Should Non-Citizens in Gay Marriages Be Allowed to Stay in the U.S.?
SodaHead News
2011/07/01 19:00:00
|
|
|||||
|
417 votes
|
|
70% | |||
|
181 votes
|
|
30% | |||
On the heels of New York's passage of a gay marriage law, comes the story of Henry Velandia.
The 27-year-old gay Venezuelan dancer was facing deportation, despite being legally married to his same-sex partner in Connecticut. Unfortunately for him, they lived in New Jersey, where same-sex marriage is not legal. Velandia asked to remain in the U.S. as the spouse of a legal citizen, Josh Vandiver, a 30-year-old graduate student at Princeton University.
But, because of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, Vandiver was not allowed to sponsor Velandia for a green card, as a heterosexual person would have been able to for a spouse in the same situation.
When Velandia's visitor visa expired he was put into deportation proceedings, but the couple's attorney – who founded a group aimed at stopping the deportation of gay and lesbian spouses of Americans – filed to have the order canceled.
On Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in New Jersey notified the couple that the deportation proceedings against Velandia were being stopped.
Though it's not a legal precedent, the case shined a light on the complex issues facing an estimated 36,000 gay and lesbian couples of mixed nationality in the U.S. and it marked the first case involving the spouse of a lesbian or gay American in which the Department of Homeland Security showed that it had some flexibility in evaluating these kinds of cases.
Do you agree with the court's decision to allow Velandia to stay in this country?
The 27-year-old gay Venezuelan dancer was facing deportation, despite being legally married to his same-sex partner in Connecticut. Unfortunately for him, they lived in New Jersey, where same-sex marriage is not legal. Velandia asked to remain in the U.S. as the spouse of a legal citizen, Josh Vandiver, a 30-year-old graduate student at Princeton University.
But, because of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, Vandiver was not allowed to sponsor Velandia for a green card, as a heterosexual person would have been able to for a spouse in the same situation.
When Velandia's visitor visa expired he was put into deportation proceedings, but the couple's attorney – who founded a group aimed at stopping the deportation of gay and lesbian spouses of Americans – filed to have the order canceled.
On Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in New Jersey notified the couple that the deportation proceedings against Velandia were being stopped.
Though it's not a legal precedent, the case shined a light on the complex issues facing an estimated 36,000 gay and lesbian couples of mixed nationality in the U.S. and it marked the first case involving the spouse of a lesbian or gay American in which the Department of Homeland Security showed that it had some flexibility in evaluating these kinds of cases.
Do you agree with the court's decision to allow Velandia to stay in this country?
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. DO THE RIGHT THING.
They should at least get a coupon to Denny's or something.
I see a lot of people saying he's an illegal immigrant which is total nonsense. He was here on a VISITORS VISA, what about that is illegal immigration? xD
Thus since this man married a citizen, he should become a citizen and allowed to stay.
HE IS NOT AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT.
I do not believe there is any definition of naturaliztion in the Constitution. It wasn't a problem in 1800. If you could get here and wanted to be a citizen you were . That remained the case till at least 1860. At that point anti-chinese legislation restricted enter based on race. That began to change in the 1920's. The issue started to become a hot button in the 1970's