New Guidelines on Deportation Cases Could Apply to Gay Couples

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/06/20/New_Rules_on_Deportation_Could_Apply_to_Gay_Couples/

Immigration officials may be able to consider the circumstances of married binational same-sex couples when making decisions about deportation, although an immigration group in response has asked for further clarification of new federal guidelines.
According to guidelines issued in a Friday memo by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton to field directors, agents, and attorneys, Morton listed 19 criteria that could be considered in deportation cases, including whether an individual has a U.S. citizen spouse, as well as “the person’s ties and contributions to the community” and whether the individual’s nationality “renders removal unlikely.”

Morton specified that the list “is not exhaustive.” In response, an LGBT immigration advocacy group has asked the agency to clarify whether terms like “spouse” and “family” in the memo include gay partners and spouses.

“While ICE has taken a significant step in recognizing that tearing families apart should not be a government priority, it must be explicit that lesbian and gay families are protected, too,” Immigration Equality executive director Rachel Tiven said in a statement today.

Following the Obama administration’s February announcement that it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court cases, Tiven’s organization and other advocates have called on officials to exercise their discretion in immigration cases involving married gay binational couples because President Barack Obama has said the 1996 law, which prevents federal recognition of same-sex marriages, is unconstitutional.