DHS Issues New, Written Guidelines for Discretionary Relief for Same-Sex Binational Families

More than a year after the Morton Memo, which issued guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents charged with determining which individuals were subject to deportation under current immigration law, the Obama Administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have unequivocally defined same-sex binational couples as "family".

While the Morton Memo implied that the definition of family should apply to same-sex binational couples, this was never officially put in writing. As long as the message to ICE agents remained unwritten, it left the actual determination if gay and lesbian couples constituted a family up to any individual agent to decide. Any agent strictly going by the book could cite the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to null and void any marriage, civil union or domestic partnership, dismiss our family relationship to our partner, and order a fast track deportation for an out-of-status spouse.

It took two letters from Congress, spearheaded by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (long-time leading co-sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act) to the Obama Administration to obtain these written guidelines. Pressure from all leading LGBT immigration rights groups and champions that continued to push for this simple, yet critical step were instrumental in this. The couples represented by Lavi Soloway of Stop the Deportations and the ensuing news coverage and grassroots support, as well as the lawsuit filed on behalf of five same-sex binational couples by Immigration Equality brought our stories into the mainstream -- and kept them there.

Make no mistake -- every same-sex binational couple who has come forward and told their story over the years contributes to these small, but highly significant changes and shifts in getting the US government to recognize our families for immigration purposes, and ultimately to repeal DOMA and accord us with all of the 1,100+ federal marriage rights.

For all of you who signed the Out4Immigration petitions demanding that the Obama Administration and DHS do something to clarify the statements made in the Morton Memo about our families and put this in writing - kudos! This was indeed part of the pressure applied.

As of today, if you are in a same-sex binational marriage, civil union or domestic partnership and you are out of status, should you find yourself in deportation proceedings, you will automatically be classified as "low priority" because of your relationship to an American citizen. There is no longer any room for the DHS or ICE to define your relationship to your American partner as anything other than "family".  

But -- our work is not done. There are still untold numbers of American citizens who have been forced to leave the US to keep their families together. These Americans living in exile deserve the right to bring their families home. There are still an estimated 40,000 same-sex binational couples here in the US right now -- the majority on visas that have an expiration date that will either force those couples into exile, or into the abyss that could land them in deportation proceedings. While guidelines have been changed to protect those who fall below the radar, that is no place anyone legally married to a US citizen should be.

Stand up and tell your story. Become a volunteer or donate to Out4Immigration and help us ensure that all same-sex binational couples and our families are treated equally under US federal and immigration laws.  

Radio Interview with Lavi Soloway and Judy Rickard

Judy Rickard, author of Torn Apart, United by Love Divided by Law, and Stop the Deportations attorney Lavi Soloway are interviewed by Marilyn Pitman from Out in the Bay.

Click here to listen to this radio broadcast, originally aired on July 12.

Lavi talks at length about the current situation for same-sex binational couples, various lawsuits, actions and directives that are all set to converge in a "post-DOMA world" we hope will come about with the reelection of President Barack Obama in November. He also speculates on what could happen should Mitt Romney become president.

Meanwhile, Judy talks about how she and her wife Karin are now clients of Lavi's and their actions of "civil disobedience" as they petition for a green card for Karin.

Victory for Monica and Cristina! Government Closes Deportation Case

BREAKING: Immigration & Customs Enforcement Closes Deportation Case Against Argentinean Lesbian, Monica Alcota, Based on Ties to Community Including Marriage to her Spouse, Cristina Ojeda

This is wonderful news. Congratulations to this couple and their attorney Lavi Soloway, founder of Stop the Deportations, for doing exactly that - stopping the deportation of Monica Alcota.

According to Lavi, "This is the first time the government has asked an immigration court to close removal proceedings against the gay or lesbian spouse of an American citizen since the formation of an inter-agency prosecutorial discretion working group began its work on November 17 with the goal of finding and closing all 'low-priority' deportation cases."

This is also the third significant high-profile victory for Lavi and clients this year. Earlier this year Out4Immigration along with Get EQUAL rallied behind the efforts of Stop the Deportation and two other couples - Henry and Josh and Alex and Doug.

Read more about Monica and Cristina's case at Stop the Deportations.

Sign and circulate the Out4Immigration petition for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to clearly state in their guidelines that married same-sex binational couples be treated as family in the eyes of immigration law. At least three times this year, sympathetic judges have ruled accordingly, as in the case of Monica and Cristina. But an unsympathetic judge could have ruled differently. We need to be specifically and clearly included in standard guidelines so that there is no room for error and a loving, committed couple cruelly torn apart.

Sign the petition here!

Cristina and Monica: Legally Married Same-Sex Binational Couple Facing Deportation

Today Freedom to Marry released a video produced in partnership with In The Life Media telling the moving story of Cristina Alcota and Monica Ojeda, who, though legally married, face deportation or separation because the so-called Defense of Marriage Act denies married same-sex couples immigration protections.

This is the reason why we need the laws in this country to change! When you are done watching the video, head over to change.org and sign all of our petitions there!

The couple are clients of attorney Lavi Soloway, who runs the DOMA Project: Stop the Deportations. Lavi has proved to be a champion for couples like Christina and Monica, and a number of Out4Immigration members have sought his advice. If you need to contact Lavi, you can do so through his website, the DOMA Project: Stop the Deportations.

Note: Cristina and Monica have appeared numerous times in the media as activists for the DOMA Project's Stop The Deportations campaign, including: CNN, New York Daily News (twice), Gay City News (twice) and NY1 Pura Politica.

Senator Feinstein, please be a champion for ALL families!!!

by Chris Barnett

http://www.change.org/petitions/senator-feinstein-please-be-a-champion-for-all-families

Much of Out4Immigration’s efforts over the years has been focused on securing equal immigration rights for same sex binational couples. The Uniting American Families Act is bill seeks to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to add the words “and permanent partners” wherever one finds the word “spouse”. Binational couples, families, and their respective communities need to encourage members of the House and Senate to become cosponsors.

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California has repeatedly rebuffed requests by community members to cosponsor UAFA. Historically, the concerns she has stated include the contentiousness of issues related to same-sex marriage and immigration –especially voicing concerns about fraud, even though UAFA stipulates tough penalties in those instances, just as for heterosexual couples. On a larger point of immigration reform, she has expressed her preference to support comprehensive immigration reform, rather than piecemeal legislation like UAFA to deal with specific communities or issues. Out4Immigration and its supporters have taken issue with this stance of the Senator’s, believing this to be an issue more relevant to civil rights and equality than immigration—and thus an issue worthy of her support—not to mention the feeling it leaves behind, that she does not get how injurious current laws are for many Americans and their families.

Feinstein's intervention in 2009 on behalf of Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado, a California couple with two sons, is exactly the response we would hope for from her in the face of the discrimination our families face. Sadly, when it comes to every other family affected by this issue, Senator Feinstein has shown little interest in making this issue a priority, even as many lives are torn apart by it.

In a recent interview with Frontiers Magazine, Senator Feinstein spoke about the need for DOMA repeal--and as some may be aware has authored The Respect for Marriage Act to that end--yet rejected family reunification for LGBT as relevant to that effort. Considering the years in which we have been appealing to Senator Feinstein through letters, phone calls, and meetings with aides to support UAFA, we found her lack of knowledge and awareness on this issue disheartening and disturbing—and grounds for this week’s petition letter calling on her to champion this issue at last as she works to seek The Respect for Marriage Act’s passage.

By treating one group as if they should wait for their civil rights, our elected representatives perpetuate conditions that give rise to inequality in our society. Demand better! Please sign this letter, and please share and promote however you can!

http://www.change.org/petitions/senator-feinstein-please-be-a-champion-for-all-families

And the letter:

Senator, the time has come to be a champion for ALL families!

Dear Senator Feinstein,

For years, Out4Immigration has been working to secure passage of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA, H.R. 2221 / S.1328) and, more recently, Congressman Mike Honda’s Reuniting Families Act (RFA, H.R.1796).

Over the years, members of Out4Immigration and many of your constituents have appealed to you for your signature as a co-sponsor of the UAFA. As a politician, your concerns about “contentious” bills like this one are understandable. However, your intervention on behalf of the family of Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado in 2009 inspired and gave hope to all who are touched by this issue. It affirmed for us your knowledge that many Americans face similar hardships. The fact that some Americans have a mechanism to sponsor their foreign-born spouses for legal immigration, while members of the LGBT community do not, points directly to the issue of equality.

In the course of your recent Frontiers Magazine interview, you expressed surprise on the issue of same-sex binational couples and what DOMA repeal would mean for them, asserting that this issue was “a whole different set of laws.” The fact is, immigration through family reunification IS an important federal right – one of the 1,138 federal rights legally married gay and lesbian citizens are currently denied due to DOMA. As Attorney Lavi Soloway states in Frontiers,

"The growing call for a moratorium on deportations that are tearing married same-sex binational couples apart every day in this country is not solely, or even primarily, an immigration issue, but rather an equality issue. No other civil rights issue of our time intersects with our broken immigration system in this manner.”

Senator Feinstein, we stand firmly behind you in the conviction that the Respect For Marriage Act must become law. It’s time for America to join the more than 20 other nations on the side of fairness and human rights by providing same-sex binational couples a legal way to sponsor their spouses for permanent residency, along with all the other rights afforded heterosexual married couples under federal law.

You stated in your interview that you would “look into” the binational issue. This petition is our effort to help you do that, because our families urgently need your help, and this injustice has gone too long without being set right. America’s LGBT citizens in binational relationships have been asking for your help for a long time. It is our hope that through the Respect for Marriage Act, you at last take advantage of the opportunity to become the champion our families so critically need.

Respectfully,

[Your name]

http://www.change.org/petitions/senator-feinstein-please-be-a-champion-for-all-families

Lavi Soloway's LGBT Immigration Update on Marriage News Watch

Extensive interview with attorney Lavi Soloway of Stop the Deportations. Lavi was the attorney for Henry Velandia, a Venezuelan national who is married to American citizen Josh Vandiver and faced deportation last week. Lavi's strategy, coupled with a stunning decision from Attorney General Eric Holder less than 24 hours before Henry's hearing, halted the deportation. Please watch this video for heaps of insight into what Lavi says is "this complicated, fast-moving issue."

DEPORTATION HALTED: "I Cannot Thank You Enough"

Via GetEQUAL.

In the shadows of the Statue of Liberty, we see glimpses of freedom.

Henry Velandia's deportation hearing ended a short time ago, and it was quite an event. Because of the pressure that you and thousands of other LGBT advocates across the country created, Henry's case was pushed back to December, opening up the possibility for tens of thousands of other same-sex binational couples to make a case to keep their families together, despite the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Henry and his husband, Josh, are ecstatic that they have more time together, though the fight is certainly not over yet. This week, a wide range of LGBT organizations came together to support Henry and Josh, including Stop the Deportations, All Out, Courage Campaign, Garden State Equality, Out4Immigration, Princeton Equality Project, Immigration Equality, Marriage Equality USA, and Queer Rising. And Henry and Josh's lawyer, the tireless Lavi Soloway, was a force to be reckoned with.

We asked Lavi if he wanted to send along a message to you with an update about what this means for Josh and Henry, for other binational couples, for other LGBT Americans, and for the movement -- here's what he had to say:

"Today was a remarkable day. We're still in legal limbo with this case and with others, but http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifmomentum is on our side and the Administration is starting to look for ways to address the disparity in how the U.S. government treats binational same-sex couples. We have wind at our backs, but there are tens of thousand of couples who are facing similar circumstances. We'll fight as hard as we can in the courtroom, but we need activists and organizers to fight as hard as YOU can on the streets. For your work that led to today's outcome, I cannot thank you enough!"

-- Lavi Soloway, co-founder http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifof Immigration Equality and founder of StopTheDeportations.com

Today was a good day…and we don't always have a lot of good days. We'll continue to press the Obama Administration to create a permanent solution to this problem of immigration inequality, but we'll need more people like you in order to do that.

Can you forward this email to your friends, asking them to join the movement for full federal equality at www.getequal.org/join-the-movement

In the shadows of the Statue of Liberty today, we were not silent, and her poem held renewed meaning: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

For equality,

-Heather Cronk, Managing Director

Note: Read today's New York Times coverage of this historic case, click here.

Married Couple's Status [Temporarily] Recognized by Immigration Officials

by Kathy Drasky

Yesterday's ruling by a New York immigration judge to delay the deportation of an Argentinian woman married to an American woman truly raises the bar in our fight for equal immigration rights.

While Out4Immigration stops short of calling this ruling "historic", it is probably safe to say it is a "game changer."

According to the Daily News (a mainstream New York tabloid), the judge delayed her decision until December, when she will review the case of Monica Alcota (right) from Argentina, who legally married US citizen Cristina Ojeda (left) in Connecticut. If the couple were heterosexual, they would have been able to file an I-130 form immediately after their marriage and Monica would be on the path to citizenship by now. But, because the US federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages, the couple was about to be torn apart.

Based on February's decision by President Obama and US Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the judge in this case, Terry Bain, "put a hold on Alcota's deportation order while the couple waits to see if DOMA is overturned and their green card application goes through."

Represented by Lavi Soloway, of Masliah & Soloway, the leading firm in same-sex binational couple immigration cases, it was argued that "removal proceedings should be terminated consistent with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s long-standing policy of prosecutorial discretion which favors family unification and the accommodation of sympathetic humanitarian circumstances. ICE and the Court should consider the rapidly changing landscape of DOMA. That changing landscape includes the Obama Administration’s new position on DOMA which is expected to dramatically alter the course of future litigation against DOMA."

Out4Immigration cautions that regardless of being married, in a civil union or domestic partnership, no same-sex binational couple should attempt to file I-130 petitions or any other documents without the advice of a competent immigration attorney. We refer you to Masliah & Soloway's Stop the Deportation Project. No one should knowingly overstay a visa. If you are in jeopardy of this, we urge you to immediately get legal advice.

We are on the path to getting equal immigration rights with legislation like the Respect for Marriage Act which will end DOMA, and the eventual reintroduction of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) which can be our temporary fix adding the words "or permanent partner" to immigration law until we can federally be known as "spouses". We also have a chance at administrative adjustments to immigration law that may result from more cases like Monica and Cristina's.

What can you do to bring change about faster? Tell your story! There are many ways to do this. Almost every day we post news and information about how same-sex binational couples are stepping up and taking action on the Out4Immigration Facebook page. Join us there - and get involved!

Immigration Rights for Same-Sex Binational Couples Making Headlines – UAFA Picks Up Call for LGBT Rights after DADT Repeal

by Kathy Drasky

The first step toward equal marriage and immigration rights for LGBT people in the several countries that provide these rights started with allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve in their country’s military.

With the repeal of DADT at the end of 2010, LGBT groups and activists looking to keep the momentum alive toward full federal equal rights in the United States have turned toward immigration rights for gay and lesbian American citizens with foreign partners - same-sex binational couples – as the next logical step in our civil rights struggle (short of full repeal of DOMA and eventual passage of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, or ENDA).

Getting the LGBT community behind the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), legislation that would add three words to existing US immigration law and include “or permanent partner” wherever the word “spouse” appears was initially a hard sell. There were those who wanted full federal equal marriage rights – all 1,138 of them – and UAFA only offers one, the right of a citizen to sponsor their spouse (or in our case, “intended” spouse, “fiancée”, if you will, since many of us live in a permanent state of engagement while waiting for state laws to shake down and the federal government to recognize those).

Additionally, there was the unexpected xenophobic, anti-immigrant and/or general cluelessness in our community that immigration rights had anything to do with LGBT rights. Same-sex binational couples and our heart-wrenching stories of being forcibly separated from our partners or exiled from our country have been increasingly visible as the world gets smaller via technology and global opportunity. As the 21st century marches on, the chances of gay and lesbian Americans meeting a life partner from another country, through work, school, travel or the Internet will only increase. As same-sex binational couple activist and LezGetReal blogger Melanie Nathan has said, “We are all just one heartbeat away” from being in love with someone from another country.

Since the start of 2011, the flurry of activism around UAFA (the bill has not yet been reintroduced in the 112th Congress, but is expected to be soon – sign the Out4Immigration petition to bring it quickly forward) is an encouraging sign that the LGBT community and our supporters are going to stand up to Congress and President Obama and say “Enough!” No American should be forced to choose between the person they love and their country. It is unconscionable. Can anyone imagine a heterosexual American being asked to do this? Of course not!

Passing UAFA by adding the three simple words – “or permanent partner” to existing US immigration law would nicely dovetail two major issues in American politics that need to be addressed – the civil rights of LGBT Americans and immigration reform. While not marriage, it underscores the need for marriage recognition at the federal level because there are laws in America that truly do relegate gays and lesbians to second-class (or in the case of same-sex binationals, third-class) citizenship. While not comprehensive immigration reform, repairing this oversight that directly affects American citizens would be a first step toward repairing a system that is broken, and would hopefully open the door on more rational, perhaps even bipartisan discussion on CIR.

Here’s a roundup of the impressive coverage on same-sex binational couple immigration rights and UAFA since the beginning of the year.

• Judy Rickard’s book “Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law” is available for pre-order from Findhorn Press. Enter the code OUT416 and a small donation will be made to Out4Immigration. Judy’s book tells the story of her relationship with Karin, a UK citizen and the many struggles they have encountered as a same-sex binational couple. But Judy doesn’t stop there. She’s backed up her story with that of 21 other same-sex binationals, added a comprehensive resource list and included a foreword by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, who talks about her own experience as an American citizen in an opposite-sex binational relationship. This book is a must-have on the shelves of every library across America. Consider purchasing some copies and donating them to your local library and LGBT center.

• GetEQUAL Director Robin McGehee has demonstrated an impassioned interest in the rights of same-sex binationals and LGBT immigration, and wrote about this in her Huffington Post piece, “Obama’s Civil Rights Moment”, January 25, 2011.

• Popular LGBT columnist Dan Savage had an op-ed in the New York Times “A Gay Agenda for Everyone” in which he calls for passage of UAFA, January 22, 2011.

• Immigration Equality appears to be ramping up its team for a full-court press on UAFA once the bill is reintroduced. In the past year they have added grassroots staff, stepped up lobbying efforts on the Hill through their Action Fund and have an automated “Contact Congress” form that you can complete online to send your member of Congress an email urging his/her support of UAFA when it is reintroduced. Additionally, they continue to make the important argument that forcing same-sex binational couples out of the US adds to our country’s economic woes. See Steve Ralls piece following up President Obama’s January 26, 2011 State of the Union address, “The Economic Case for Inclusive Immigration Reform” on the Huffington Post.

• Immigration attorney Lavi Soloway, a co-author of UAFA in its initial form (Permanent Partner Immigration Act) and a founder of Immigration Equality, has launched a new project called Stop the Deportations: The DOMA Project to help same-sex binational couples who are legally married in various states fight federal immigration law. The story of Josh and Henry has 10,000 supporters on Facebook.

Note the tagline of this new organization is “The DOMA Project”. Make no mistake of where these cases are heading. Cautious optimism predicts DOMA repeal in 2013. While that may not seem very far off, when you are separated from your partner or your country by insurmountable visa issues and immigration laws, it is a lifetime.

Two New Strategies for Same-Sex Binational Couples

by Kathy Drasky

Two new strategies aimed at ending immigration discrimination against same-sex binational couples need your support.

For a long time, the mainline strategy to pass the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) has been to get it included in the larger Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) movement. This is a good strategy, and one that will continue, but considering the current and upcoming climate in Washington, we need to try other avenues equally.

Lavi Soloway, a long-time champion of equal rights for same-sex binational couples (and one of the founders of Immigration Equality) is an immigration attorney whose new project "Stop the Deportations" works with same-sex binational couples legally married in the states, jurisdictions and countries that recognize gay marriage.

There's been much discussion about the word "marriage" in our movement over the years - but let's not forget, same-sex marriage is legal in 5 US states. There are 18,000 same-sex couples with valid marriage licenses in the state of California, and a handful of states have agreed to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Additionally, a handful of countries and municipalities perform gay marriages. The problem with our marriages - as you all know - is getting federal recognition of them in the US, where immigration law lies.

"Stop the Deportations" is currently representing 6 same-sex binational couples who are legally married to stop the deportations of the foreign partner from the US. They are looking for more of you to tell your stories and be part of this effort which could, indeed turn out to be huge. If you are in a same-sex binational relationship and married, or if you would be married if the place you lived in permitted it, get in touch with "Stop the Deportations": http://stopthedeportations.blogspot.com/

Another fierce advocate for our cause, Melanie Nathan, who most of you know from her column on LezGetReal and her work on the Shirley Tan private bill in 2009, needs your help in securing a grant for a stop-gap "special visa" project for same-sex binationals: http://www.scribd.com/doc/41596148/Binational-VISA-Pledge-and-Cover

Melanie has long believed that a special visa for our foreign partners (similar to the fiancee visa opposite-sex binational couples can obtain) is a viable way to keep our families together while we wait out this long and tenuous legislation process (be it UAFA as a standalone bill, as part of CIR, or a repeal of DOMA).

To win the grant, Melanie needs to show some level of financial support from our community. You can make a pledge now at this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/41596148/Binational-VISA-Pledge-and-Cover

The pledge will only be collected if Melanie wins the grant. She should have news about the grant's chances within a few weeks.

If you would like more info about either of these projects, please contact Kathy at kathy@out4immigration.org