Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado have lived together for 23 years and have two children. Shirley, a native of the Philippines, will soon be sent back to her home country, splitting up her loving family. Why don't they just get married, you ask? Well, they actually are married, but federal immigration law does not recognize their relationship.
From http://www.ebar.com/...
Mercado, 48, is a naturalized citizen who's also from the Philippines, and the couple, who married in 2004 and have registered as domestic partners, have twin 12-year-old sons.
"I hope that I can stay here, because I don't want to be apart from my kids ... they are my life, and really we are a solid family, and I love them so much that I don't want to be separated from them," Tan said.
This may seem like an unusual situation, but it's actually quite common and one that affects me personally. As the fiancee of a woman living in this country on a limited work-visa, I may soon be faced with the possibility of either losing my partner or leaving the country with her. There is a solution, the Uniting American Families Act, that has been re-introduced and now appears to be stalled in committee. This Act would allow same sex partners of immigrants to sponsor their partners for citizenship, putting them on (nearly) equal footing with their straight counterparts.
How much longer are we going to have to wait for this? How many more families and couples will be torn apart by this unfair law? Please call your congressperson and urge them to co-sponsor the Uniting American Families Act. See http://www.immigrationequality.org/...
And please, I beg you, don't tell me there are more important things to handle right now.
Mercado said the couple's children have been crying with them every day and the family has been praying at night.
"It's like our lives were ruined," said Mercado.