Zoe Lofgren: “this amendment deals with striking the family immigration sections of the bill in order to address these issues in a…”

“this amendment deals with striking the family immigration sections of the bill in order to address these issues in a more seemly and deliberative manner, and I agree with that. If we are for family values, we need to value families; and that is what the Berman amendment would do. However, disapproval of the Berman amendment will also have implications for the business community. I recently received a letter from a Mr. Yao, who lives in Mountain View, CA. I cannot read his whole letter, but I can excerpt from it. He is a senior scientist at his company, an American company, and is originally from China. When he started with the company, it was a very small company, but it has since experienced rapid growth and expansion. Its products are well received. In fact, the company received an award for outstanding achievement from the White House. The major reason why the company has done so well is that Mr. Yao has designed all of the antennas that the company sells and in fact is the holder of a number of patents. However, a few years ago, he missed his daughter in China so much that he was going to take his patients and go home to China. However, the company, fearing to lose him and to lose their business, petitioned to make him a permanent resident so that his daughter could come here. He wrote to me to say that she is now 30 years old, and he is desperate to see her, but she cannot come for a visit because of the pending application.”