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Posted on Advocate.com April 06, 2011
Senators Make Immigration Push
By Andrew Harmon
Immigration rights for gays and lesbians — easily the most visible issue in
the current fight against the Defense of Marriage Act — got a boost on
Wednesday when a contingent of senators called for an end to deportations
faced by married binational same-sex couples.
The 12 Democratic senators, who include John Kerry of Massachusetts and
Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, wrote in a Wednesday letter to Atty. Gen.
Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano that
deportations of gay spouses should be suspended.
In light of the Obama administration's February announcement that it
considered DOMA to be unconstitutional, they also asked for immigration
officials to suspend green card applications for such married couples where
a spouse is a noncitizen — a move that could prevent deportations until the
law is repealed or settled in the courts.
"We ask the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to hold marriage-based
immigration petitions in abeyance pending a legislative repeal or a final
determination on DOMA litigation. In addition, we ask DHS to exercise
prosecutorial discretion in commencing and prosecuting removal proceedings
against married noncitizens that would be otherwise eligible to adjust their
status to lawful permanent resident but for DOMA," the senators wrote.
"We also call upon the Department of Justice to institute a moratorium on
orders of removal issued by the immigration courts to married foreign
nationals who would be otherwise eligible to adjust their status to lawful
permanent resident but for DOMA," they added.
The senators criticized what it characterized as the "confusion and
uncertainty" from a DHS agency that only last week announced it would indeed
hold such cases pending further legal guidance.
Yet two days later, the agency, Citizenship and Immigration Services, said
there would be no further hold on cases involving gay married couples, after
it had received instructions from Department of Homeland Security attorneys
.
The letter follows what both immigration advocates and a small group of
House members have requested from the administration in recent weeks
regarding a reprieve from deportations for such couples.
At least one couple, Henry Velandia and Josh Vandiver, face impending
deportation proceedings. Velandia, a Venezuelan citizen, married his
American spouse in 2009 in Connecticut, is scheduled for a deportation
hearing in May.
The full text of the letter:
Dear Mr. Attorney General and Madam Secretary:
We applaud the President’s decision to no longer defend the Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court. The law discriminates against a class
of Americans, raising fundamental questions of over basic civil rights.
However, the administration is still enforcing DOMA, because it is the law
of the land.
Five states plus the District of Columbia, have granted same-sex couples the
right to get married. With DOMA as law, however, we are creating a tier of
second-class families in these states that have authorized same-sex marriage.
The same second-class status is imposed upon marriages between same-sex
partners in which one spouse is not a U.S. citizen. The new administration
policy has created confusion and uncertainty in the immigration context. In
recent days, the administration issued conflicting statements about how it
will consider immigration petitions from same-sex married couples seeking
immigration benefits for a non-citizen spouse. As of March 30, 2011, U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services clarified that marriage-based petitions
will be considered under current law, with DOMA preventing recognition of
otherwise-valid and lawful same-sex marriages.
We urge you to reconsider this position in light of the administration’s
position that it will no longer defend DOMA in federal court. Specifically,
we ask the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to hold marriage-based
immigration petitions in abeyance pending a legislative repeal or a final
determination on DOMA litigation. In addition, we ask DHS to exercise
prosecutorial discretion in commencing and prosecuting removal proceedings
against married noncitizens that would be otherwise eligible to adjust their
status to lawful permanent resident but for DOMA. We also call upon the
Department of Justice to institute a moratorium on orders of removal issued
by the immigration courts to married foreign nationals who would be
otherwise eligible to adjust their status to lawful permanent resident but
for DOMA.
Preserving family unity is a fundamental American value and is also the
cornerstone of our nation’s immigration law. Thank you for your
consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
John Kerry
Patrick Leahy
Barbara Boxer
Ron Wyden
Christopher Coons
Jeff Merkley
Kirsten Gillibrand
Sherrod Brown
Daniel Akaka
Daniel Inouye
Sheldon Whitehouse
Frank Lautenberg
[United States Senators]
Immigration Equality executive director Rachel B. Tiven's statement:
“Immigration Equality, and the families we represent, are enormously
grateful to Senator Kerry and his colleagues for calling on the
Administration to keep our families together. Unless USCIS changes course,
real families will be impacted, and American citizens will be separated from
their loved ones. Maintaining the status quo for these families will mean
forcing them apart, or into exile. We call on USCIS to heed the advice of
Senator Kerry, and the other signatories on today’s letter, and allow these
loving, committed couples to remain together.”
Statement by Lavi Soloway of Stop the Deportations:
"I am grateful for Senator Kerry's leadership and for the support of all
twelve Senators who have responded to this desperate need of all gay and
lesbian binational couples for interim remedies that will ensure their
families are not torn apart. I applaud the courage of those couples who have
raised the profile of this issue in recent months through their
determination to fight for their marriages and against deportations. The
administration must immediately heed the call to protect married gay and
lesbian binational couples from deportation, separation and exile. It is
vitally important that DOMA related deportation proceedings be terminated or
adjourned, that a moratorium on removal orders be instituted and that no
petitions or applications for permanent resident status filed by married gay
and lesbian couples be denied because of this unconstitutional law. The
Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice must move
swiftly to develop policy in response to this letter to prevent imminent
deportation in numerous pending cases." | L*******e
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我觉得这个异国婚姻会先于联邦婚解决。 |
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