Since the striking of DOMA, the USCIS has been reopening closed same sex marriage cases and actually approving some of them under the same criteria as different sex marriages. A divided Supreme Court, in a five-to-four decision, overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to gay married couples. The states still may sanction or prohibit the unions.
The move came pretty quickly after the US Supreme Court’s decision on DOMA. Our office has been a beneficiary of such re-openings.
USCIS’ Sec. Napolitano directed the Service to review immigration visa petitions filed on behalf of a same-sex spouse in the same manner as those filed on behalf of an opposite-sex spouse. On its website, USCIS now permits same-sex couples to file petitions for their green cards and that those applications will no longer be automatically denied because gender. Not to be outdone, the Department of State’s Sec. Kerry announced that same-sex spouses visa applications will be considered in the same manner as those of opposite-sex spouses at any one of our 222 visa processing centers around the world.
On Immigration Reform, Republicans in the House leadership are threatening to kill the Senate-Immigration bill with unanimous Democrats’ support and 30 percent of Republicans including conservatives like Jeff Flake, Orrin Hatch and Marco Rubio. A majority of the House today supports a measure that would resemble the Senate legislation. Speaker Boehner now calls for a majority of the majority party to pass the bill. What?
The Senate bill, involved an impressive coalition: the business community, the high-tech industry; labor, Hispanic and civil rights groups; top current and former Republican governors; many evangelicals, and even a few right-wingers. Immigration Reform is here to stay and will be dealt with, today or another day, but it will be dealt with.
It is a new day in Immigration Law practice and into our journey towards a more perfect union. Fair is fair. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution teaches us that all people on American soil must have equal protection under the law. That is our fundamental law and it worked yet again!
Aime M. Katambwe, Esq. is a local Immigration Attorney with World Esquire Law Firm, visit our website www.worldesquire.com for more information.