Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced legislation that would allow military personnel’s immediate family members to become permanent residents of the United States. This legislation provides a relief to legal immigrants who serve in the armed forces.
The Military Families Act (S. 2757) would instruct the Department of Homeland Security to adjust the status of the parent or child of military personnel to that of lawful permanent resident. This includes those presently in active military service and those who are serving or who have served honorably as a member of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The law would also apply to immediate family members of anyone injured or killed in the line of duty in those conflicts as well as children of Filipino World War II veterans.
“It is bad enough that millions of legal immigrants are separated from their loved ones because of visa application backlogs and other bureaucratic road blocks. But it is an outright dishonor to keep the men and women who protect this country apart from their families, even when they are not deployed,” said Asian American Justice Center senior staff attorney Ronald Lee. ♦