BILL REQ. #:  H-4421.2 

Read first time 01/28/2004.   Referred to Committee on State Government.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO TOM RIDGE, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, AND TO EDUARDO AGUIRRE, JR., DIRECTOR OF THE U.S. BUREAU OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The plight of the Aganda family of Selah, Washington has touched the hearts of citizens all over the state; and
     WHEREAS, Tomas Aganda, his wife Judy Aganda, and their daughter Jennylyn Aganda face concerted and repeated efforts by the United States Government to deport this family back to the Philippines; and
     WHEREAS, The Aganda family, including sons Herbie and Khmson and daughter Stephanie, have been outstanding members of the Selah community for over a decade; and
     WHEREAS, The Aganda family lawfully entered this country on October 22, 1990, and shortly thereafter purchased a small laundry business in the Selah community; and
     WHEREAS, Judy Aganda's parents are United States citizens who live in Yakima; and
     WHEREAS, The Aganda family first sought an investor's visa so that they could stay and contribute their energy and talents to this community and Country, but were denied because the business was considered too small to support the family; and
     WHEREAS, The business is viable and has supported the family for over a decade; and
     WHEREAS, Judy Aganda has a cancerous growth at the base of her skull that requires continued treatments that would not be available to her in the Philippines; and
     WHEREAS, United States District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle, in granting a six-month stay of the deportation order, noted that the United States Government's insistence on deporting Judy Aganda, in the face of her life-threatening condition, was a "magnitude of constitutional violation that is what I regard as a manifest injustice"; and
     WHEREAS, The protection of the six-month stay will end April 17, 2004, but the need for a compassionate and reasoned resolution of this crisis remains;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the United States Government end its concerted efforts to deport the Aganda family and to instead provide them an opportunity to remain in this country, especially in light of the fact that their daughter Stephanie, who is a United States citizen, will be twenty-one years old in 2005 and will then be able to file an immigrant visa for her parents; and
     Further, That if the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, acting in concert with the Department of Homeland Security, is unwilling or unable to provide this compassionate relief, then we call upon the members of our state's congressional delegation to seek relief for the Aganda family through the passage of a private bill of relief.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, Tom Ridge, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Eduardo Aguirre, Jr., Director of the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.