12 Senators Call on Administration to Halt LGBT Green Card Denials

By Steve Ralls on 04/06/2011 @ 03:48 PM

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) today led 11 colleagues in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano urging immigration equality for legally married same-sex couples who are currently discriminated against under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

“We applaud the President’s decision to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court,” the Senators wrote. “With DOMA as law, however, we are creating a tier of second-class families in 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. We urge you to reconsider this position in light of the administration’s position that it will no longer defend DOMA in federal court.”

“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,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, a national organization that works to end discrimination in U.S. immigration law. “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.”

In light of the Obama Administration’s decision to stop defending DOMA in federal court, the Senators urged:

• 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.

• 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 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.

In addition to Senator Kerry ([pictured), the letter was also signed by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Barbara Boxer (D-CA); Ron Wyden (D-OR); Christopher Coons (D-DE); Jeff Merkley (D-OR); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY); Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Daniel Akaka (D-HI); Daniel Inouye (D-HI); Sheldon Whitehouse (D-CT); and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).

Photo via Wikipedia