Lawyers from the Department of Homeland Security are concluding that the government must enforce a law that bans US visa applications for same-sex couples.
According to an article by The Associated Press, spokesperson for the US Citizenship and Services agency Chris Bentley said that lawyers working for the Department of Homeland Security found a law which prohibits the government from officially recognizing same-sex marriages must be inforced. The decision will be enforced despite the Obama administration’s decision to stop defending the constitutional merit of the law.
In light of the recent decision by US Attorney General Eric Holder to no longer defend the constitutionality of The Defense of Marriage Act, visas should not be denied on the basis of same-sex marriage.
It is wrong to deny the status of a person’s citizenship based upon their sexual orientation. If Obama and the Attorney General are in agreement to no longer uphold the constitutionality of DOMA, then why should a visa be denied?
Immigration officials must realize that the deportation of someone for reasons based upon same-sex marriage isn’t constitutional, and that until the Supreme Court rules on the matter — or until the fate of DOMA is decided in Congress — those who could be deported shouldn’t be.
Last week the United States Citizen and Immigration Services division of Homeland Security issued a hold on the deportation of anyone who was in a bi-national same sex marriage. The decision was one that was short-lived. Last night the USCIS ended the hold and now plans to deal with the cases like it had before the hold was in place.
This decision could tear apart the lives of perfectly good people for no just reason.
The USCIS’s decision should be a call to action for Obama, who should come to the defense of gay and lesbian Americans who are in danger of being unfairly deported.
The freedom of Americans is at stake, and it is the duty of every citizen to make sure that we are all treated equally under the law.
