Reply #16: Eric Holder Halts Deportation For Man In Civil Union [View All]

[Cant trust em]

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