First Ever Hearing on GLBT Immigration Equality
By Bob Roehr
Windy City Media, June 3, 2009
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=21379
The US Senate held a first ever congressional hearing on GLBT immigration equality that would stop gay and lesbian families from being torn apart, on June 3.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) introduced the Uniting American Families Act (S. 424) earlier this year; it has 18 cosponsors. The bill would allow same sex couples the same immigration rights as married heterosexual couples. Passage of the bill is likely to be tied to overall immigration reform.
'The preservation of family unity is at the core of our immigration legal system. This American value must apply to all families Federal policy should encourage rather than restrict our opportunity as Americans to sustain the relationships that fulfill our lives,' chairman Leahy said in opening the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
He acknowledged the potential for fraud but thought that US immigration officials would be just as capable of identifying fraud committed by homosexuals as that committed by heterosexuals.
Ranking Republican Jeff Sessions (Alabama) complained that the bill would constitute 'a redefinition of marriage,' contrary to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was passed in 1996.
'It would create a federal recognition of same sex marriage, which reverses current law.' While he acknowledged that people are free to create relationships of their choosing, Congress has decided to 'draw the line' at special status only for traditional marriages.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) is the lead sponsor of companion legislation in the House (H.R. 1024) , which has 102 cosponsors. He told the committee the current policy 'means that tens of thousands of gay and lesbian Americans face a terrible choice between leaving the country to be with the person they love or remaining here in the United States and separating from their partner.'
Victims
Shirley Tan's story illustrated that plight. The 43-year old mother of twin boys, 12 and US citizens, spoke of leaving the Philippines as a young woman, falling in love with Jay Mercado, and living in the San Francisco bay area town of Pacifica as a happy, productive family.
She applied for asylum in 1995 a cousin had brutally murdered her mother and sister and she feared for her life when he was released from prison and bureaucratic snafus ensued. She was arrested in January of this year by immigration authorities for ignoring a 2002 deportation letter that she had never received.
Tan remains in the country only through the actions of Rep. Jackie Speier (D), who introduced her at the hearing, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose intervention has delayed her deportation for two years.
Tan's sons broke into tears as she recounted her ordeal and her fears of the family being torn apart if she is forced to leave the country.
That prompted Sen. Leahy to break into her testimony, speaking to the boys saying, 'I just want you to know, your mother is a very brave women. You should be very proud.'
Gordon Stewart's Brazilian partner Renato was denied reentry to the US in 2003 on a student visa, to continue law school. Stewart commuted to Brazil ever other weekend for a year and a half until his employer, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, arranged to transfer him to London, where both might live together.
Stewart has had to travel to family events alone as Renato cannot obtain even a tourist visa to visit the US. And last year Stewart sold the family farm in Vermont, where his parents are buried, 'because I cannot travel there with Renato Despite the fact that I am a tax-paying, law-abiding and voting citizen, I feel discrimination from my government.'
Supporters
Julian Bond, the lion of the civil rights movement, threw the support of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP) behind the legislation 'because the NAACP strongly believes that the definition of family is not restrictive and can and should also include non-traditional family units.' He is the chairman of the board of the group.
'Too much of the debate [on immigration reform] has focused on enforcement and undocumented workers,' Bond said the NAACP feels strongly that the focus should be on a reinvigoration of the reunification of families.
Christopher Nugent spoke for the American Bar Association and its support for the bill. 'The current failure to recognize same-sex permanent partnership for immigration purposes is cruel and unnecessary,' he said.
Opposition came from Roy Beck, founder of NumbersUSA, a grassroots group dedicated to reducing the number of immigrants to the US. He offered what often seemed to be a loopy combination of nativist and environmental arguments against the bill.
The gist of his argument was that immigration is the source of all population growth in the US, as the fertility of native-born is below the rate of replacement. And that is putting an intolerable burden on health and energy services and the environment.
Beck opposed the Bush administration's immigration reform efforts because 'it added lots of green cards,' the document issued to legal immigrants in the US.
Jessica Vaughan, with the Center for Immigration Studies, worried that creation of the 'permanent partner' status would create an administrative and enforcement nightmare for those who have to implement the policy.
She said the bill 'is addressing the issue from the wrong direction The target really should be the Defense of Marriage Act, not the Immigration and Naturalization Act.'
Others Voices
Supporter Sen. Charles Schumer ( D-New York ) argued, 'What truly engenders fraud is the current broken system that lamentably places binational same sex couples in the dilemma of either being torn apart from their loved ones, or breaking the law.' He chose to focus on 'the sanctity of preserving the family structure in whatever form it may take.'
A sunken-cheeked Sen. Arlen Specter noted that a number of states have moved forward with marriage equality and other forms of partner recognition with a rapidity that could not have been envisioned when DOMA was passed. 'I believe it is entirely consistent to [accord them] equal standing, as a civil rights issue.'
'I think Sen. Leahy's legislation goes in the right direction. I support it.' Specter had not previously been a cosponsor of the bill.
'We are delighted that Sen. Specter announced his support,' said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of the group Immigration Equality, which is pushing the issue. She declined to speculate on whether the legislation is more likely to move forward as a separate bill or as part of comprehensive immigration reform.
As to whether the large bill might move without a GLBT inclusive provision, she said, 'We are fighting like hell to keep gay and lesbian families where they belong, which is in family immigration reform.'
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Pinay lesbian mom testifies in US Senate for pro-LGBT bill
By Rodney J. Jaleco
The ABS-CBN News (Philippine Islands), June 5, 2009
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/06/05/09/pinay-lesbian-mom-testifies-congress
Washington, DC — The Senate judiciary committee heard Wednesday the testimony of Filipino lesbian mother, Shirley Tan, who flew thousands of miles to lend her voice for the proposed Uniting American Families Act (UAFA).
Immigration agents raided last January, the home that Tan shared with her longtime partner Jay Mercado and their 12-year-old twins in Pacifica, California.
Tan, 43, and Mercado, 48, have been living as a couple for 23 years (they are registered domestic partners who wed in 2004).
Although Mercado is an American citizen, she can not file a petition to grant Tan permanent resident status because US federal law only recognizes marriage between men and women.
'For too long, gay and lesbian American citizens whose partners are foreign national have been denied the ability to sponsor their loved ones for lawful permanent residency,' said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chairman of the judiciary committee.
'The preservation of family unit is the core of our immigration legal system,' he stressed.
Leahy had invited Tan to testify before his panel.
Tan recounted how she first visited California in 1986 and found love in Mercado. 'I met Jay when, as a graduation present, my father brought me to the United States. We met through our parentsand our love was instantaneous,' she told the panel.
Our family is fortunate. We have never felt discriminated against in our community. Our friends, mostly heterosexual couples, call as the model family,' Tan declared.
But she did fear going back to the Philippines because a cousin who shot her in the head and murdered her mother and sister in 1979 was released from prison.
She applied for asylum but was turned down. But Tan said they never received the order of deportation in 2002 so they were completely taken aback by the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in January.
Tan struggled to tell her story, her voice cracking from the tension and emotion.
'Before I knew it, I was handcuffed and taken away like a criminal. I was put into a van with two men in yellow jump suits and chains and searched like a criminal in a way I have only seen in movies,' she told the panel.
One of her sons, however, broke into tears he listened to his mother telling the panel how she was arrested, detained and only allowed to go home after a monitoring device was strapped on her ankle.
'Since this thing happened to us,' Tan told ABS-CBNs Balitang America after the hearing, 'the kids may have been scarred for life. Its very painful to think that one of your parents, a parent you love, will be taken away from you.'
'Thats too much for them to handle right now,' she added.
Leahy ordered a pause in the hearing to send an aide over and ask if Tans sons would like to wait out the hearing in his office. The boys opted to remain with their parents.
Tans arrest triggered a firestorm that thrust her to the forefront of this often controversial issue.
She was saved from deportation by California Rep. Jackie Speier, who sat through much of todays hearing by Tans side. And the short reprieve grew into a two-year postponement after Senator Dianne Feinstein filed a rare, special bill specifically in behalf of Tan.
Mercado insists they are not activists. 'Were not political, we dont even go to rallies,' she explained, 'were just a simple family living together.'
The other witness was Gordon Stewart who was forced to sell the family farm and relocate to London so he can be with his partner, who is Brazilian.
They are pinning their hopes on the passage of the UAFA, unfazed by the prospect of more stringent safeguards to overcome fears the bill might increase the potential for fraud.
The bill is supported by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Bar Association.
NAACP chairman Julian Bond stressed that 'Gay and lesbian rights are not special rights in any way. It isnt special to be free from discrimination. It is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship.'
'Passage of the UAFA will not only benefit me but the thousands of people who are also in the same situation. I submit to the committee today that changing the immigration laws to include permanent partners will serve in the long run to keep families together,' Tan testified.
There are an estimated 8,000 same sex couples where one partner is in danger of deportation.
'I am confident the US Citizenship and Immigration Services will have no more difficulty discovering fraudulent arrangements between same sex couples than heterosexual couples,' Leahy declared.
Sen. Jeff Session, the senior Republican in the judiciary committee, said he couldnt support the bill because it would tantamount to federal recognition of same sex unions.
He noted this was specifically prohibited by the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996.
Jessica Vaughn, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the UAFA was 'unworkable' and could wreak havoc on the immigration system.
'The reason same sex partners and others who are unmarried but in long-term relationships can not now qualify for spousal immigration benefits is because federal law defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Immigration law and all other areas of federal law are subject to that definition,' she testified.
Vaughn averred the more practical course was for Congress to amend or repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
Sessions also echoed the concern of the Catholic Bishops Conference, which back immigration reforms but oppose the UAFA, because it will 'erode the institution of marriage and family by affording marriage-like immigration benefits to same sex relationships.'
Some say this cocktail of immigration and the rights of same sex couples will make it difficult to push the UAFA to finally become law.
