Edwin & Rodrigo Featured on DC Local News

Delia Gonçalves did a great job on this report ("Deportation Controversy After DC Marriage"), but she did misspeak when she said that the Obama administration would not enforce DOMA. Of course, as readers of our site know, on February 23 the President and Attorney General announced that they would no longer defend DOMA in court, but the Executive branch will continue to enforce it as it remains the law of the land for now. This short piece captures the essence of the discrimination against gay and lesbian binational couples and elicits the first public statement from Edwin & Rodrigo's Congressman, Chris Van Hollen. Congressman Van Hollen, however, does not go as far as his colleagues Rep. Nadler and Rep. Lofgren who last week called for the administration to halt the deportations. We must keep the pressure on our elected officials to achieve a policy for all binational couples facing deportation. Please call Congressman Van Hollen and thank him for his support, but urge him to call on the White House to formulate a policy that allows individual DHS Trial Attorneys, Immigration Judges and other adjudicators to exercise prosecutorial discretion and delay or defer action on deportations involving married same-sex binational couples. As we get closer to March 9, we are asking everyone to please make three phone calls and ask these elected officials representing Edwin & Rodrigo in Congress to fight for a policy to halt the DOMA deportations: Call Congressman Chris Van Hollen at (202) 225-5341, Senator Barbara Mikulski (202) 224-4654 and Senator Benjamin Cardin (202) 224-4524.