IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: NEW YORK TIMES, OTHER NATIONAL OUTLETS PROFILE SENATOR HIRONO'S JUDICIARY HEARING ON WOMEN, FAMILIES IN IMMIGRATION REFORM

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle and a number of others outlets profiled Senator Hirono’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on how immigration reform should address the needs of women and families.  

An immigrant herself, Hirono took the rare opportunity as a freshman senator to chair a full committee hearing and argued for reforms that reunify families, cut backlogs and provide basic protections for immigrants.

You can watch video of Senator Hirono’s opening statement here - youtu.be/aRCC-ffxwxM - and check out the Times’ coverage below:

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony Monday afternoon arguing that the H-1B visa program, which covers highly skilled temporary foreign workers, often in high-tech fields, discriminates against women.

The hearing, which was devoted to issues women face in the immigration process, also focused on family reunification, and ways to help families — and women specifically — integrate into the legal immigration system.

“I don’t think we should be setting up an either-or proposition — even the most highly skilled immigrants, they have families, too,” said Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, referring to what she described as a false, “either-or” choice between family-based immigration and high-skilled immigration. “This is all about doing the kind of immigration reform that really supports the values we have in this country, and one of the values we have in this country is that family is important.”

Read the entire piece here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/us/politics/gender-bias-seen-in-visas-for-skilled-workers.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&pagewanted=print