"The elimination of those family-based categories, that's huge," said Timothy Wheelwright, past chairman of the Utah Chapter American Immigration Lawyers Association. "Simply, it's going to mean that a family member is going to have to find some other way to get to the United States."

The change would "better balance the importance of family connections with the economic needs of our country by replacing the current system, where nearly two-thirds of green cards are awarded to relatives of U.S. citizens, with a system in which future family immigration will focus on the nuclear family and parents," the statement said.

Moroney said the bill still needs to be evaluated "word for word" but it seems to be biased against family concerns.

"If we need workers, fine, do something to fix the employment side," she said. "We don't do it by punishing the families."

At a news conference Friday at the Bennett Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake City, members of the Latino community group ACELA handed more than 6,850 signatures calling for comprehensive immigration reform to representatives of Utah's congressional delegation.

"This is the best opportunity we have," said Rolando Murillo, a member of ACELA. Yet, he also expressed concerns about the elimination of the family reunification visa.

"We all know that Utah as a state emphasizes the unity of family," he said. "We'd like these congressmen to keep this in mind.... The No. 1 priority should be the family."

Regardless of what Congress decides, Lazalde says his brother likely still has years to wait. Based on the State Department's Current Visa Bulletin, applications filed for green cards for Mexican siblings of citizens in 1994 are currently being processed.

The bill could speed that wait, according to the White House statement, which says the current backlog for family-reunification visas would be eliminated within eight years.

However, Moroney was skeptical of that provision.

"I don't believe that," she said. "If they're not going to increase the number of family immigration visas, people are going to stay in line."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com