White House meeting on African immigrant community leaders
Sierra Leone Arc of Hope Board Members, Dr. John Sandy and Mr. Daniel Koroma attended a White House meeting on African Immigration to help shape policy on Immigration Reform specific to Africans living in the United States. The meeting took place on Friday 8/12/2011at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB).
Dr. John Sandy is Board Chairman of the Sierra Leone Arc of Hope, member of the City of Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on African and Caribbean Business Commission (ACBC).
Mr. Daniel Koroma is a Senior Fellow at the Montgomery County Executive’s Office in Maryland.
The White House reached out to key African Immigrant Community Leaders in order to redraft the immigration policy that they need to send to both houses of Congress and highlight the economic benefits of a comprehensive immigration reform. The African immigrant community would benefit from the immigration reform because of the skill sets African immigrants have developed through higher level of educational achievement. According to the US Census, African immigrants have attained the highest number of years and hold higher college degrees more than any other immigrant community within the United States.
Sierra Leoneans will especially benefit from this comprehensive immigration reform because approximately 12,000 Sierra Leoneans lost their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2006 making these individuals unlawful residents of the United States. Most of these individuals had young children, which made it unimaginable to think that they would leave their children and return to Sierra Leone. Besides, some of the skill sets they acquired in the United States are nonexistent in Sierra Leone; therefore, these families have been in such dilemmas for the past 6 years.
Fixing the broken immigration problem in the United States is an economic benefit to the country and also the right thing to do for families in such situations. More importantly, the fact that Dr. John Sandy, Mr. Daniel Koroma, and other African immigrant leaders were tapped to be at the policy table in the beginning of this process, shows President Obama’s commitment to solve the United States immigration problems and give all immigrants the opportunity to be part of the economic recovery and development for the economy.
Contact: Dr. John Sandy, Board Chairman Organization: Sierra Leone Arc of Hope, Inc. Place: Philadelphia, PA Date: August 12, 2011 Website: www.slahope.orgStay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
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