Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, my name is Karen Narasaki and I am the President and Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium. NAPALC is affiliated with the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York.

Thank you for inviting us to testify on the subject of Asian immigration and offer recommendations for work we hope the Subcommittee will take up in this Congress. We have extensive written testimony which we ask be submitted into the record.

Before I begin, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your leadership in the 1996 battle to preserve the family-based visa categories. Your successful support of immigration was of profound importance to our community and to the nation. NAPALC shares your belief, as you recently so eloquently stated, that "America's greatest strength remains its openness to new ideas and new people."

NAPALC is committed to fair, generous and nondiscriminatory immigration policies. Immigration policy is particularly important to Asian Americans, because about a third of the immigration to the U.S. over the last several decades has been from Asia. Many Asian immigrants are fleeing persecution and seeking political, religious and personal freedom for themselves and their families. Others seek a place where they can fully apply their talents, whether they be in arts, athletics, science or business. Still others seek to reunite with their parents, children or siblings and contribute to each other's well-being. That is why it is important that our immigration system maintain a balance between employment, family and refugee and asylum based immigration.

Family-based immigration

Family-based immigration has been the cornerstone of U.S. immigration policy for almost a century. Well over 90 percent of Asian immigration comes through the family categories. Immigrants who have entered the U.S. as adult children and brothers and sisters include countless individuals who have contributed to our nation's life and economy and served honorably in our Armed Forces.

. From small businesses to large high tech companies, Asian immigrant entrepreneurs have been a critical element in the revitalization of many communities. Many of them are sponsored into this country by their siblings or parents who immigrated earlier and became citizens.

Also, family visa policies have a direct impact on the power of America to attract skilled international personnel to compete in the global market. The ability of immigrants, refugees and asylees to become emotionally and economically stable and socially integrated into society also increases when their family members are able to be reunited with them.

For example, let us take the case of Ming Liu, a design engineer for a U.S. electronics company from China. Liu was more than meeting his employer's expectations, but he became a much better worker after his wife and child joined him in Fremont, California after a two-year wait. Liu's productivity skyrocketed and his boss noted that Liu not only was a better worker, but that he opened up at work socially as well. Liu ultimately created an innovative concept that helped the company change direction and increase sales. Liu said that the arrival of his family allowed him to "breathe again."

In Asian immigrant families, adult children often work together to take care of aging parents; grandparents take care of grandchildren while the parents work; and brothers and sisters pool resources to send nieces and nephews to college, open family businesses, and buy homes. Unfortunately, historical exclusion, and a failure to address the growing backlogs has resulted in inordinately long waits for most of these families waiting as spouses, siblings, and children, to reunite with loved ones. Close to half of the family backlogs are of individuals from Asian countries, many have been waiting 10 to 20 years to join their families here in the United States.

Because of the per country caps and the limited family quotas, American citizens petitioning for adult unmarried children from the Philippines face a wait longer than for that of legal permanent residents, which means that there is a disincentive for immigrants from the Philippines to naturalize and become citizens.

The waiting times are so long that children may become 21 years of age while their parents wait to unite with their parent or sibling. The families then must make the hard decision of leaving them behind to be put at the end of an even longer line for adult children. If petitioners become citizens and the adult children marry in the meantime, they are put at the end of yet another long line, requiring them to put their lives on hold again. The general waiting time is now 7 years for adult unmarried children of legal permanent residents.

Last year Congress took a first step in addressing one of the family backlogs. The new "V" visa category allows spouses and minor children of permanent residents who have been waiting at least three years to enter the U.S. and obtain work authorization while waiting for their green card. However, it provides only partial relief to a much larger problem. The current waiting times for family visas undermine families and their communities. NAPALC urges the subcommittee to hold hearings on the issue and develop a solution that will reunite families.

Employment-Based Visas

NAPALC supports employment-based immigration if it meets a strongly articulated need for our economy, employers work to create a longer term solution and it provides a means of adjustment to legal permanent resident status for the worker. This option is critical to ensuring that those who invest their talents here are able to put down roots in their adopted country. Consequently, NAPALC worked with Congress and the White House last year to raise the caps on the number of visas available under the H1-B program, and institute provisions that would make the program more effective for both the employers and the recruited workers.

A recent Department of Labor interim rule, however, frustrates Congressional intent of allowing these workers ability to move from one company to another so long as the new employer applies for H1-B eligibility. We ask that the subcommittee investigate the effects of this recent rule, and support efforts to ensure that Congressional intent is not thwarted.

Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Since the arrival of the pilgrims, the United States has been haven for those fleeing persecution. In recognition of that tradition, Congress passed legislation last year that provides a mechanism to allow eligible Southeast Asian immigrants, who have been in the U.S. in a temporary status as public interest parolees since the early 1990's, to become permanent residents. The INS has yet to issue any field directions or regulations; instead instructing their district offices to return any applications received. In addition, the law allows only 5,000 persons to adjust although there are an estimated 15 to 20,000 parolees who are eligible. We urge the Subcommittee to review this issue and support legislation increasing the number of visas available under this adjustment as well as to press the INS to develop and implement regulations before the end of May.

Naturalization and other Services

Also last year, Congress passed the Hmong Citizenship Act of 2000, to help the Hmong, who allied themselves with the United States military forces during the Vietnam War become naturalized citizens. The INS issued a very good guidance to their field offices last summer, but have been unable to tell us how many Hmong have qualified despite the fact that there is a quota on the number of individuals who can use the special exemption. We anticipate that the sunset date which is May this year will probably need to be extended and the ceiling raised. We urge the Subcommittee to request a report from the INS as to their progress and to hold a hearing with leaders of the Hmong community who can report directly on their experience with this program.

INS Administration

The INS continues to be one of the most dysfunctional federal agencies. Congress has failed to provide the agency with adequate resources to upgrade their systems to address the increased workload from the growing numbers of immigrants seeking citizenship and the many complex laws that were passed since 1996. Unreasonable backlogs in processing citizenship and green card applications, as well as other services, continue to persist.

Several reorganization proposals have been made to address the inherent mission conflict between the enforcement and service goals of the agency. Before moving forward, we urge the subcommittee to hold hearings, make a comprehensive study that includes a realistic assessment of the costs, and seeks input from a wide range of stakeholders. Legislation should not be supported if it doesn't include adequate appropriations for services and does not result in coherent and consistent application of our immigration laws.

Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee for this chance to address you. We look forward to working with you.