Past Campaigns

“Back of What Line?” Week of Action

The Value Our Families campaign will be launching a week of action to pressure Congress to clear the family-based immigration backlogs and reunite our families. Many people in our communities have been waiting for years, sometimes even decades, to be reunited with their families waiting abroad. From Monday, October 3 to Friday, October 7, we are leading a set of actions targeted at changing the narrative around family-based immigration, including in-person, in-district meetings with lawmakers, phone banking, digital advocacy, and more. With over 4 million people are waiting in the backlogs, we are demanding that Congress act before the end of the year.

  • Capitol Canary Office Hours

Hop onto my “Capitol Canary Office Hours” if you need help or someone to walk you through the calling/emailing/tweeting. I’ll be hosting these office hours via 30-minute zoom meetings every day between Monday 10/3-Friday 10/7 from 12:30-1pm EST / 11:30am-12pm CST / 9:30-10am PST. Here is the Zoom link to join.

  • Week of Action Social Media Toolkit

Use this social media toolkit to amplify our work during the Week of Action

Lame-Duck Session 2022

Because of a technical error, hundreds of thousands of visas that could reunify families go unused. Thanks to the work of Value our Families and many other organizations, the House and Senate FY23 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bills include policies to fix this technical problem and put about 400,000 visas back into circulation.

The diversity visas program has been in place for more than 20 years. But recent travel bans, including for COVID-19, prevented people who received them from getting their green cards. If Congress doesn’t act, these people will miss out on the once-in-a-lifetime chance at U.S. residency that was promised to them. The House and Senate FY23 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bills also include solutions for this. Failure to include these policies in the FY23 budget deal would prevent 40,000 aspiring Americans from coming to the U.S.

Join us as we urge Congress to do everything in their power to protect, preserve, and strengthen family-based immigration provisions during key budget negotiations.

  • Read the letter sent to Congress here.

  • Use Quorum to call, tweet and write a quick letter to your member of Congress here.

  • Amplify this issue on social media using our social media toolkit.

Letter to President Biden

Click to view full letter.

USCIS Fee Rule Increase

On February 28, 2023, Value Our Families, National Partnership for New Americans, and HICA Alabama hosted a live stream event where we educated eligible immigrants on the immigration service fee hikes and provided information on how to take action against them. We discussed the impact these fee hikes had on the immigrant community and provided tips on how to submit comments during the comment period, which ends on March 13, 2023.

Share your concern via NPNA’s joint microsite with a public comment form that can be filled out, personalized and submitted directly to the federal register.

Value Our Families’ Comment on USCIS

Click to view full letter.

Advocacy Week of Action

The Value Our Families Campaign hosted a webinar titled “Federal Advocacy for Family-Based Immigration.” We provided an in-depth overview of the various immigration systems: family-based, employment-based, diversity visa programs and refugee resettlement programs, and the major immigration obstacles facing folks today.

As we advocate for immigration reform that is based on compassion and justice, it is critical to understand the current state of immigration and how we can better prioritize family reunification. This briefing included speakers from Asian Americans Advancing Justice, African Communities Together, South Asian Americans Leading Together, and Church World Service.

A Comparative Look at Canada’s Points-based Immigration System and How it Impacts Families, Diversity and Low Wage Workers

The Value Our Families Campaign co-hosted with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus held this briefing titled, “A Comparative Look at Canada’s Points-based Immigration System and How it Impacts Families, Diversity and Low Wage Workers”

In recent years there has been some discussion of creating a points-based or “merit-based” immigration system similar to Canada’s, which prioritizes higher skilled and higher educated workers to the detriment of family-based immigration. This briefing by two Canadian immigration law practitioners provides an overview of the Canadian immigration system with a focus on their points-based and family-based pathways with analysis of the pros and cons of their system, including who the system works for and who is left out. Angelica Salas, Executive Director of CHIRLA provides information on the U.S. family-based immigration system as a comparison.