Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday clarified that gay and lesbian
couples are to be considered “family relationships” in
immigration proceedings.
“In an effort to make clear the
definition of the phrase 'family relationships,' I have directed ICE
[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to disseminate written guidance
to the field that the interpretation of the phrase 'family
relationships' includes long-term same-sex partners,” Napolitano
said in a letter.
Napolitano was responding to a July
letter signed by 84 members of Congress, including House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi and New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, asking her to
clarify where gay couples stood under the Obama administration's new
policy of shifting priority on certain deportation cases.
Steve Ralls, a spokesman for
Immigration Equality, a group working to protect the rights of
binational gay couples, told The
San Francisco Chronicle that this is “one of the very first
times LGBT families have been recognized within federal immigration
policies.”
Unlike heterosexuals, gay immigrants
married to a U.S. citizen are not allowed to apply for citizenship
based on their relationships under the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA), the 1996 law which bans federal agencies from recognizing the
legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples.
Pelosi welcomed the move, saying it
would “provide a measure of clarity and confidence to families
dealing with separation in immigration cases.”
Nadler added: “I am thrilled that the
Obama Administration has taken to heart my concern about the need to
explicitly protect LGBT immigrant families from being torn apart by
needless and unwarranted immigration enforcement actions. I thank
Secretary Napolitano for listening and supporting a policy that
protects all American families, both straight and LGBT. With the
written guidelines that I requested and which will be issued by ICE,
federal immigration officials will finally have the clear direction
they need to make responsible and compassionate decisions on family
ties in immigration cases.”
Two lawsuits are currently pending
challenging the constitutionality of DOMA as it relates to the issue;
one was filed in New
York and the second in California.