In February of 2011, President Obama proclaimed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which still remains law, unconstitutional. DOMA, enacted in 1996, defines marriage as between a man and a woman and bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
The president stated that although his administration would continue to enforce the law, he ordered the Justice Department to stop defending DOMA cases in federal courts - a change from the previous two years of his administration.
In March 2011, officials from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) announced that the agency would temporarily suspend decisions in cases involving same-sex couples. Despite the hope of some same-sex couples, the Obama administration also announced that it was not making any policy shifts in regards to immigrants in same-sex relationships with U.S. citizens. According to The New York Times, the CIS said that the suspensions were designed to give the agency and its lawyers more time to consider the implications of the administration's DOMA decision.
DOMA and Same-Sex Couples
As a path to permanent residency for foreign spouses, U.S. citizens can file for their foreign spouse to obtain a green card. For same-sex couples, however, that path is not as clear. Immigration officials have frequently used DOMA to deny immigration benefits to foreign spouses of same-sex couples.
In a recent high-profile case, the Department of Homeland Security immigration officials cancelled the deportation proceedings of a Venezuelan man who was legally married to a U.S. citizen Connecticut man. Though immigration rights advocates as well as those in favor of gay marriage have cited this case as signaling a policy shift, immigration officials stress that they are only prioritizing enforcement issues, focusing on cases involving those aliens with serious criminal records.
While Congress continues to debate immigration reform and the courts continue to debate issues surrounding gay marriage, the immigration implications of DOMA remain uncertain. Regardless of whether these cases involve same-sex couples, immigration issues that involve family members, fiancés or foreign spouses can be complex, and it is best to discuss those situations with an experienced immigration lawyer.
