Congress may allow bereavement visas
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
An increasingly stringent immigration policy has prompted a push in Congress to loosen restrictions that have barred entry to the United States for grieving families trying to reunite with dead or dying loved ones.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, yesterday introduced a bill for the "Compassionate Visitor Visa Act," to ease the issuance of a visa for nationals of other countries to enter the United States in cases of terminal illness or death of their relatives.
Co-sponsors include Case's congressional delegation colleague Neil Abercrombie, as well as representatives from Guam, California and New York.
In Hawai'i, Case said, the problem seems especially acute among Filipinos, where many immigrant families have left close kin behind in their native country. Case said his staff hears of sad episodes once every month or so.
State Rep. Felipe "Jun" Abinsay, whose Kalihi-Sand Island district includes a large Filipino population, said it's even more common than that.
"I get a call at least once a month — sometimes in one month there are three, four, five," Abinsay said. "I go sometimes to the hospital to show my support ... to say, 'Hang on, we're trying to get your loved one here.'
"When I leave the hospital, I am very emotional," he said. "What can I do, except call their congressman?"
One of the stories that haunts Case and others is the experience of Francis and Erlinda Mayos, who live in Sarrat, a town in the Philippine province of Ilocos Norte.
On July 30, 2002, they got the wrenching news that their 27-year-old daughter, Gloria Gorospe, had been murdered at her Pepe'ekeo home on the Big Island. Her husband, Warlito C. Gorospe, was later charged with the crime.
The Mayoses have been unable to convince American authorities to let them into the country for one last visit.
They have tried repeatedly to gain visas, making a half-dozen 18-hour bus rides to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, only to have their applications turned down every time.
First, they were barred from attending the funeral, which had to go on without them, and then from seeing their granddaughter, who just turned 5.
"She's a wonderful girl," said the granddaughter's foster mother, Mary Ann Rogers of Pepe'ekeo, referring to young Amber Gorospe. "These grandparents deserve to know that first hand."
Case said there are many other sad stories, citing examples of daughters kept from their dying mothers in Hawai'i, and terminally ill sisters barred from a last reunion with siblings.
The problem began in the mid-1990s, when concern over non-immigrant visitors defaulting on the visa agreement led to a change in immigration law, Case said. A "presumption clause" was added, which means the government presumes applicants will violate their visa deadline. Applicants now must persuade consular authorities that they have sufficiently strong ties to their homeland. The bill would eliminate that clause in cases of family emergency visits.
Overcoming that presumption usually requires demonstrating sufficient bonds of employment, family and property ownership as proof of intent to return home, Case said, and sometimes even then applications will be denied.
Moreover, he said, the current climate of fear arising from the 2001 terrorist strikes against the United States have added another layer of suspicion on those seeking entry to the country.
The Mayoses appear to lack enough money to demonstrate they are not fleeing for a better life, said Rogers, who has had frequent phone conversations with them.
"In the end we learned it's because they're poverty-stricken, and the government fears that they won't return," she said.
Case said that although the bill is not expected to make much progress in the final months of the current congressional session, he would work during the interim to persuade Bush administration officials and others in Congress that the bill would not compromise security.
Applicants deemed a risk through Department of Homeland Security screening would not be granted any leeway through this act, he said.
"This is not a security issue," he said. "Somebody can be the richest person and apply for a compassionate temporary visa, and if they don't pass the basic test, they don't come in."
Back in Ilocos Norte, the Mayoses have awakened to another day of grieving for their daughter and longing for their granddaughter, Rogers said — pain that can't be assuaged thousands of miles away from Alae Cemetery, where Gorospe is buried.
"It's not going to be put to rest until they can go to her grave," she said.
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
