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Gheys Thinking About Suing DHS
Look who is (finally) suing the Department of Homeland Security over how DOMA discriminates against bi-national same-sex couples:
“There’s no doubt that the administration’s new stance on DOMA has created a new window of opportunity to advocate on behalf of our families within the court system,” said Steve Ralls, spokesman for Immigration Equality. We believe we have a good shot at winning and securing immigration rights for, at the very least, couples who are legally married in states where those marriages are valid.”
I may have said something about suing DHS and overwhelming the living daylights out of the incompetent agency a while ago that was discarded as the “angry woman of color” reaction although it was neither written in anger nor had anything to do with the color of my skin.
I stand by my prior statements. We need to sue DHS in every jurisdiction that we can. We need to get as many officials as possible to speak out publicly against deportations under DOMA. We need to start filing I-130 petitions up the wazoo. They are easy to fill out and take less than an hour. (Trust me, I’ve had about 5 filled out for me from family members). The only caveat is if your partner is undocumented and does not have 245-I status, DO NOT BRING ATTENTION TO YOURSELVES.
Finally, I told Mom about the prospects of the lawsuit and the reasoning behind waiting so long for the political climate to change before filing a lawsuit and she said “you must always fight for justice regardless of whether you win or lose” and that she isn’t paying my tuition for me to be “a coward lawyer.”
I don’t have a reply for her.
I do know that we are more likely to get relief for same-sex binational couples before we get anywhere near comprehensive immigration reform. I think our immigrant rights “advocates” are smart enough by now to not co-opt the idea but lend their support for it.
Related articles
- Immigration Equality Prepping Binational DOMA Case (towleroad.com)
- New Lawsuit: Attacking DOMA Over Immigration Inequality (queerty.com)