From GetEqual:
BREAKING re: Henry Velandia's deportation hearing - Case adjourned to master calendar in Dec...allowed to stay in country til then.
Josh Vandiver and husband Henry Velandia, above. Henry, a citizen of Venezuela is was scheduled for deportation tomorrow. Josh: "My husband is being deported. Because we're gay."
From Josh: We understand that this is just a reprieve, but are really happy with this decision.
Via Facebook:
Henry Velandia's hearing has been put on hold until December. The judge cited AG Eric Holder's statement yesterday as part of the reasoning, which creates hope for other couples...but not soon enough!
In Henry's case, judge acknowledged Holder's ruling yesterday and the fact that the definition of marriage is ambiguous now
Also:
Judge also handed legal team a packet of relavant info, including @chrisgeidner's incredible article in @metroweekly yesterday!
From Henry: We're really grateful for all the activists and organizations!
Courage Campaign,
GetEqual, and
AllOut among others showed this morning for a rally of support. They delivered a petition with more than 20,000 signatures of support. Steven Goldstein from Garden State Equality hold the bullhorn.
Represenative Jerry Nadler of New York says:
“This is a matter of basic fairness and compassion,” Congressman Nadler said. “Our immigration code recognizes that it’s excessively cruel to keep couples and families apart, and the Uniting American Families Act would simply extend that recognition to same-sex couples.”
Nadler was joined at an introduction press conference by representatives from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT political organization, and Immigration Equality, an organization dedicated to pursuing fairness in immigration laws. Also present at the event were Steven and Olivier, a bi-national same-sex couple faced with the constant threat that their family of four will be split up or forced to leave the United States.
“Keeping loving families separated is gratuitous cruelty that serves no constructive purpose,” Nadler said. “This bill only demands that those people in same‑sex permanent partnerships receive equal treatment as everyone else – not an iota more.”
Attorney General Eric Holder
intervened in a similar case Thursday. Is
he looking into what can be done? Some immigration advocates think so. Crystal Williams, Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA):
“What it means is that the Attorney General has asked the Board of Immigration Appeals to look at the facts of this case as if DOMA were not a factor and decide whether a civil union could qualify someone as a sponsor [for their partner/spouse] under New Jersey and under immigration law,” says Williams.
In other words, if you forget about DOMA for a second, is it possible that a civil union or a domestic partnership could meet the criteria for allowing someone to be a “qualified family member” who could then sponsor their partner or spouse for a green card.
“The wording is very carefully selected,” says Williams, “but I read it to say, maybe we don’t know yet what DOMA means here but let’s look at this if DOMA were not a factor.”
I'm personally getting very tired of fighting these battles one by one in the court of public opinion. In March 2011, a New York couple got a similar 11th hour reprieve. In June 2010, Senator John Kerry intervened on behalf of a married couple in Massachusetts also facing the same fate.
Can we just decide Nadler is right? This is cruel, and it has to stop. Couples are facing torturous emotional turmoil and untold amounts of legal bills and hassles. Our families matter too!
Even as this is good news, Josh and Henry face eight months of living under the threat that Henry will still be deported.
Joe Sudbay of AmericaBlog has some simple, advice for the Administration:
Quick note to Brian Bond, Melody Barnes, Cecilia Munoz and Janet Napolitano: Fix this. It is absurd. Stop these deportations. You're not going to win any friends on the GOP side of the aisle by deporting Henry or any other spouse. Lamar Smith won't be assuaged. You're just pissing off your base.
If DHS can
exercise prosecutorial discretion for heterosexual widows, do LGBT citizens deserve less?
Update: Chris Geidner has a fuller report directly from the couple's attorney, Lavi Soloway:
Of the reasons, Soloway says, "The first reason that he granted an adjournment was that the I-130 petition filed by Josh for Henry was still pending and he felt that it was appropriate to let the U.S. CIS to adjudicate that petition, and that it would be inappropriate to move forward until that happened."
The second reason the judge cited, Soloway says, was Holder's May 5 decision to vacate a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals related to the application of Paul Wilson Dorman, in which the BIA had applied Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act to his pending case.
For more on this see Metro Weekly's report. Legal eagles will want to keep their eyes on this one, some interesting stuff going on.
Sad Twitter exchange, Jaromir74
@GetEQUAL thx for tweeting about Henry and Josh today. You support us as well. 2 guys in exile in UK (American+Czech)
GetEqual's reply:
@Jaromir74 We hope that, one day soon, we'll be able to celebrate y'all coming home freely and safely!
Update 2: via GetEqual:
"Today was a remarkable day. We're still in legal limbo with this case and with others, but momentum 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 of Immigration Equality and founder of StopTheDeportations.com