Jamaican woman takes citizenship battle to the US Supreme Co

[evanovitch]

Monday, 09 March 2009

A lawyer for a Jamaican woman, whose husband of less than a year died in a ferry crash in New York, says she is taking her fight to get her green card to the US Supreme Court.

Osserritta Robinson's husband, American citizen Louis Robinson, died in New York in 2003 when a commuter ferry crashed into a pier.

Immigration officials denied her green card application because the couple had been married only about eight months.

Under US laws aimed at cracking down on sham marriages involving immigrants, if a citizen spouse dies before two years have elapsed, the immigrant spouse's green card eligibility ends.

A federal judge in Newark ruled in 2007 that immigration officials were wrong to deny Mrs. Robinson's application.

But that decision was overturned by an appeals court in Philadelphia in February.

[Serenity82]

Re: Jamaican woman takes citizenship battle to the US Supreme Co

I read about that. I hope the court makes the right decision to give her residency/citzenship!

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Jamaican woman takes citizenship battle to the US Supreme Co

She better learn how to pack her bags. the court may not even look at it and if they do, they won't even see her as a person.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Widows penalty takes battle to the US Supreme Co

'Widow's penalty' puts immigrants in the red
Published: Tuesday | March 10, 2009



SAN ANTONIO (AP):
At least 200 immigrants nationwide face deportation under what's become known as the "widow's penalty," a federal policy ordering widows and widowers out of the country if their United States (US) citizen spouse dies before their immigration application is approved.

Immigration officials maintain they are simply enforcing the law, but some advocates for the immigrants say it's a cruel injustice to spouses who were following US immigration law and suffered the loss of a husband or wife, the San Antonio Express-News reported yesterday.

Green-card application

"Our great nation cannot be seen to invite foreign fianceés, authorise them to become married to American citizens, sanction their application for legal status, allow them to establish families and a home life together, then throw the spouses out when the American dies during bureaucratic immigration processing," said Seattle lawyer Brent Renison in a federal court filing on behalf of Gwendolyn Hanford, a Filipino woman fighting deportation.

Her husband died of a heart attack in 1998, before the government approved her green-card application. She was notified in 2002 that although couple had a child together, her application was denied.

"Your former fiancé, later your husband, has died," the government informed her.

"Consequently, your application ... cannot be approved as you are no longer the spouse of a citizen of the United States."

Potential solutions

Renison has filed lawsuits on behalf of several immigrants affected by the policy, and new Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered her staff to look at the issue and offer potential solutions.

Even some backers of efforts to crack down on illegal immigration agree the issue should be looked at further.

US Republican Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, backed a bill last year that would have given people like Hanford a break. The bill failed to pass, but Smith said the cases of surviving spouses should be considered.

"Those who follow our laws and begin the process to immigrate the right way should not be penalised when tragic circumstances make the completion of the process impossible," Smith said.


More Articles from Interna