How Obama outsmarted Romney on gay rights and immigration

I get a kick out of how an increasing number of pundits, and politicians, are finding support of gay rights a net positive for Democrats.

From Jacob Weisberg in Slate:

[T]he politics of that issue may actually be on Obama’s side. Taking a moral stance on an issue of civil rights reanimated liberal voters who had drifted into disaffection, especially young voters who were crucial to his 2008 victory. Mitt Romney, who didn’t expect the move, found himself in awkward position. With his radical Republican challengers dispatched, conservative positions on social issues were the last thing Romney wanted to emphasize. At a press conference, he called his own opposition to gay marriage “my preference” and declined to criticize Obama for changing his position or pandering to a Democratic special interest group. Romney’s response was essentially a tactical surrender that underscored the inevitably of liberal victory on the issue.
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This same dynamic was at play last week when Obama issued an executive order that allows illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children to remain in the country. Obama’s unanticipated move aligned sound policy with good politics, reawakening Latino supporters who had lost heart over his failure to get a more comprehensive reform of immigration laws through Congress. The decision will play particularly well in swing states such as Florida, Colorado, and New Mexico, where Hispanic turnout can be decisive.

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Temporary relief for same-sex couples facing deportation

Via Chris Geidner:

Over the past month, the Board of Immigration Appeals, which is a part of the Department of Justice, has taken action in several cases involving same-sex binational couples that has the result of delaying the cases for now and potentially setting up the foreign partner of the couples to be granted a marriage-based green card should the Supreme Court declare Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional, Metro Weekly has learned.

Lavi Soloway, an attorney arguing several of the cases, tells Metro Weekly the move, which sends the cases back for further fact-based investigations to determine whether the couples would be eligible for relief were it not for DOMA, is "historic" and reflects DOJ's apparent view that "there may very well be, a year from now, a post-DOMA world."

The decisions by the BIA in four cases reviewed by Metro Weekly, three of which involve visa requests and one of which involves a request to reopen an immigration case in removal proceedings, require similar follow-up action and use almost identical language despite appearing to have been signed by three different BIA members on behalf of the board.

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Catholic Church defunds immigration advocates over ties to LGBT group

A great Holy Week story.

Leaders of the Catholic Church continue their jihad against all things gay by cutting funds for groups that treat their LGBT neighbors as human beings. From today's New York Times:

For three years now, Compañeros, a small nonprofit organization in rural southwestern Colorado, has received thousands of dollars from the Roman Catholic Church to help poor Hispanic immigrants with basic needs including access to health care and guidance on local laws.

But in February, the group was informed by a representative from the Diocese of Pueblo that its financing from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, an arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops devoted to ending poverty, was in danger.

The problem, the diocesan liaison explained, was Compañeros’s membership in an immigrant rights coalition that had joined forces with a statewide gay and lesbian advocacy group, recounted Nicole Mosher, Compañeros’s executive director.

The Catholic Campaign, which doles out $8 million annually to about 250 groups nationwide, has been under increasing pressure from conservative Catholic groups to ensure that it is not unwittingly aiding organizations that run afoul of church positions on issues like birth control and marriage.

These are some sick people running the church these days. Their homophobia knows no bounds.

According to The Times, Compañeros is affiliated with the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC). CIRC "began a partnership with One Colorado. It was One Colorado’s support for civil unions that was at issue, Mr. McCloud said." So, those Bishops are really looking hard to find connections to anything gay-related. It's a modern-day Inquisition.

Compañeros isn't backing down, despite the financial impact:

Compañeros’s board recently voted to remain a member of the immigrant coalition, despite the prospect of losing $30,000 in annual financing, which comprises about half its budget.

Said Ms. Mosher: “We can’t go against our core principles by taking money that we think will ultimately result in the division of this community.”

The Catholic Church cut funds for Preble Street in Portland (also mentioned by the Times) after the organization opposed the repeal of Maine's same-sex marriage law back in 2009. The people of Maine, including then-Governor John Baldacci, rallied around Preble Street. I hope the same thing happens in Colorado.

The website for Compañeros is here. On this Good Friday, while Catholic leaders are cutting funds for those who need help. I donated to Compañeros, just like I donated when the Bishop cut funds for Preble Street. If you are so inclined, the best way to donate directly to Compañeros is through one of these sites:

CIRC/Companeros page

One Colorado

Charity for All

I grew up Catholic and it seems like Compañeros is doing what Jesus would do. Read the rest of this post...

GOP to Latinos: Risk your life for us, but no voting privileges for you

The GOP might as well rename Sen. Marco Rubio's proposed DREAM Act alternative the PESADILLA Act (or the NIGHTMARE Act, for you non-Spanish-speaking folks), because that's all it really adds up to be.

Faced with an increasingly-distant Latino voting bloc (a Fox News Latino poll gives President Obama the upper-hand, 70% to 14% over Mitt Romney), Republicans are considering offering a watered-down DREAM Act, one that would legalize undocumented immigrants who serve in the military or go to college, but offers absolutely zero chance at eventual citizenship.

By comparison, the DREAM Act would grant undocumented immigrants who have completed college or military service permanent residency with a path to citizenship.

Yes, this is what Rubio and his Republican colleagues are telling Latinos: We're hoping you're foolish enough to fall for a terrible version of the bill we killed in Congress. Oh, you should also consider putting your life on the line for us, but we still don't trust you enough to be able to vote. After all, what if you vote for the other guy? Read the rest of this post...

AMERICAblog at SXSW, "Waging Stories with Social Media"

UPDATE @ 8:39 PM: Well, we had the panel this afternoon. The twitter feed on our panel is here and gives a good sense of the discussion. The hash tag was #SXstory power (every SXSW panel has its own hashtag.) It went well. We weren't sure what to expect. But, we had a good crowd and good response. Unfortunately, Jose Antonio Vargas had a family emergency so couldn't join us. But, we shared Jose's story by playing the start of his Define American video.

___________________________
This weekend, I'm in Austin for the South by Southwest conference. SXSW has been known mostly as a film and music festival, but there's an increasing focus on its third area: Interactive. That's why I'm here.

Along with Jackie Mahendra from Change.org, the most amazing DREAMer Felipe Matos, GetEQUAL's Heather Cronk and Jose Antonio Vargas, I'm on an interactive panel. Last summer, Jose, who is gay, came out as undocumented. Since then, he's been doing a amazing work through his organization, Define American.

Our panel is titled, Still Invisible? Waging Stories with Social Media. The genesis was the panel Jackie and I put together for last year's Netroots Nation on thehow netroots forced action on the DREAM Act and DADT repeal. Heather and Felipe were on that panel with Jackie and me. We're on the schedule for Sunday, March 11 at 2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET.

Here's the panel description:

What does it mean to wage a story? In this panel, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas describes the moment of coming out as an undocumented immigrant, an "outlaw" in his own country. He explores the ways in which his radically visible story traveled from the New York Times to Facebook to Youtube and back -- and forced a toxic national debate into a human frame. As context for Jose's incredible story, Joe Sudbay, Deputy Editor of AMERICABlog, describes how bold, hi-tech storytelling transformed the political calculus during the waning months of the last Congress and landed him in a meeting with President Obama at the White House. Felipe Matos takes us on a journey that reinvents what it means to push for civil rights: a 1,500 mile walk from Miami to DC, tweeted at every turn.These hypervisible, once-invisible stories are changing what we thought we knew about the communities that are "coming out," as well as how to tap the power of social media to ignite change.

This is my first time at SXSW and I'm pretty excited to be here. It feels like Netroots Nation on steroids.

I love Austin. Looking forward to seeing the crew from GetEQUAL TX while I'm here.

And, AMERICAblog's Chris in Paris is here, too!

UPDATE: Rich Lopez from the Dallas Voice has an article listing the LGBT-related events at SXSW. Read the rest of this post...

Meet Jorge: "Undocumented And Unafraid, Queer And Unashamed." And, meet his mom, too.

Last November, I did a workshop at the DREAM Nation in Dallas. That event, the National Congress of United We DREAM, was attended by 450 DREAMers and their allies from around the country. While I was there, I also attended a session sponsored by The Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project (QUIP.) The group's leader was an impressive young man named Jorge Gutierrez. QUIP was started by the Orange County Dream Team.

During the QUIP session, I was both awed by the courage of the DREAMers and struck by the pressures facing undocumented youth who are also LGBT. Most LGBT people worry on some level about coming out to their families. But, for undocumented youth, it seems like there's an added burden. For so many, the decision their parents made to come to the US was to give them a better life. So they were willing to take the risks. It gives the family an added bond -- often their own secret. There's a shared situation of being undocumented. Then, when the young man or young woman wants to come out, they put their family ties at risk. And, they threaten that shared bond. So, it's like a double whammy. I conveyed my impression to Jorge who wrote back, "you have captured in your own words the navigation spaces Queer Undocumented youth face within their families and public places."

Last week, Cuentame sent a video titled “An Honest Conversation," which features Jorge and his mom. It's really worth a watch. And, you'll love his mother.
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Obama Admin. will continue to deny green card applications for married, binational couples

Andrew Harmon has a report with some not great news about the Obama administration's decision on how to handle cases of married, binational couples. Given all the rhetoric we've heard from the administration, this doesn't make any sense:

The Obama administration is standing firm against calls by LGBT rights groups and lawmakers to put a blanket hold on deciding green card petitions from married, binational gay couples. Instead, those petitions in all likelihood will continue to be rejected, denying much-needed stability for gay families stuck in the nation’s immigration system.

While the administration has taken affirmative steps in recent months to ensure that foreign nationals married to American spouses of the same sex are spared from actual deportation, officials told LGBT rights groups in a recent, high-level meeting that they will not hold such marriage-based green card petitions in abeyance. The decision is being criticized by some advocates as a campaign-year calculation based on politics, not on sound legal analysis.

Politics, not sound legal analysis. Who made the political calculation on this one?

As you might expect, advocates are not happy, especially because of the implications for the couples:

Immigration Equality and other advocacy groups have argued for months that the administration need not reject the green card applications as part of its commitment to enforcing DOMA, which a second federal judge ruled unconstitutional in an opinion issued Wednesday. Putting the applications on hold would not grant permanent residency, but it would help individuals avoid accruing unlawful status in the country, a civil violation that can jeopardize future employment or the ability to obtain such critical legal documents as a driver’s license.

Rachel Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, said that despite her group’s extensive arguments as to why the administration has the power — and, given the president’s position that DOMA is indefensible, the duty — to act on behalf of binational gay couples, officials summarily rejected their request to hold green card applications in abeyance.

“We wanted to make clear to the administration that this is a priority for us, that it’s a new big ask of the LGBT community,” Tiven said of the coalition of LGBT groups at the January 30 meeting. “In many, many meetings over the past six months, with different players and different agencies, [the administration] has been quick to say, without hesitation, that our legal arguments are quite sound. So it’s frustrating to hear this idea from them that it’s basically no big deal for individuals to fall out of lawful status.”

And, the analysis that this was a political decision, not based on policy, is particularly disturbing:

Most gay binational couples seeking lawful status are not in active deportation proceedings, however. And the case-by-case review has vexed advocates who argue that the best way to protect gay binational families is to hold all green card applications in abeyance until DOMA is struck down or repealed by Congress.

“Nobody has offered a legal basis as to the decision that’s been made" by the administration, said Crystal L. Williams, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “All they’ve said is that they’re not going to [hold the green card petitions in abeyance]. So it has to be a political decision. How can they say that DOMA is legally indefensible, yet proceed to deny married couples the legal right to be together in the United States?”

Seriously. This has to be fixed. The decision could hamper the futures of married, binational couples once DOMA is found unconstitutional. And, again, who made this stupid political calculation? Read the rest of this post...

Pelosi announces immigration decision to defer deportation of gay spouse

Nancy Pelosi's office just informed us that a rather well known gay deportation case has been put on hold. It might have been nice for the administration itself to actually tell us about this.

Pelosi Statement on Anthony John Makk and Bradford Wells

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the decision by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to grant deferred action to Anthony John Makk. This afternoon, Pelosi spoke to Anthony John Makk and his husband, Bradford Wells, and informed them of the decision. Leader Pelosi had personally intervened in this case.

“The positive resolution of Anthony’s immigration petition is a personal victory for Bradford and Anthony, and keeps this loving couple together.

“Anthony would have faced deportation because of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, even though he has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, has no criminal history, has never lived here illegally and is the primary caregiver to his husband. The Obama Administration’s recent efforts to prioritize immigration enforcement for the removal of criminals and others who pose a threat to national helped pave the way for today’s good news.

More background from our previous reporting on this. Read the rest of this post...

Binational couples and the holidays

From the BiNationalCouples blog:

My lovely friend in Colorado will celebrate Christmas with her wife via Skype. Her wife is British and lives in the UK. In spite of her wife's extensive education, there is no "line" at the immigration office for this bi-national couple to get into.

My very dear friend lives in California, her wife, her legal wife (married in Canada and in California) will be in England due to the United States immigration discriminatory laws. These two ladies pose no threat to anyone, as a matter of fact, the Californian is a Military Veteran. In spite of serving her country, her country refuses to acknowledge her marriage to her lovely wife from the United Kingdom. They, too, will spend Christmas apart....touching their computer screens instead of holding each other.

I have a friend on twitter who is struggling on telling her son (age 2) and daughter (age 6), that their "other" Mom's visa may not be renewed. Another family separated by the so called Defense of Marriage Act and immigration discrimination. Will they be able to watch their children open their presents....together as a family?

Things that heterosexuals take for granted, spending holiday's with the family, watching the kids open presents, sitting around the dinner table, are things that bi-national same sex couples pray to be a reality soon.

Read the rest of this post...

Gay man denied deportation reprieve by Obama administration

Mmm mmm mmm. They still don't get it. From Andrew Harmon at the Advocate:

A gay Indonesian man fighting to remain in the U.S. with his American husband has been denied a reprieve from deportation — a decision that appears to contradict Obama administration promises that members of same-sex binational couples can be considered lower-priority cases among the nation’s 300,000 current deportation proceedings.
During a brief Friday meeting at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Philadelphia office, Anton Tanumihardja, who in June married his American spouse, Brian Andersen, was denied a request for what’s known as deferred action. He was ordered to return to the local branch on January 13 for another appearance.

If the Department of Homeland Security or an immigration appeals board within the Justice Department does not intervene, immigration officers will require Tanumihardja to make travel arrangements back to Indonesia or be taken into custody and removed from the U.S. by ICE.

Read the rest of this post...

Another binational couple may be split up tomorrow by the federal government

This would be a great opportunity for the Obama administration to show that things have changed:

Brian Andersen and Anton Tanumihardja face separation tomorrow as Tanumihardja could be deported back to his native Indonesia.

In August, the Obama administration announced that bi-national gay couples may be considered lower-priority cases in the overwhelmed immigration system as reported by the Advocate.

Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, announced a case-by-case review was to be enforced by an intra-agency working group that would evaluate unresolved deportation orders. An unnamed senior administration official later clarified to the Advocate “that cases deemed low-priority can include those of individuals with strong community ties, with community contributions, and with family relationships. We consider LGBT families to be families in this context."

Read the rest of this post...

Will the administration’s new deportation rules help Brian and Anton?

From Stop the Deportations:

Brian & Anton will spend the next 38 days waiting for a phone call from ICE that may never come.

For the second time this year, Anton Tanumihardja, an Indonesian citizen, and his American husband, Brian Andersen, face the terrifying prospect of a deportation that will destroy their marriage. After losing a nine-year legal battle for asylum, Anton was given a “final order of removal” that may be executed on October 7.

Although this administration recently announced a “kinder, gentler” deportation policy with “prosecutorial discretion” guidelines that include same-sex binational couples, Brian & Anton will still wait anxiously for another month to learn whether this policy will be properly applied in Anton’s case.

Brian and Anton's case will be the first real test of the administration's commitment to stop deportations involving same-sex binational couples since the August 18 announcement by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, promising to set-aside low-priority deportation cases. It will also give us a first opportunity to confirm whether individual ICE Deportation Officers implement the LGBT-inclusive prosecutorial discretion guidelines for an individual with a final order of removal.

Read the rest of this post...

MetroWeekly’s Sean Bugg interviews Jose Antonio Vargas

Definitely worth a read. Vargas, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, who is openly gay, made a splash this summer when he came out as undocumented. Sean Bugg interviewed him.

An excerpt:

MW: When it comes to immigration and undocumented people living in the U.S., I think the gay community tends to view those issues only through the prism of marriage. Would you agree?

VARGAS: Right now it is the most tangible way that they understand this very abstract topic. It's a simplistic prism that doesn't encompass the complexity of the issue. People have told me, ''Now that New York is allowing same-sex marriage, why don't you just get a boyfriend and just get married?'' God, that sounds so easy! Why don't I just go do that?

When I came out [as undocumented] to one of my friends — a D.C. journalist, a straight guy — he was like, ''Why don't we go to Iowa and get married?'' He's straight, but he's like why not, right? I'm like, that's really sweet, but immigration is under federal law, not state, and even though Iowa allows same-sex marriage, DOMA doesn't recognize that. One of my other friends said if I really want to challenge the government, why don't I marry a guy and then sue the government for not treating me equally? I'm like, ''I'm in enough trouble as it is!'' [Laughs.]

Read the rest of this post...

Big News from Denver: Sujey’s deportation halted by Immigration Judge

Following up on the post about Sujey and Violeta from earlier today, looks like the couple got some good news. Sujey's deportation has been halted by an immigration judge. Lavi Soloway just tweeted:

Victory! Denver Judge Halts Deportation 4 Sujey & Violeta, Sets 2012 Date to Consider Marriage-Based Application http://t.co/lmzihrX

UPDATE @ 7:02 PM: Lavi sent this statement:

"Today Immigration Judge Mimi Tsankov halted the deportation of Sujey Pando and scheduled a new hearing to consider an application based on her marriage to her U.S. citizen wife, Violeta Pando. Because today's hearing was intended to be a final decision day on Sujey's deportation, the judge's action was unusual; she spent 45 minutes methodically considering the procedural posture of the case. In the end, the Judge set aside the intended purpose of the hearing, citing developments including the Attorney General's intervention in a similar case in May (Matter of Dorman) and noted that the issues involved in this case existed in a context that was "fluid" and "in a state of flux." The Judge referred to events that occurred as recent as yesterday as having an impact on how to proceed. Yesterday, the DHS Secretary Napolitano ordered a review of all pending deportation cases for possible closure, including those involving LGBT families."

Congrats to Sujey & Victoria. And, great work by their legal team, led by Lavi.

Violeta and Sujey (photo from Lavi):


Read the rest of this post...

Denver DOMA deportation case is test for new immigration policy from Obama admin.

Yesterday, as reported, the Obama administration changed the policy for immigrants who are in deportation proceedings. There will be a review of all the pending cases and the new policy places a priority on deporting serious criminals, who are considered high priority.

This should put a halt to the deportations of the non-criminal immigrants who are in proceedings. The government will use its discretion to assess these other cases. Among the factors to be considered are family relationships. The Obama administration's definition of family includes same-sex couples.

So, there's a test for the new policy today in Denver. A couple weeks ago, we wrote about a married couple, Violeta and Sujey, who are facing the prospect of being torn apart. Today, Sujey has a deporation hearing before an immigration judge in Denver.

Sujey's lawyer, Lavi Soloway, is ready to use the new policy to prevent her deportation. He sent the following statement:

I am taking Janet Napolitano's announcement of a system wide case review with me into court in an attempt to stop the "DOMA deportation" of a Sujey Pando, a Mexican immigrant who married her wife, Violeta, a U.S. citizen last year in Iowa. Sujey fled a lifetime of rape and beating in Mexico when she came to the US as a teenager. She was put in deportation proceedings after a routine traffic stop in 2008 and has been fighting every since. She and Violeta have been together as a couple for five years. I will impress upon the judge that a final decision on deportation that had been scheduled for today at 2:30 p.m. must be delayed in light of yesterday's announcement by the administration. Both U.S. Senators representing Colorado, Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, have communicated with ICE and requested feedback on the status of this case, thanks to grass roots support by the LGBT binational couple community and the immigrant rights community in Colorado.

Read the rest of this post...

Binational couples could find relief in review of pending deportation cases

Relief may be possible for married, binational couples when the foreign-born spouse is in deportation proceedings. From Chris Johnson:

Under the new guidance, immigration authorities within the Obama administration will conduct a case-by-case review of the approximately 300,000 undocumented immigrants facing possible deportation to determine which cases are high priority and low priority. Those who have been convicted of crimes or pose a security risk will be a higher priority for deportation, while those who are deemed lower priority will be taken out of the pipeline.

Administration officials will weigh a person’s ties and contributions to the community and family relationships. During an on background conference call with media outlets on Thursday, a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said these criteria are inclusive of LGBT families and same-sex couples.

“The prosecutorial discretion memo provides for the use of discretion for people with strong community ties, with community contributions and with family relationships,” the official said. “We consider LGBT families to be families in this context.”

That's as it should be. LGBT families should be families in every context. I listened to the press call and the "Senior Administration Official" was pretty clear that same-sex families meet the criteria for discretion.

There are some still concerns, as explained by Immigration Equality

“While Immigration Equality has not yet seen the written guidelines that will accompany the changes the agency has announced, our understanding is that the guidance is meant to be LGBT-inclusive,” Ralls said.

But Ralls said further action is needed because the new guidance doesn’t affect bi-national couples who need relief, but haven’t received a deportation order or removal notice. LGBT immigration organizations have been calling on the Obama administration is issue a blanket moratorium on DOMA-related deportations to ensure that married bi-national couples can stay together in the United States.

“Those couples are still waiting for an answer as to how the administration will ensure they remain in the country and are given the same treatment and solutions, under the law, available to straight couples, too,” Ralls said.

Read the rest of this post...

Wash Post tells Obama admin. to let Makk stay

Wash Post editorial:

It is not easy to win a reprieve from deportation based on marriage to a U.S. citizen. All who make such a claim must not only show proof of their lawful relationship but also that removal would cause an “extraordinary and extremely unusual hardship.” But the law at least allows heterosexual individuals to make their cases; that opportunity should be extended to those in same-sex relationships also. Immigration agents enjoy broad discretion and should make it a priority to remove foreign nationals who have committed serious crimes — not those, like Mr. Makk, who are otherwise law-abiding, contributing members of society. Common sense and common decency will go a long way toward avoiding indignities, but true justice will not be achieved until DOMA is wiped from the books.

Read the rest of this post...

CNN covers DOMA deporation story of Bradford Wells and Anthony Makk

And, they were on Olbermann tonight, too.
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To be very clear, Obama administration can stop the deportation of Anthony John Makk

John wrote a post about the impending deportation of Anthony John Makk earlier today. It's really a stunning story. Makk is an Australian who is legally married to a U.S. citizen Bradford Wells. They've been married for seven years. But, the Obama administration intends to deport Makk by August 25th.

Teddy Partridge at FireDogLake is furious -- and rightly so:

The Obama Administration has denied the request of a married couple in San Francisco, ordering the expulsion of one spouse who is the primary caregiver of his legally married husband with AIDS.

Team Obama is incapable of valuing our actual relationships, while making pretty speeches about DOMA’s unconstitutionality.

So, the Obama administration is using DOMA as an excuse when the Obama administration claims DOMA is unconstitutional. That's bad enough. The Obama administration has the executive power to prevent this deportation. It does not have to happen.

I asked Steve Ralls from Immigration Equality to give us an explanation of the Obama administration's options. Here's what he wrote:

The Obama Administration can intervene – today – and keep Bradford and Anthony together. On May 17, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security wrote, in a letter to Congress, that they retain authority “to exercise discretion in individual cases based on the unique factors presented by that particular case.” In June, ICE reiterated that position in a memorandum to field offices informing their agents that individuals who have U.S. citizen spouses or relatives, or are the primary caretakers for American citizens, should not be considered a priority for removal, and can, again, qualify for discretion. Despite both the letter and the memo, however, the Administration has not yet intervened in a single case for a lesbian or gay couple. Now would be a good time for them to do so, as American citizens are being torn apart from their spouses and partners. There is no question about the Administration’s ability to do so; the only question is whether they will exercise that ability on behalf of LGBT families.

Got that? There is no question about the Obama administration's ability. Makk's deportation does not have to happen.

On Sunday, Drew Westen wrote a powerful op-ed in the New York Times titled, "What Happened to Obama?," which included this passage:

Like most Americans, at this point, I have no idea what Barack Obama — and by extension the party he leads — believes on virtually any issue. The president tells us he prefers a “balanced” approach to deficit reduction, one that weds “revenue enhancements” (a weak way of describing popular taxes on the rich and big corporations that are evading them) with “entitlement cuts” (an equally poor choice of words that implies that people who’ve worked their whole lives are looking for handouts). But the law he just signed includes only the cuts. This pattern of presenting inconsistent positions with no apparent recognition of their incoherence is another hallmark of this president’s storytelling. He announces in a speech on energy and climate change that we need to expand offshore oil drilling and coal production — two methods of obtaining fuels that contribute to the extreme weather Americans are now seeing. He supports a health care law that will use Medicaid to insure about 15 million more Americans and then endorses a budget plan that, through cuts to state budgets, will most likely decimate Medicaid and other essential programs for children, senior citizens and people who are vulnerable by virtue of disabilities or an economy that is getting weaker by the day. He gives a major speech on immigration reform after deporting a million immigrants in two years, breaking up families at a pace George W. Bush could never rival in all his years as president.

One of the families Obama is intent to break up is that of Anthony Makk and Bradford Wells. The President or someone who works for him needs to fix this. And, fast. Read the rest of this post...

Another married binational couple fights to prevent being split apart by deportation

Another married binational couple fights to prevent a deportation. Doesn't the US government have anything better to do?

From Stop The Deportations:

My name is Violeta. I am a 27 year old American citizen. I live in Denver, Colorado where I was born. I hold a degree in Criminal Justice and work as a Correctional Case Manager. My wife, Sujey, and I, are one of the many same-sex couples who are threatened with being torn apart because of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Because of DOMA, I cannot pursue the most obvious solution which would be to petition for her as my spouse; instead we are fighting for asylum due to her past experiences of extreme harm that she suffered in Mexico and her fear of returning there. All our hopes are on this asylum application--a long, difficult and painful struggle for Sujey, who has had to re-live traumatic incidents of physical and sexual assaults--but there is no guarantee that it will be granted. What is so obvious, is that we should never have had to fight in this way at all. We have been together for almost 5 years as a couple and we are married. No American citizen should have to beg for protection for her spouse; the right to sponsor my spouse for a "green card" should be automatic for me as it is for all other American citizens.

On August 19th, an Immigration Judge in Denver will decide whether Sujey will be deported from the United States. This fact puts our life, our marriage, and our family into a state of complete chaos. Sujey has lived in the United States since she was brought here as a teenager, and she is fully a part of my family as any spouse can be. Why does my government insist on enforcing this unconstitutional law against me? If Sujey is deported she will be barred from the United States for ten years. TEN YEARS. There are no words to describe the anguish we feel as the days countdown to August 19th. We hope and pray for a miracle.

It shouldn't take a miracle. it should take a government that has some compassion. But, the Obama administration is setting records on deportations. And, that means families get ripped apart.

Read the whole post. It's intense. Read the rest of this post...