Same-sex couples encounters problems related to immigration.
By Albert Smith | Tue, 03/31/2009 - 18:29
The calm and happy life of Shirley Tan was in tatters when an immigration agent came to her house to inform her that she is scheduled to be deported to the Philippines on Friday.
The situation wouldn’t have been the same had Jay Mercado, Tim’s partner and mother of their 12-year old twin boys, been of a different gender. Being a US citizen, it would have been relatively easier for Mercado to sponsor a wedded spouse for permanent residency in legal way. But in spite of the fact that the couple have married in 2004 in San Francisco, the federal law definition of marriage is confined only between a man and a woman. Unfortunately, there is no way for same-sex partners of US citizens to acquire legal permanent residence.
May be it is too late for Tan and Mercado, but the good thing is that the Congress is thinking over changing the federal law for the benefit of same-sex couples, after which same-sex permanent partners would be able to avail the same immigration rights as opposite-sex married couples.
US Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York City who is trying to enforce the law that would enable same-sex couples to acquire permanent residence status, said that he supports gay marriage and there is no need for the law to be unnecessarily cruel. He said that it is an unjustified cruelty to force partners to either choose their countries or their partners.
If the deportation order is carried on and Tan is deported, then the family would have to decide between either separating their two sons from one of their mothers, or to go to a country that is completely new to them.
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