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A Mahwah widow whose husband died in the 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash has submitted a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to hear her case in her fight against deportation.
Osserritta Robinson, who is from Jamaica, faces deportation because her U.S. citizen husband died before they reached their two-year wedding anniversary, a marker Immigration authorities say is meant to guard against sham marriages.
Her husband, Louis Robinson, died while her green card application was pending; they’d been married eight months.
FAST FACTS
* Some 200 foreign-born widows and widowers of U.S. citizens who died before their two-year wedding anniversary face possible deportation because immigration officials say they no longer qualify as a "spouse."
* Federal courts have been split on whether immigration authorities are correctly applying a two-year marker when terminating the green card applications of widows and widowers of U.S. citizens.
* In 2007, the U.S. District Court in New Jersey sided with Robinson in her appeal of immigration authorities’ denial of her application. The court ordered the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to treat her as "a surviving spouse" when dealing with her request for permanent residency.
* In nearly every court ruling siding with widows or widowers, the U.S. government has appealed.
Robinson is one of about 200 widows and widowers around the country facing what has come to be known as “the widow penalty.” She turned to the nation’s highest court after the 3rd Circuit Court in Philadelphia upheld immigration officials’ termination of her application for permanent residency.
Robinson’s petition, filed by her attorney, Jeffrey Feinbloom of Manhattan, argues that immigration authorities are wrong to automatically terminate applications still pending when a U.S. citizen spouse dies before two years of marriage.
“Osserritta should have the opportunity to legalize her status by establishing that her marriage is bona fide and that her case should be approved,” said Feinbloom.
read da ress aff de tooreeeeee
Osserritta Robinson, who is from Jamaica, faces deportation because her U.S. citizen husband died before they reached their two-year wedding anniversary, a marker Immigration authorities say is meant to guard against sham marriages.
Her husband, Louis Robinson, died while her green card application was pending; they’d been married eight months.
FAST FACTS
* Some 200 foreign-born widows and widowers of U.S. citizens who died before their two-year wedding anniversary face possible deportation because immigration officials say they no longer qualify as a "spouse."
* Federal courts have been split on whether immigration authorities are correctly applying a two-year marker when terminating the green card applications of widows and widowers of U.S. citizens.
* In 2007, the U.S. District Court in New Jersey sided with Robinson in her appeal of immigration authorities’ denial of her application. The court ordered the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to treat her as "a surviving spouse" when dealing with her request for permanent residency.
* In nearly every court ruling siding with widows or widowers, the U.S. government has appealed.
Robinson is one of about 200 widows and widowers around the country facing what has come to be known as “the widow penalty.” She turned to the nation’s highest court after the 3rd Circuit Court in Philadelphia upheld immigration officials’ termination of her application for permanent residency.
Robinson’s petition, filed by her attorney, Jeffrey Feinbloom of Manhattan, argues that immigration authorities are wrong to automatically terminate applications still pending when a U.S. citizen spouse dies before two years of marriage.
“Osserritta should have the opportunity to legalize her status by establishing that her marriage is bona fide and that her case should be approved,” said Feinbloom.
read da ress aff de tooreeeeee
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