Attendees at a unity summit organised by the Asian American Unity Coalition (AAUC) at the Capitol in Washington DC passionately advocated with lawmakers for five important bills including one for elimination of green card backlog.
These bills encompassed critical areas such as discrimination, civil rights, hate crime prevention, immigration, and the promotion of Asian American history education, according to an AAUC press release.
Eliminating Backlogs Act (HR 1535) will eliminate the backlog of permanent resident visas or green cards, which affects 1.6 million in the waiting list, of which 1.1. million are from the Indian community.
READ: Push for including AANHPI history curricula in New York public schools (May 25, 2023)
Once enacted, the bill will use the unused visa numbers in the past years for those in the waiting list. It is a bipartisan bill. So far only 10 members of House of Representatives have signed.
Congressional and Senate Offices were visited by AAUC officials as well as the attendees to promote the legislative agenda
The inaugural 2023 National AANHPI Unity Summit from Sep 25 to 27 served as a crucial platform for Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) organizations and leaders to come together and collaborate on pressing community issues, the release stated.
READ: White House releases national strategy for AANHPI communities (January 17, 2023)
The event drew over a 100 diverse and multigenerational crowd of AANHPI community leaders.
Four other bills advocated for were: Teach Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Act (H.R. 3434 and S. 1702); Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act (S. 129); Afghan Adjustment Act (H.R. 4627 and S. 2327); Preemption of Real Property Discrimination Act (H.R. 3697).
Several distinguished individuals received recognition for their outstanding contributions during the summit:
US Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Dilip Singh Saund Political Leadership Award; US Rep. Grace…
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