American Families United is a national non-profit organization comprised of US citizens and permanent residents sponsoring spouses and children for immigration. American Families United works with families to identify specific legislative reforms and asks the US Senate and House of Representatives to enact them.

CIR ASAP Act Introduced: Great Step Forward for Family Unity

December 15, 2009 - Congressman Ortiz and 91 co-sponsors introduced HR 4321, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009. For the first time ever, all of our urgent issues are addressed in one bill.

As constituents and voters, American Families United applauds Congressman Ortiz, Congressman Gutierrez and other co-sponsors of the bill for their strong support of family values, and we urge the Chairwoman of the Immigration Subcommittee in the House of Representatives to include these family values reforms in the final comprehensive immigration reform bill to come out of committee.

The full text of the bill is available at the Library of Congress:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.4321:

Our issues are addressed in the following sections of the bill:
End Stepchild Deportation - sections 311 and 312
Reform Hardship Waivers - sections 304 and 305
Reunite Green Card Spouses - section 302
Improve Name Check Delays - section 604

A detailed analysis of these sections of the bill will be posted in the relevant issue groups.

Denied! An Immigration Story of Faith and Hope

December 3, 2009 -- Keith Campbell began marketing his book, "Denied!". Long-time members may remember Keith and Akiko in the press two years ago. Now is your chance to read the full story of their 10-year, bitter fight to be together, and maybe pick up a copy for a friend as well, to help educate the public about the reality that faces far too many families today.

Denied! is available on Amazon.com

P.S. Please don't forget to sign on to www.igive.com/afu before making your purchase to earn a donation to American Families United.

LOVE and DOCUMENTS @ the Egyptian Theater -Hollywood-tickets now online!!

November 30, 2009 - For those in Los Angeles, our short (puppet) documentary highlighting the waiver issue was accepted to the 6th Annual Artivist Film Festival! Ben Fine, the director, will be there for Q & A afterwards!

DHS Secretary Nepolitano Starts Push for Immigration Reform

November 14, 2009 - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Nepolitano said in a speech today that President Obama has asked her to take a lead role is pushing for immigration reform early next year. Statements from some key players in Congress were reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Holiday fundraiser

We've made great strides this year, and we want to keep going in 2010 until all our urgent issues are solved. In addition to the support of the Circle of Hope, we need to raise $17,000 to enable us continue to help more families by:

* Keeping a seat at the table in Washington, DC
* Enabling our volunteers to organize to push through laws

As soon as we meet this goal, we plan to organize our next national lobby day.

P.S. You can also donate by shopping.

Thank you Congressman Honda

September 23, 2009 - American Families United would like to thank Congressman Honda for his recent op-ed in Roll Call where he speaks up for families and mentions two of our Circle of Hope members, Aung and Vivek.

VICTORY: WIDOW'S PENALTY ENDED!

October 21, 2009 - Congress approved a measure to end the Widow's Penalty yesterday. It will be singed into law shortly. Read the NY Times article for more information.

We are so excited that this bill has passed, both for the families affected, and for the implications for immigration reform -- Congress has just shown that it can get things done.

American Families United is proud to have supported this legislation, but the real credit goes to an attorney named Brent Renison, who led the effort for 6 years with Surviving Spouses Against Deportation. Please don't be shy in going to the website and sending Brent a note of thanks for his hard work on behalf of his clients and all American families!

ACTION ALERT - SENATE BILL NEGOTATIONS, HOUSE BILL STARTS

September 3, 2009 - Senator Schumer is very engaged in bi-partisan negotiations to finalize the Senate immigration reform bill. Those negotiations are expected to extend past labor day, but we hope to see a bill by the end of this month.

In the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Lofgren has begun to draft a similar immigration reform bill.

Over the past two months, we've come together to urge Senators and Congressmen to include our families. We've raised thousands of dollars for professional representation, we're reached out to local organizations, and we've met legislators and their staff directly in home offices.

Our efforts are paying off. We are pleased to report that both Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Lofgren understand our issues and are sympathetic.

We are optimistic that we will see solutions to all of urgent issues that currently divide families in one of these bills (except the ending widow's penalty, which we hope will be addressed earlier).

But we're not there yet. The legislative process is long and complicated, and we have a lot to do in the coming months. Please join with us today to bring back family values in immigration.

Special Extenstion for Late Reporting of Foreign Bank Accounts is September 23, 2009

Many people do not know that you are required to report foreign bank accounts (in many cases, this includes foreign retirement accounts). The deadline for filing for 2008 has passed, but the IRS has issued a memo with a special extension and reduced penalties for filing for previous years. Please see the Question and Answer publications for more information:

FAQs Regarding Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
Voluntary Disclosure Questions and Answers

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