The Honorable Harry Reid

522 Hart Senate Office Building
District of Columbia 20510-2803
Phone: (202) 224-3542
Fax: (202) 224-7327

333 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, Nevada 89101
Phone: (702) 388-5020
Fax: (702) 388-5030

On behalf of the below-named organizations, we write to urge you to push for the passage of
the Uniting American Families Act (S 424, HR 1024) this year. 

The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) allows Americans to sponsor their foreign national partners for residency in the United States, and end the unconscionable choice those Americans are currently forced to make:  A choice between the family they love and their country they call home.

Current immigration laws have negative and often devastating consequences for families. An estimated 36,000 LGBT binational couples are facing imminent separation or exile because of discriminatory U.S. immigration laws.  Nearly half of those – 46% – are raising children.  There are many binational families living here in Nevada. For all of them, time is of the essence as they struggle to remain together in the United States.  For too long, lesbian and gay Americans have been unable to sponsor their partners for legal residency in the U.S. and, as a result, tens of thousands of binational families are either already living separately, face imminent separation, or have left the United States entirely in order to remain together.  Our existing, discriminatory immigration laws hurt not only those individuals, but also their extended families, communities, and employers as well.

We also urge you to support UAFA as part of comprehensive immigration reform.  America’s immigration system impacts everyone – citizens and non-citizens, families and individuals, and those who are gay and straight – and truly comprehensive reform must leave no one behind.  Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people must be part of our country’s commitment to family unification, and our families, and loved ones, must be part of this much-needed reform, too.

Our community stands ready, and willing, to fully support an inclusive legislative effort which leaves no family, and no immigrant, behind.

Sincerely,