Deportation of partner in same-sex couple halted

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> Deportation of partner in same-sex couple halted
>
> http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hTVkg25ns-_m0npNE-i-xOilKLVw?docId\x3d820c6c3dcb8843c1a2ac28a689023500
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> NEWARK, N.J. (AP) \ A dancer from Venezuela who legally married an A
> merican man in a same-sex ceremony last year had his deportation pla
> ced on hold Friday, one day after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
> set aside an immigration ruling in a similar case.
>
> Henry Velandia, 27, a professional salsa dancer from Caracas, wants
> to be allowed to remain in the U.S. as the spouse of U.S. citizen
> Josh Vandiver, a 29-year-old graduate student at Princeton
> University. The couple lives in New Jersey, but were married last
> year in Connecticut, where same-sex marriage is legal.
>
> On Friday, an immigration judge in Newark adjourned Velandia's case
> until December, citing Holder's decision from a day earlier. In that
> case, Holder set aside a Board of Immigration Appeals ruling
> allowing the deportation to Ireland of Paul Wilson Dorman, a gay man
> illegally in the U.S. who celebrated a civil union in New Jersey
> with his male partner.
>
> The board had based its decision in the Dorman case on the 1996
> federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the union
> of a heterosexual man and a heterosexual woman. Holder asked the
> board to determine whether Dorman can be considered a spouse under
> New Jersey law, and whether he would be a spouse under immigration
> law were it not for the Defense of Marriage Act, according to a copy
> of the decision.
>
> Earlier this year, Holder said the government would no longer defend
> the law in court. But the administration continues to enforce it.
>
> There are an estimated 36,000 bi-national same-sex couples in the
> U.S., and immigration laws are murkier on the definition of spouse.
> The government had briefly allowed applications for immigrant
> benefits for same-sex couples, then reversed course days later after
> a review of the laws.
>
> On Friday, Velandia's attorney asked for his deportation hearing to
> be adjourned, partly based on Holder's decision.
>
> "It's amazing, I'm in shock," Velandia said of immigration Judge
> Alberto Riefkohl's granting him an adjournment. "I am thankful I can
> still be with my husband, and keep this fight going."
>
> In Velandia's case, his visitor visa expired, and he was unable to
> obtain a green card, or permanent resident status, through an
> employer. Because the federal government doesn't recognize the
> couple's marriage, Vandiver was not able to sponsor Velandia, as a
> heterosexual person could sponsor a spouse.
>
> Supporters of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, say Holder's
> actions send a confusing message.
>
> "It's one more step in the stealth sabotage of DOMA," said Ed
> Whelan, president of the Washington D.C.-based Ethics and Public
> Policy Center. "This is a brazen violation of the commitment made
> just weeks ago to have the executive branch continue to enforce DOMA."
>
> Whelan said if the marriage law is going to be revisited, it should
> be done through ordinary channels, not through executive branch
> nullification.
>
> "Their goal is to invite chaos, to give the false impression that
> DOMA is unworkable," he said of the administration's actions.
>
> U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, who has been urging the Obama administration to
> halt deportation proceedings against the same-sex spouses of U.S.
> citizens and wrote letters in support of Velandia and Vandiver, who
> live in his central New Jersey district, said he would continue to
> push for the repeal of DOMA.