From The DOMA Project Facebook page: For the first time in U.S. history, a marriage based green card petition filed by a gay couple has been APPROVED.
Green card petition filed by gay couple is APPROVED
Impact of DOMA decision – Binational couples and immigration
Today’s ruling by the US Supreme Court on the unconstitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act will have sweeping effects on many levels for married gay and lesbian couples. Among those will be the ability to apply for a green card for foreign national spouses.
Via Immigration Equality:
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling striking down a core provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), lesbian and gay Americans will now be eligible to apply for green cards on behalf of their foreign national spouses, the organization Immigration Equality announced today. The court ruled today, in United States v. Windsor, that Section 3 of DOMA, which prohibited the federal government from conferring benefits to married same-sex couples, is unconstitutional. That provision of the law made it impossible for lesbian and gay couples to receive immigration benefits, including green cards.
“At long last, we can now tell our families that yes, they are eligible to apply for green cards,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality. “Many of our families have waited years, and in some cases decades, for the green card they need to keep their families together. Couples forced into exile will be coming home soon. Americans separated from their spouses are now able to prepare for their reunion. Today’s ruling is literally a life-changing one for those who have suffered under DOMA and our discriminatory immigration laws.”
Obama administration wants same-sex binational couples included in immigration reform
Aboard Air Force One en route to Las Vegas, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about the omission of same-sex binational couples from the Senate’s immigration reform proposal.
Carney’s reply, according to transcript:
Q: Gay rights advocated were disappointed that the Senate framework did not include extending immigration benefits for same-sex couples. Is that a problem for the President and the administration?
CARNEY: The President believes that it should be included and that should come as no surprise. As we’ve said all along, this is consistent with the principles he has laid out over the last four years. And the President has long believed that Americans with same-sex partners from other countries should not be faced with the painful choice between staying with the person they love or staying in the country they love. And the President’s position on this is consistent with how we’ve approached prosecutorial discretion at DHS and others. So I think it should not be a surprise and it would be entirely inconsistent not to have that position.
UPDATE: Here’s a link to full transcript of President Obama’s speech on immigration reform in Las Vegas.
President Obama to introduce immigration reform plan today
Today President Obama will introduce his immigration reform plan and LGBT couples are expected to be included. However gay immigration is not addressed in the Senate plan. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:
A Democratic source said: “Same-sex couples will be part of his proposal.” A second source confirmed that, unlike the Senate framework released Monday, same-sex bi-national couples — those with one American and one foreign partner — will be included in the White House principles.
The decision by Obama seeks to remedy what advocates for same-sex couples view as one of the most searing inequalities under the existing federal limit on marriage to one man and one woman: LGBT American citizens simply have no way to confer citizenship on their romantic partners, something that is automatic — if not always simple — for straight couples.
Under current law, such same-sex couples, even when married under state law, are not eligible for the green cards that opposite-sex couples can receive. Foreign partners of same-sex couples have in the past found their green card applications denied — often forcing couples to separate or move abroad.
On CBS This Morning, Sen. John McCain made his position clear saying that inclusion of LGBT couples in the immigration reform bill is “not of paramount importance.”
(source)
Homeland Security issues written guidelines regarding deportation of binational same-sex couples
The Obama administration has issued written guidelines to immigration officials whose job it is to determine potential deportation cases regarding same-sex relationships.
The guidelines indicate three criteria, the Washington Blade‘s Chris Johnson reports:
Same-sex relationships that rise to the level of “family relationships” are long-term, same-sex relationships in which the individuals:
• are each other’s sole domestic partner and intend to remain so indefinitely;
• are not in a marital or other domestic relationship with anyone else; and typically maintain a common residence
• and share financial obligations and assets.
(via Towleroad)
Obama administration stops deporting DREAM Act-Eligible Immigrants
The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives.
Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if:
• they were brought to the United States before they turned 16
• are younger than 30
• have been in the country for at least five continuous years
• have no criminal history
• graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED or served in the military
They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed.
The policy will not lead toward citizenship but will remove the threat of deportation and grant the ability to work legally, leaving eligible immigrants able to remain in the United States for extended periods.
Only those individuals who can prove through verifiable documentation that they meet these criteria will be eligible for deferred action. Individuals will not be eligible if they are not currently in the United States and cannot prove that they have been physically present in the United States for a period of not less than 5 years immediately preceding today’s date.
I personally support this policy change. These kids were brought to the US by family, not by choice. If they fit the above criteria, then they are law abiding people for whom the US is their home. They should be given the opportunity to remain.
Attorney General Holder Vacates Immigration Decision Based on DOMA
From MetroWeekly: Attorney General Eric Holder today filed a very rare decision, vacating a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals related to the application of Paul Wilson Dorman, in which the BIA applied Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act to a pending case.
Holder writes: Pursuant to my authority set forth in 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(h)(1)(i), I order that the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“Board”) in this case applying Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), 1 U.S.C. § 7, be vacated, and that this matter be referred to me for review.
Attorney Lavi Soloway – a co-founder of Immigration Equality – has been one of the leading attorney-advocates on the issue of asking the government to exercise that discretion. Soloway tells Metro Weekly in an email, “This development could be a sign that the Obama administration is looking for a way to protect gay and lesbian bi-national couples who are currently barred from the regular marriage-based immigration process by the Defense of Marriage Act.
In Holder’s decision, he goes on to state four questions that he directs the BIA to consider:
1) whether respondent’s same-sex partnership or civil union qualifies him to be considered a “spouse” under New Jersey law
2) whether, absent the requirements of DOMA, respondent’s same-sex partnership or civil union would qualify him to be considered a “spouse” under the Immigration and Nationality Act
3) what, if any, impact the timing of respondent’s civil union should have on his request for that discretionary relief
4) whether, if he had a “qualifying relative,” the respondent would be able to satisfy the exceptional and unusual hardship requirement for cancellation of removal.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services puts Bi-national Partner deportations on hold
Christopher Bentley, the spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, confirmed today that cases of foreign partners who are married to a same-sex partner and would otherwise be eligible for a green card are on hold in light of questions about the continued validity of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Bentley writes, “USCIS has issued guidance to the field asking that related cases be held in abeyance while awaiting final guidance related to distinct legal issues.”
The USCIS reached this decision in response to the administration’s Feb. 23 announcement that it no longer will defend Section 3 of DOMA in court. Were it not for Section 3 of DOMA, a U.S. citizen who is half of a same-sex bi-national married couple would be able to sponsor his or her non-citizen spouse for the purpose of obtaining a green card.
We’ll see where this goes. It’s clear the decision by the Obama Administration to not defend DOMA in court has had ripple effects since the announcement.