Several stories in the news on immigration reform:
The New York Times reports that an immigration Judge in Newark blocked the deportation of the Venezuela husband of an American man following Atty General Eric Holder’s intervention in the deportation of an Irish man.
The Venezuelan, Henry Velandia, had been awaiting the hearing with dread, since immigration authorities had said it was the last step before his deportation. Mr. Velandia, a dancer, was legally married last year in Connecticut to Josh Vandiver, a graduate student at Princeton. Mr. Velandia was denied legal residency as Mr. Vandiver’s spouse because under a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act, immigration authorities do not recognize same-sex marriage.
On Thursday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. intervened in a different immigration case involving a same-sex couple, suspending the deportation of a man from Ireland and sending his case back to the immigration appeals court, asking it to consider several possible grounds on which the Irishman might qualify for legal residency.
Citing the move by the attorney general, Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl of immigration court in Newark postponed Mr. Velandia’s deportation until December at the earliest. The judge said he wanted to allow time for the attorney general and the appeals court to work out whether a gay partner might be eligible under some circumstances for residency.
The President will discuss immigration policy in his upcoming visit to El Paso, TX according to The Bellingham Herald
The White House announced Friday morning that President Barack Obama will use his visit to El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday to talk about immigration.
Obama promised in the campaign to reform the “broken” system within his first year, and Latino advocates have been frustrated that he put the issue on the back burner when congressional talks stalled. The Texas speech would be a major investment of presidential attention intended to jump-start the debate.
“The speech will reflect the president’s continued commitment to find a bipartisan way to create comprehensive immigration reform,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday as the president flew to Indiana. “The fact that we were not able to achieve that in the first two years only means that we need to refocus our efforts and try to find that compromise.”
The Episcopal Border Ministries of the Diocese of Arizona will hold God Has No Borders Nacos Border procession May 7, 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (click poster to enlarge)
The Episcopal Church has produced a Policy Statement on Immigration and Refugees. Read it here.
For more information click here.
Episcopal Public Policy Network alerts Episcopalians to actions they can take on Immigration issues and other issues from resolutions of General Convention