Sen. Leahy Files Two Amendments to Include Same-Sex Binationals in Immigration Reform

by Kathy Drasky

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has filed two amendments to include same-sex binationals in immigration reform legislation.

The first amendment is the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which has thus far proven controversial because of its language that technically creates a new category for immigration officials to consider: "permanent partner".

The second amendment filed by Leahy is one that calls for immigration reform to include married same-sex couples. That's right - if you have entered into a marriage in a state, country or jurisdiction (i.e., Washington D.C.) where it is legally recognized, then this amendment says you should have the right to equal treatment under immigration law to have that marriage recognized.

Read all about the Leahy amendments at Buzzfeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/leahy-files-amendments-to-include-gay-couples-in-immigration

To paraphrase some leading advocates, Lavi Soloway of the DOMA Project calls Leahy's strategy with the second amendment "a strategic master stroke". The vice president of the Human Rights Campaign, Fred Sainz, calls it "brilliant."

With more than 50 Senators from both parties supporting marriage equality, asking that our marriages be recognized for immigration purposes makes sense. And, hopefully it will help more of them, like Sen. Dianne Feinstein who sits on the judiciary committee and will vote on this amendment, understand why we also need UAFA language. Because we still only have marriage equality in a handful of states. Because we still do not know which way DOMA and the Prop. 8 cases will be ruled on by the Supreme Court. Because same-sex binationals, already suffering extreme financial hardship after years of trying to keep our families together with no legal safety net whatsoever, should not be forced to make an expensive trip to a state or country that will marry us because of continued discrimination in a home state.

Here's our action, please make two calls:
1) Sen. Leahy, at 202-224-4242, and thank him for recognizing and including same-sex binational families in immigration reform.
2) Sen. Feinstein, at 415-393-0707 and ask her to please vote "Yes" on both of Sen. Leahy's amendments to include same-sex binational families in immigration reform. (You do not have to live in California to make this call).

If you use Twitter, please follow @Out4Immigration at https://twitter.com/out4immigration

We've been tweeting up a storm and every retweet counts and helps us spread the word.

If you are on Facebook, please join our page at https://www.facebook.com/Out4Immigration

Share our posts with your Facebook community.

We need to keep our stories front and center in the coming weeks to make sure that we are included in immigration reform. Because we cannot predict how the Supreme Court will rule. Anything less than total removal of DOMA and marriage equality in all 50 states means we still need the amendments filed by Sen. Leahy included in the immigration bill.

And, quite frankly, we will all still need this broken system to be overhauled and fixed. Because even in the best case scenario, the death of DOMA, all of us same-sex binationals will have just been let into the very system we have fought so hard to be a part of. We'll be wanting it to work properly so that our green cards are processed without delay.

Five New Co-Sponsors for Uniting American Families Act (UAFA)

Good news! Last week the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) picked up 5 new co-sponsors in the House. That brings the total of co-sponsors to 107 in the House and 20 in Senate. The bill was re-introduced less than a month ago by Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Sen. Patrick Leahy.

The new co-sponsors are:

Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7] - 5/5/2011
Rep Michaud, Michael H. [ME-2] - 5/5/2011
Rep Ryan, Tim [OH-17] - 5/5/2011
Rep McCarthy, Carolyn [NY-4] - 5/5/2011
Rep Sherman, Brad [CA-27] - 5/5/2011

Also last week, Rep. Mike Honda re-introduced the Reuniting Families Act in Congress. This is the bill that advocates to to restore one of the tenets that the US immigration system was built on -- "family reunification". The bill includes same-sex binational couples in its description of what a family is -- and underscores it with language from UAFA. RFA has 80 co-sponsors in the House.

Out4Immigration especially thanks our volunteers like Chris Barnett, who puts out our weekly petitions and some others behind the scenes who track the legislative co-sponsors and tally up the totals for us. While there has been lots in the news about the administrative and judicial headway we are making in tearing down the laws that keep LGBT Americans separated from our partners -- the legislative course underscores that the laws are wrong and need to be changed. Keep up the good work, everyone!!

Uniting American Families Act Reintroduced with Record Support

Media Contacts:
Amos Lim, Out4Immigration, 415-608-5526, amos@out4immigration.org
Kathy Drasky, Out4Immigration, 415-606-2085, kathy@out4immigration.org

Legislation and Letter from Congress Increases Demand for Protection of Same-Sex Binational Couples, Families from Discriminatory Immigration Law

Washington, DC — April 14, 2011 — The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) was reintroduced in the House and Senate today by long-time equal rights advocates Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-8) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The legislation is backed by 98 co-sponsors in the House and 18 in the Senate, a record for the bill on reintroduction. It has been introduced in every session of Congress since 2000.
The bill would add three words to existing US immigration law – “or permanent partner” – wherever the word spouse appears, facilitating the need for LGBT Americans to obtain green cards for their partners while they wait for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

“Thousands of committed same-sex couples are needlessly suffering because of unequal treatment under our immigration laws, and this is an outrage,” said Nadler. “Our Constitution guarantees that no class of people will be singled out for differential treatment — and LGBT Americans should not and must not be excluded from that guarantee.”

Adding a one-two punch to UAFA’s reintroduction is a letter from Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-16), the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice to stop denying LGBT green card applications and stop separating LGBT binational families. The letter was signed by 48 House members and adds weight to a similar letter sent last week by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and 11 of his colleagues requesting the same immediate remedy to what Rep. Nadler has repeatedly called “gratuitous cruelty.”

UAFA comes into the 112th Congress under a much different landscape than previous introductions of the bill. While Democrats no longer control the House and hold a slimmer majority in the Senate, support for same-sex binationals has grown since President Obama’s directive on February 23 that the federal government stop defending Section 3 of DOMA on the basis that the law – which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages – is unconstitutional.

No group is harder hit by DOMA than same-sex binational couples and their families, many who have been forced into exile or literally torn apart by immigration law that adheres to the DOMA decree that marriage is defined as “one man and one woman.” As a result, these couples, regardless of legal marriages, civil unions or domestic partnerships are treated as “legal strangers”.

Efforts to slow down individual deportation proceedings targeting the foreign partner in these relationships have achieved some successes of late by delaying deportations on a case by case basis, in part due to the Obama administration determination that DOMA is unconstitutional. This administration's new DOMA position caused a major uproar last month when the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) seemed to suggest that it would hold green card applications filed by same-sex couples in abeyance until DOMA was repealed or struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Although USCIS reversed this decision within 36 hours, advocates for same-sex binational couples, like Out4Immigration, are petitioning USCIS, DHS, DOJ and the White House to restore the abeyance policy and implement a moratorium on deportations, urging an administrative fix until judicial and legislative actions can occur.

With advocacy engines now firing on all three branches of government – relief in some form for the heartbreak and injustice an estimated 36,000 same-sex binationals and their families incur has never seemed more possible. Out4Immigration urges more couples to come forward and tell their stories to continue to build and sustain the momentum. The all-volunteer, grassroots group can be contacted at info@out4immigration.org.

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For more information:
Uniting American Families Act Reintroduced in Congress: http:www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/pr_uafa_041411
Gay Immigration Battle Heats Up: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/04/14/Gay_Immigration_Battle_Heats_Up/
Dear USCIS: Don’t Go Back to Denying Green Cards to Loving, Same-Sex Couples: http://www.change.org/petitions/dear-uscis-dont-go-back-to-denying-green-cards-to-loving-same-sex-couples#?opt_new=t&opt_fb=t
Senators Kerry, Leahy, 10 Others Ask DOJ, DHS to Hold Same-Sex Binational Couples’ Immigration Petitions: http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2011/04/senators-kerry-leahy-10-others.html
Gay Immigrant Couples’ Future Remains Uncertain after Judge Postpones Deportation Hearing: http://news.feetintwoworlds.org/2011/04/04/future-for-gay-immigrant-couple-remains-uncertain-following-judges-postponement-of-deportation-hearing/

Contacting 112th Congress to Reintroduce Uniting American Families Act

Out4Immigration is hopeful that Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Sen. Patrick Leahy, the champions behind equal immigration rights for same-sex binational couples, will swiftly reintroduce the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) in the 112th Congress. We have heard that the bill may reintroduced as early as Valentine's Day, February 14.

Sign our petition urging them to quickly reintroduce UAFA on Change.org now!

With the reintroduction of the bill, Out4Immigration will promptly start our weekly letter writing campaign again in an effort to get as many of our 161 cosponsors from the previous Congress back on board. Although we lost a few supporters in the mid-term elections (more from retirement than defeat), we will work hard to shore up the deficit with new supporters and work with other groups and individuals to surpass the previous record and finally get this legislation passed!

Help us kick off our campaign in the 112th Congress by signing your name to our petition on Change.org today. Our goal is to secure 1,000 signatures. We know you're out there. And, we know your family, friends and colleagues will most likely get behind our efforts if you let them know how much we need their help.

So please, sign and circulate! And follow any breaking LGBT immigration news on our Facebook page.