New York City – Bergenfield council president Arvin Amatorio (D) expressed elation over Pres. Trump’s decision to give a path to citizenship for some 1.8 million youth under the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“Dreamers should have a path to citizenship. I also agree that visa lottery may not be in our best interests. But instead of removing the ability to petition parents, the law may just be amended to just instead remove the brothers and sisters category because the waiting period is very long anyway,” said Amatorio, an immigration lawyer by profession.
Gov. Phil Murphy with NJ residents during the recent Women’s March. (Google photo)
Bergenfield in New Jersey is home to the largest Filipino population, followed by Jersey City. In the East Coast, New Jersey is home to the largest Filipino immigrant community (110,650 pop.), followed by New York (83,313 pop.).
On Tuesday, Pres. Trump said he will give Dreamers a path to citizenship during his first State of the Union address. He likewise added more stringent immigration policies such as the abolition of the lottery of Green Cards and limiting petitions for spouses and children only. DACA recipients and other immigrants would likely not be able to petition their parents and siblings in the Trump administration.
New York Post columnist F.H. Buckley wrote that Trump’s restrictionist policy of admitting only spouses and minor children and not parents and siblings will take in about 200,000 new immigrants under the family-based petitions per year instead of the usual 600,000.
New Jersey has several sanctuary cities and plans to establish a state agency geared toward aiding undocumented immigrants. “Dreamers are every bit as American as my four kids,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a recent campaign debate with outgoing Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno in Newark as he emphasized that New Jersey will continue to open its doors to undocumented immigrants.
“The purpose of the family based petition is to promote family unity. This has been a long held American tradition. Instead of breaking families apart, immigration law should strengthen this values by putting safety nets to make sure the intending immigrants are ready to integrate with the community,” Amatorio further said.
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