Brian & Anton Face Final Deportation Decision on Oct 7 Will New Guidelines Protect This Gay Couple As Promised?

Read this excellent article by Jen Coletta yesterday in the Phildelphia Gay News here and GLAAD's blog posting urging action in support of Brian and Anton here. See also, our previous summary, The First Big Test: Will The Obama Administration’s New Deportation Rules Come in Time for Brian & Anton?

Together for 8 Years and Married, Donald and Arthur Face DOMA Deportation Proceedings in Miami Tomorrow

Stop the Deportations co-founder, Lavi Soloway, will appear in a Miami courtroom on Thursday September 8 to fight for the right of Donald and Arthur to remain together in this country. Arthur has lived in this country for over 16 years, and if it were not for DOMA he would already have a green card. We will make the court aware that the U.S. Department of Justice explicitly argued for the first time on September 2 in a Federal District Court filing that DOMA is unconstitutional in this context. For more information on DOJ's historic September 2 filing see here. 

(Originally posted on May 10, 2011)
From Donald:

Donald and Arthur will appear in Immigration Court in Miami on September 8
for a deportation hearing. Please help us save their marriage!

Arthur and I met just after he had lost someone very important in his life. I was a shopkeeper, and later the assistant manager for a video and clothing store where Arthur shopped for music primarily. At that same time I was working part time as the secretary of The Episcopal Church of the Intercession. I have always felt that my faith has strengthened me; it has always given me great victory over my physical health challenges and allowed me to keep my mind positive.

I held and comforted Arthur many nights in order that he might find some inner peace following the abrupt loss of a great love in his life. He was nearly inconsolable in those times. We listened to so very many great songs and mixes in those days. Arthur would help me order and choose which loud dance music and which new mixes and DJs were going to be hot that year. Together, we did everything. We realized we loved the same things. It was around about the year 2002 and I was in love with Arthur. By the next year we were boyfriends.

By this time Arthur had told me he was here on a work visa and had been on various visas at various prestigious companies. I shared with him my inner need to travel some day and also told him my ultimate vacation destination was Angel Falls in Venezuela. He lit up and told me all about it. He told me he’d seen it up close. I was so envious and this seemed so much like a match made in heaven.

For the First Time, the Obama Justice Department Argues that DOMA is Unconstitutional When Applied to Binational Lesbian and Gay Couples Filing I-130 Petitions

On Friday, just as most of us began to settle in for the Labor Day holiday weekend, the Department of Justice filed a brief in Federal District Court in California arguing that is a violation of the United States Constitution to deny I-130 Alien Relative Petitions filed by lesbian and gay U.S. citizens for their foreign born spouses.

The filing multiplies the ironies and cognitive dissonance of an administration that will continue to enforce DOMA against married binational couples while taking an increasingly aggressive legal and rhetorical position that DOMA is unconstitutional. The Obama Justice Department filed the brief on behalf of the following named defendants: on behalf of the named defendants: Attorney General Eric Holder, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas, and the Los Angeles USCIS District Director, Jane Arellano. Essentially, Justice Department Attorneys are arguing that none of these Defendants should be enforcing DOMA because it is unconstitutional. 

This is the first time the DOJ has filed a brief arguing that DOMA is unconstitutional specifically in the immigration context. DOJ filed this brief in support of a binational couple in California who are suing the federal government because their I-130 was denied on the basis that DOMA prohibits USCIS from recognizing their marriage. Essentially DOJ argues that USCIS should be approving I-130 petitions filed by same-sex couples, because to discriminate against lesbian and gay couples in this context is impermissible under the U.S. Constitution. DOJ further argued that the three decade old case of Adams v Howerton was no longer applicable precedent and that the "plenary power" of Congress to regulate immigration do not permit discrimination against married gay and lesbian binational couples.

Chris Geidner at MetroWeekly has published two articles today which are a must-read for those who have followed closely the developments since the Obama administration's February 23 refusal to defend DOMA. (See Defending DOMA, Fighting Back and DOJ Argues DOMA's Unconstitutionality Holds, Even In Immigration Context, Metro Weekly, September 6, 2011.)

While this development may have implications for couples who are appealing denials of I-130s to the Board of Immigration Appeals, or seeking to have proceedings re-opened on the basis of pending I-130s, it does not change the reality that I-130s will continue to be denied. Lesbian and gay couples who file on the basis of their marriages will continue to risk deportation, or limit their ability to qualify for other visas. We continue to urge all couples to consult with competent legal counsel with expertise in issues relating to DOMA and immigration.

Read the entire DOJ brief here.