In The News
The View From New York
By Rachel Tiven on 05/10/2010 @ 06:29 PM
Growing up, when the evening news reported a crime committed by a Goldberg or a Cohen, my parents would groan. That combination of shame at the misdeeds of one of our own, mixed with anxiety that it would reflect badly on us all, flooded over me when I heard that an immigrant had been arrested in the Times Square bombing.
We are on the cusp of real immigration reform, and accusatory headlines like “Suspect is Naturalized U.S. Citizen” feel like a knife in the back. We all need reform so desperately – everyone from the gay man who is spending his life savings to keep his partner in school here, to the teenager who grew up and came out in the Bay Area but can’t go to college or get a job for lack of status, to the single lesbian mom who has been waiting years for her sister to immigrate and help her raise her son – to the millions of other people with whom we share this struggle.
I want to believe that most Americans – 98% of us once immigrants ourselves – are not so foolish as to conflate the actions of one crazy individual with all immigrants, or all South Asians, or all Pakistanis . . . but when I read the vicious comments online, I’m not so sure.
What a roller coaster week. Just yesterday I was so proud Governor Patterson showed that pro-immigrant states can play Arizona’s game. He announced that New York will create a special pardon board to consider vacating minor crimes that can cost long-time New Yorkers their green cards, with absolutely no way for the immigration judge to exercise discretion. Immigration Equality sees the results of this policy because it affects some of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people we represent.
- We represented a gay, HIV-positive man who was going to be deported because after the bank mistakenly deposited money in his account, he spent it. He was charged with grand larceny and was going to be stripped of his green card and deported to an anti-gay country.
- L., a Colombian gay man with AIDS was about to lose his green card because of shoplifting arrests. He stole Tylenol and nutritional supplements from a drugstore – the only “treatment” he was getting for his illness.
- We are currently representing F., a 19-year-old from Jamaica who may be deported for shoplifting a scarf – because he was cold – and jumping the subway turnstile. For those two offenses he was considered a “mandatory detainee” who was held in immigration custody until we took his case.
I want to be clear – it’s wrong to steal, be it from the bank, a store, or the MTA. I hope that when my kids are F.’s age, the fog of adolescent bad judgment doesn’t lead them to do stupid things like that. However, if they do, they won’t be exiled from their country as a result. One of the many great things about our system is that we believe in proportionality, that the punishment should suit the crime. The Eighth Amendment protects all of us against excessive or cruel and unusual punishment. (Please don’t write to say that non-citizens aren’t covered by the Bill of Rights. The first ten amendments tell the federal government – not its subjects – what it can and can’t do. Citizenship wasn’t even defined until six amendments and 90 years later.) When current law wrenches people from their families for petty crimes – in many cases retroactively, for crimes that had no immigration consequences at all when they were committed – the Eighth Amendment is being ignored. Thus Governor Patterson offers another, this time humane, example of what so many have been saying for weeks: Congress must act to fix our broken immigration system.
In the meanwhile, I fear for my South Asian friends, and pray we don’t see a resurgence of the murderous hate crimes their community faced after 9/11.
Join Us on SistersTalk Radio: Wednesday @ 8pm ET
By Steve Ralls on 05/03/2010 @ 04:03 PM
Immigration Equality’s executive director, Rachel Tiven, will join SistersTalk Radio this Wednesday at 8pm ET to discuss all things immigration-related: Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law . . . the new, LGBT-inclusive immigration reform outline . . . and our work to help LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants, families and asylum seekers.
To tune in live – or sign up to receive a reminder about Wednesday’s broadcast – just click here.
UPDATE: Audio from the broadcast is now available online here.
Senate Immigration Framework Includes LGBT Binational Families
By Steve Ralls on 04/29/2010 @ 02:58 PM
A framework for comprehensive immigration reform, authored by Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), includes a call for an end to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) binational families. The principles, which are meant to guide Congressional crafting of immigration reform legislation, specifically call for key provisions of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) to be part of a future reform bill.
Immigration Equality hailed the inclusion of the language, which would allow LGBT citizens and legal permanent residents to sponsor their foreign national partners for residency in the United States. Under current law, no such sponsorship is available. An estimated 36,000 face imminent separation or exile because of discriminatory immigration policies. UAFA is sponsored in the Senate by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and in the House by Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York.
“Today’s inclusive framework is an historic step forward for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender binational families,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality. “Now, it is time to turn these principles into laws. We will fight to ensure that the Uniting American Families Act is an indelible part of the immigration reform bill.”
“The LGBT community is committed to comprehensive immigration reform that includes everyone,” Tiven added. “Our community understands, all too well, the pain of being punished and singled out for who we are. Our solidarity with the larger immigrant community is deep, and our resolve to fix our broken immigration system is real. We will work for a bill that provides a path to citizenship for the undocumented, including those who are LGBT. Time is of the essence for those facing separation or deportation, and Congress must act, urgently, to pass humane, comprehensive reform.”
Immigration Equality also applauded the inclusion of the DREAM Act – a path to citizenship for undocumented students – in the principles released today. Earlier this week, DREAM activists who have walked from Florida arrived in the nation’s capital. Two of them, Juan Rodriguez and Felipe Matos, are also a couple, and have faced additional discrimination because of their sexual orientation. The outline also includes important provisions related to family unification, including ending the unconscionable backlogs that so many families face under the current system.
The group expressed dismay, however, over a proposal to implement a de-facto program for National ID Cards. Such a proposal, known as biometric identification, could be particularly troublesome for transgender immigrants, who struggle to get identity documents which match their correct name and gender.
“Immigration Equality,” Tiven concluded, “is working for a bill that protects LGBT immigrants who so desperately need reform. The path forward is about keeping families together and building a system that values our country’s unique and precious history as a nation of immigrants.”
The New York Times on Tough Citizenship Questions for Binational Couples
By Steve Ralls on 04/28/2010 @ 09:27 AM
How many LGBT binational couples are moving abroad, and even renouncing their citizenship, because of the hurdles they face staying together in the United States?
It’s a question posed yesterday at the Bucks blog at The New York Times. Writer Tara Siegel Bernard follows up on an October story, also in the Times, by pointing out that many readers responded to the original story on the extra costs of being in an LGBT relationship by pointing out that they, in fact, faced even more obstacles, and expenses, simply to be with the person they love.
“Try being a bi-national gay couple,” one reader, Megan, wrote to the paper. “We have paid over $70,000 to be together. My partner is Indian and I am American and yet we have to live in Canada if we are to be together.”
Indeed, as couples find that their options – and time – for being able to remain together in the U.S. run out, they are increasingly leaving the United States . . . and taking their talent and tax money to other countries with them. The Times noted that 743 people renounced their U.S. citizenship last year, not including the Americans (many in binational relationships) who are now living in Canada but retain their citizenship in the United States.
“Many same-sex couples who decide to leave the United States head for countries that recognize their unions,” Bernard writes, adding that, “many leave because of immigration obstacles.”
“What choices do couples with noncitizen partners have,” she asks, “and what are the costs?”
To read the full column, click here. http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/do-gay-couples-give-up-their-u-s-citizenship/
Join Us on bloomingOUT Radio
By Steve Ralls on 04/14/2010 @ 10:02 PM
I’ll be a guest tomorrow (Thursday) evening on bloomingOUT radio in Indiana, to discuss the latest news about the Uniting American Families Act, comprehensive immigration reform, our participation in the Give A Damn campaign, and all of our work to end discrimination against LGBT binational families.
The program will air live, online, beginning at 7:20pm, and be available as a podcast later in the week.
To listen in live, log on Thursday evening . . . look for ON AIR (bloomingOUT) in the upper left corner of the site . . . and click on “tune in.”
Then, check back here after the program for a link to the podcast, too.
Two More Cities Pass Resolutions for UAFA
By Connie Utada on 04/07/2010 @ 11:21 AM
As we progress into Spring, the momentum for Comprehensive Immigration Reform continues to grow. Both cities of Minneapolis, MN and Cambridge, MA recently passed resolutions proclaiming their support for the passage of the Uniting American Families Act. Immigration Equality supporter Debbie Ellis testified at the city council hearing in support of the Cambridge resolution. Thank you, Debbie!
Big thanks to the amazing work of the grassroots who reached out to their city councils and made this happen! It is their passionate commitment to UAFA that has led to these cities passing resolutions.
Please reach out to your local city councils if you would like to pass a resolution.
HuffingtonPost: A Gay Immigrant Reaches for a DREAM
Posted on 06/17/2009 @ 08:19 PM
This evening in Arizona, a young, gay man is literally putting his life on the line.
In today’s Arizona, the fact that Mohammad Abdollahi (pictured) is willing to speak up would be cause enough for concern. Abdollahi, who has been in the United States since the age of 3, risks arrest and deportation simply by being visible. Under the state’s new, anti-immigrant law, his mere presence means risking his continued residency in the only country he has ever known well enough to call it ‘home.’
Add to that, however, the fact that Abdollahi (who currently lives in Michigan) is gay, and originally from Iran, and you can begin to understand the true courage behind his current sit-in at the office of Senator John McCain.
If he is arrested, the 24-year-old faces deporation to one of the most notoriously homophobic countries in the world. Lesbians and gays are routinely tortured, and even executed, in Iran. There is little doubt that, if he is forced to return there, Abdollahi will, too, face unspeakable persecution simply because of who he is.
And yet, he is not deterred.
As journalist Todd Heywood first reported today in the Michigan Messenger, Abdollahi is risking his very life in order to press for passage of the DREAM Act, a critically important piece of legislation which would give young, undocumented people like him a path to citizenship and an opportunity to remain in the United States.
Gutierrez Calls for LGBT-Inclusive Immigration Reform
Posted on 05/21/2009 @ 10:19 AM
In an interview published today in The Chicago Tribune, Congressman Luis Gutierrez (pictured) – a key Congressional leader on immigration issues – says he supports including LGBT binational families in comprehensive immigration reform.
“The underlying part of any comprehensive immigration bill is family unity,” Gutierrez said in an interview with the Tribune. “We need to speak more clearly and more articulately and more frequently that the (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community, and same-sex couples and their binational relationships, are part of families.”
“We need to build bridges between the LGBT community and the larger immigrant community,” Gutierrez said. “In the end, the bigger the tent we build, the more successful we’ll be.”
“The congressman has planned a meeting with immigrant and LGBT community leaders at noon Monday at the Center on Halsted in Chicago,” the paper notes. “He will be joined by U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley of Chicago and Jared Polis of Colorado, both Democrats.”
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