[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 87 (Thursday, June 29, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ARTICLE ON IMMIGRATION

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                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 29, 2006

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like bring to the attention of 
our colleagues in this House an opinion editorial (Baltimore Sun, May 
11, 2006), written by my constituent Stephen Nordlinger, which I submit 
for the Record. Mr. Nordlinger is a former Washington correspondent for 
the Baltimore Sun.
  Mr. Nordlinger's article highlights an issue that has received scant 
attention in the debate over immigration reform, namely the need to 
improve and streamline the process for legal immigrants to obtain a 
green card and eventually qualify for citizenship. Congress has never 
provided the funds to satisfactorily implement legislation passed in 
2000 to ease the immigration process for those who entered the country 
legally. As a result, those who played by the rules find themselves 
waiting for years in a bureaucratic maze for their applications to be 
processed. This creates the perception that those who play by the rules 
get penalized. As we work to fix our broken system, we must provide the 
resources that are necessary to ensure that individuals like Mr. Veng 
Preap, who is the subject of this article, are treated with the dignity 
and respect they deserve.

                 [From the Baltimore Sun, May 11, 2006]

                          An Immigrant's Story

                        (By Stephen Nordlinger)

       My wife and I first met Veng Preap on a sultry fall day 
     when we walked into the offices of the U.N. Educational, 
     Scientific and Cultural Organization on a busy street in the 
     center of Siem Reap, near the Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia. 
     We carried a letter from a friend of his in Washington and a 
     pile of World Bank books on international development that 
     Mr. Preap's friend suggested for him.
       Veng Preap, not his real name to protect his privacy, took 
     us everywhere to see the Angkor monuments and spent evenings 
     speaking with us about his life and such subjects as civil 
     engineering and Buddhism and his views toward organized 
     religion. He showed us the large computer maps he had made as 
     part of the effort by UNESCO to preserve the Angkor complex.
       On our final day in Siem Reap, I spoke with Mr. Preap about 
     coming to the United States. My wife and I were bowled over 
     by his abilities, especially his rich English vocabulary, for 
     someone who had never left Cambodia. We discussed sponsoring 
     Mr. Preap for a year of study in his specialty, geographic 
     information systems, a highly valued skill for producing 
     computer-based maps. Less than a year later, he arrived at 
     Towson University, its first Cambodian student.
       He is still in this country nearly 10 years later, and his 
     contribution to the United States has been substantial. He 
     has seized opportunity after opportunity for public service.
       His life here shows what a talented immigrant can 
     contribute. But at the same time, his American experience is 
     sending another clear message: how easily our government can 
     overlook such a gifted person. It is a message that Congress 
     should heed as it considers new immigration legislation.
       Mr. Preap has been waiting on line five years and counting 
     on government approval of the first step toward getting a 
     green card to realize his dream of becoming a permanent 
     resident and citizen. It is not the fault of government 
     immigration workers. Congress never provided the funds to 
     carry out legislation passed in 2000 that was intended to 
     ease the immigration process for those like Mr. Preap who had 
     entered the country legally, and there was a flood of 
     applications.
       Mr. Preap did not have to stay in this country beyond the 
     original year we planned together. But how could such a 
     hugely able person return to impoverished Cambodia, 
     especially when a long-standing dispute between UNESCO and 
     the corrupt authoritarian government had idled him for a 
     year? The Khmer Rouge killed his mother and sister when he 
     was 7. The current government allowed his wife's property 
     to be stolen.
       Mr. Preap considers himself an American even without the 
     necessary documents. He relishes speaking English. While 
     growing up in Cambodia, he pursued his desire to learn 
     English often by studying alone and by candlelight for fear 
     of being arrested or worse because such studies were banned. 
     At Towson, he insisted on living in a dormitory with American 
     students rather than in an international enclave.
       Over the past few years, he has earned a second bachelor's 
     degree in geography at Towson and a master's in computer 
     science at Strayer University. He has volunteered for more 
     than 6 years to teach computers to poor Americans and 
     foreigners. He worked for the Voice of America broadcasting 
     to Cambodia. He helped film a documentary on the tsunami 
     disaster. And he helped prepare a giant map for the rotunda 
     at the National Museum of American History showing the 
     various kinds of voting machinery in the nation's election 
     districts.
       All the while, he has paid taxes on his limited income.
       Mr. Preap is a skilled computer teacher. The community 
     center where he volunteers has asked him to come two nights a 
     week because it cannot find teachers with his ability. The 
     Internet runs job offers for his skill in geographic 
     information systems.
       People speak in the abstract about immigration, and much of 
     the discussion is about the need for more farm and restaurant 
     workers. But here is an example of a hugely talented, hard-
     working immigrant being needlessly thwarted by our 
     government. Mr. Preap cannot take a job and settle down 
     because our immigration system won't let him.
       Not only are we not taking full advantage of skilled talent 
     among the immigrants, but we may be on the verge of causing 
     more disappointments, by the millions. The huge number of 
     immigrants who have come out of the shadows to demonstrate 
     for the right to become citizens may find a long, long 
     waiting line. The system is just too cumbersome and 
     underfunded.
       Unless the Bush administration and Congress provide new 
     resources, it is all too likely that broken borders will be 
     replaced by broken promises.




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