill and the immediate response was that the bill would be passed within two months with the help of Republicans as Democrats presently do not have an absolute majority in the US Congress.
President Obama openly acknowledged the support of Indian Americans from the beginning of his political career as State Senator, U.S Senator and then Presidential candidate. His fantastic memory with names for his supporters was clearly in evidence when Iftekhar Shareef jokingly inquired if he had forgotten old friends or their names and the President replied quick, “I have not forgotten the names of “Fred Shareef” and “Iftekhar Shareef.” And these are the two names that Shareef is known within the Indian community
Balwinder Singh is one of the prominent Indian Americans who can claim close contact with the President. Sunil Shah has also supported Obama for years. Touching upon the DCCC reception, Sunil Shah said “It was a grand opportunity to meet the President with Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Senator Dick Durbin and several other Democratic leaders like Steny Hoyer, Bill Foster and Robin Kelly. It was enlightening and underscored our efforts getting more active in mainstream politics.”
Shareef later said, Immigration reform bill is seen as a win win situation for both Indians and others as well as USA as the former are active participants in American society and in many cases would be willing contributors to the country’s economic and political life. He observed that with legalization, high-skilled Indian immigrants will enter the legal workforce and the bill would boost US economy.
Abdul Siddiqui
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