Attorney General Holder Vacates Immigration Decision Based on DOMA

[kpete]

Source: Metro Weekly

Attorney General Holder Vacates Immigration Decision Based on DOMA
Posted by Chris Geidner |
May 5, 2011 2:20 PM |
Attorney General Eric Holder today filed a very rare decision, vacating a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals related to the application of Paul Wilson Dorman, in which the BIA applied Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act to a pending case.

Holder writes:

Pursuant to my authority set forth in 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(h)(1)(i), I order that the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ("Board") in this case applying Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA"), 1 U.S.C. § 7, be vacated, and that this matter be referred to me for review.

Saying the attorney general "has taken extraordinary step" with the decision, attorney Eric Berndt -- the supervising attorney for the National Asylum Partnership on Sexual Minorities at the National Immigrant Justice Center -- told Metro Weekly, "It adds some heft to our requests for prosecutorial discretion in individual cases in which the foreign partner" of a same-sex bi-national couple is seeking a green card because of his or her citizen same-sex partner.

Read more: http://metroweekly.com/poliglot/2011/05/attorney-general-holder-vacate.html

[Kber]

1. Yeah!

[MineralMan]

2. Good decision, AG Holder.

Thanks!

[closeupready]

3. The right thing to do. Thank you, AG Holder!

K&R

[Tx4obama]

4. An additional article on the link below

Eric Holder Halts Deportation For Man In Civil Union
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/05/eric-holder-halts-deporta_n_858339.html

[24601]

5. The administration's decision to no defend DOMA sets the

precedent for the next administration to not defend HCR - if it hasn't been overturned by then.

[No Elephants]

11. No.

First, the precedent for D of J not to defend laws that it believes are unconstitutional has long been there.

Second, the D of J did not make a blanket decision not to defend DOMA. So far, D of J decided, at Pres. Obama's direction, only not to defend DOMA in Circuits in which already existing precedents make victory for D of J impossible. D of J has defended it in jurisdictions in which such precedent does not exist and indicated that it will continue to do so.

Third, I doubt this administration will take the position that defending the constitutionality of a bill that Obama wanted is impossible.

[Zenlitened]

6. Holder Intervenes in Gay Man's Deportation Case

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder took the rare step Thursday of asking an immigration judicial panel to reconsider the case of a gay man they'd cleared for deportation.

Holder set aside the Board of Immigration Appeals ruling allowing the deportation to Ireland of Paul Wilson Dorman, a gay man illegally in the U.S. Dorman wants to stay in the country with his male partner, with whom he celebrated a civil union in New Jersey.

(snip)

Holder asked the immigration board to reconsider its decision and 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 Holder's decision.

"This was an extraordinary measure by the Obama administration and demonstrates a clear commitment to nullify the Defense of Marriage Act," Mundy (Nicholas Mundy, Dorman's attorney said of Holder's action. "It's a far-reaching victory not only for same-sex couples but for immigration reform."



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/05/05/us/politics/AP-US-Gay-Immigrants.html?ref=aponline

---

Keeping up the pressure... sometimes it yields results.

[Firebrand Gary]

7. Thank you Eric Holder.

[Historic NY]

8. Dotting the I's & crossing the T's some people don't understand at times.

[harmonicon]

9. That's fantastic news.

I have friends living in Paris who would likely be in the US now if it weren't for DOMA. Sure, living in Paris isn't so bad, but to have to live in one country because you and your spouse are treated as second class citizens in another is something entirely different.

[DesertFlower]

10. good for eric holder.

[No Elephants]

12. People who claim members of the GBT community should settle for civil union should take note

of, among many other things, the uncertainty it caused in this case.

Is civil union better than nothing? Maybe, maybe not.

Is it a Jim Crow law and not as good legally as marriage. Yes and yes.

Equal human rights for all humans is the only way, legally, morally and ethically.

[No Elephants]

13. P.S. Make no mistake: Pres. Obama should get credit for this. Holder does not set policy.

[OKNancy]

14. kick

[Zorra]

15. A very reasonable and humane move.

Nice to see sanity prevail in government.

[Cant trust em]

16. Eric Holder Halts Deportation For Man In Civil Union

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder vacated a deportation order Thursday for a man who, if he were married to a woman rather than in a civil union with a man, would likely be eligible to remain in the country.

Holder announced he would use his discretion to ask the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider the application of New Jersey resident Paul Wilson Dorman to stay in the country, and to determine whether his deportation order was based on the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that bans same-sex marriages. Although the Obama administration announced in February that it would no longer defend DOMA, the government has continued to deport gay men and women who are legally married to U.S. citizens.

The administration has come under fire for barring same-sex couples from legal avenues to keep them in the same country. While heterosexual men and women can petition for legal status for their foreign spouses, same-sex couples must look for other routes to keep their non-native partners in the country legally -- even in states that recognize gay marriage -- under DOMA.

When the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend DOMA, DHS briefly put deportation of same-sex married couples on hold. But it quickly announced there would be no official policy change on deportation based on the DOMA decision.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/05/eric-holder-halts-deporta_n_858339.html

[tekisui]

17. knr!

[cliffordu]

18. K&R....

[ThomCat]

19. As long as DOMA is on the books

It will always be a weapon that can be used against LGBTQI couples. Bureaucrats will always be able to split up couples simply because they aren't heterosexual, and they will do it simply because they can.

It is interesting that the administration announced that DOMA was unconstitutional, and they wouldn't enforce it anymore, that somehow that didn't mean that any of the departments within the administration would cease to enforce it. As noted, the attitude seemed to be that DOMA was even more in force, more important until or unless it was fully repealed. No department wanted to be seen to be not enforcing it.

It's good that Holder is doing this for this one couple. It's nice that he's responding to all the petitions, the public pressure from all the organizations that have been trying to get him to intervene. But will he do the same thing for all the other couples that are in the same situation?

Will Obama issue an executive order telling all agencies and departments within the executive branch to cease enforcement of DOMA until it can be repealed because it is the opinion of the executive branch that it is unconstitutional? That would be within his power. If anyone didn't like that executive order they could try to sue to get DOMA enforced, which would then get the issue back into the courts where the administration would really be able to argue that it is unconstitutional as they claim. That would be one legitimate avenue for pushing to get DOMA overturned.