Many of us for various reasons celebrated the Windsor decision voiding the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Marisa DeFranco found very welcome work there.
In contrast to most civil-rights struggles, with long, slow often indefinite slogs, things changed in one day with the U.S. v. Windsor decision overturning DOMA. Suddenly, immigration attorney DeFranco had a different answer when a same-sex couple, married or not, came to her for help. She used to have to say plainly, “I can’t help you.”
In a bitter twist, U.S. law under DOMA forbade a gay couple getting the same rights to immigration procedures that holders of H-1B work visas got. U.S. citizens did not have those rights.
She led Ryan Adams and me through the convolutions of what homosexual couples, again whether legally married or not, experienced under DOMA. For example:
- If they applied for a visitor’s visa and then married in the U.S., they violated the visa intent and could be deported.
- If they overstayed their visa, they too would be subject to a 10-year ban on re-entry into the U.S.
- Even after DOMA went away, those bans remain, and the couples have to apply for a waiver in both countries, an unsure and complex process.
- Attorneys are forbidden from “frivolous” filings, including optimistic requests for bring a spouse into the US when DOMA was in effect.
- Same-sex couples straddling the U.S. and another country must be able to prove they have a long-term, ongoing relationship for immigration and are generally stuck with the time and money and emotional strains of international commuting.
DeFranco is happy that she can work for gay couples seeking US entry. However, she adds that she hasn’t finished any cases yet. The process takes about five months at best.
A huge plus is that with DOMA out of the way, gay and straight couples are treated the same, at least in immigration law. Everyone can qualify to bring a spouse or partner into the country, so long as they meet the requirements.
For her firm, she did have couples waiting in line in anticipation that DOMA would die. They had prepared their documentation and were ready.
For her part, DeFranco cautions for to casually decide, “This fight is over.” She noted that an allegedly liberal President W.J. Clinton signed DOMA into law, while a clearly conservative Supreme Court overturned it. She said we constantly have to be on our guard against such discriminatory legislation.
She was able to give us 23 minutes. If the above player works (sometimes yes, sometimes no here), you can listen by clicking. Otherwise, head to Left Ahead to download or hear her.
~Mike
…arguing with an immigration attorney who refused to believe that there was something called DOMA and that he needed to know about it if he was going to handle my wife’s case. You find morons in all fields, I guess.