WASHINGTON, September 15, 2003 -- In an effort to make it easier for immigrant families to reunite, Cong. Charles Rangel today announced an initiative to lower the income standards required for sponsoring family members for entry into the U.S.

"Many immigrant families who have met every other test to qualify to bring their families to join them in this country are blocked by an arbitrary income standard," Cong. Rangel said.  ""This legislation would reduce the requirement and make it easier for more families to be reunited. In reality, unless they are children, most new immigrants are income earners who will actually increase the family's resources."

Under current law, petitioners to sponsor a family member for entry into the U.S. must prove that their household income will not drop below 125 percent of the poverty line (or $15,150 a year) with the addition of a new family member.  The new legislation would lower the income requirement to 100 percent of the poverty line (or $12,120) with the addition of a loved one.

Each year, large numbers of immigrants living in the U.S. are prevented from successfully sponsoring loved ones because of the income requirement. Cong. Rangel is the major backer of the corrective legislation, sponsored by Cong. Anthony Weiner of New York.  The bill will be introduced later this week.

The legislation would apply to immigrants from all nations, and would have a great impact in New York, which boasts one of the most concentrated immigrant populations in the U.S. In Cong. Rangel's District in Upper Manhattan, individuals from the Dominican Republic, elsewhere in the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as Africa would be most affected. Along with leading civil rights figures and national labor unions, Cong. Rangel is also playing a major role in the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride to focus public attention on the rights and civil liberties of immigrants.

"Family separation is one of the harshest penalties paid by immigrants to our country," Cong. Rangel said. "We should do everything we can to help reunite families, rather that arbitrarily setting  standards that keep them apart."