By Hernán Rozemberg - Express-News
Gwendolyn Hanford wants to honor her late husband by building a good life for herself and their son in San Antonio.
The U.S. government counters that nobody's stopping her from building that life — as long as she does it back in her native Philippines.
Hanford's case is one of at least 200 across the country involving immigrants facing deportation because their U.S. citizen spouses died before the government approved the couples' immigration applications.
In what has become known as the “widow penalty,” the government maintains it is enforcing immigration law: When the sponsoring U.S. citizen spouse dies, the marriage is immediately over and thus the immigration application must be denied.
It's a cruel injustice to punish immigrants who played by the rules but are being held responsible for their spouses' tragic deaths, said Brent Renison, a Seattle lawyer who has taken on the widows' cause by forming a support network and suing the government.
“Our great nation cannot be seen to invite foreign fiancees, authorize them to become married to American citizens, sanction their application for legal status, allow them to establish families and a home life together, then throw the spouses out when the American dies during bureaucratic immigration processing,” Renison argued in Hanford's lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Antonio.
Hanford, 34, declined to be interviewed, citing personal reasons.
Renison's lawsuits and advocacy efforts through Surviving Spouses Against Deportation seem to have paid off, reaching the ears of the government's new top immigration official, Janet Napolitano.
One of Napolitano's first directives to her staff at the Homeland Security Department is to look into the issue and offer potential solutions.
Renison welcomes the development, but in a 12-page missive, he urges Napolitano to consider issuing memos changing current policy.
Hanford's case is emblematic of the issue because, unlike other spouses, she's already in deportation proceedings. According to court documents, she entered the country legally on a fiancee visa in 1996 and two months later married Stewart Hanford, allowing them to file for her “green card,” or legal residency.
The couple had a son, Shane, but Stewart Hanford died of a heart attack in 1998, before the government approved Gwendolyn Hanford's green card application. In 2002, immigration officials in San Antonio notified her that her request was denied.
“Your former fiance, later your husband, has died,” the government informed her. “Consequently, your application ... cannot be approved as you are no longer the spouse of a citizen of the United States.”
Responding to the lawsuit, government attorneys upheld the ruling, maintaining that Hanford had been living in the country illegally since her application was rejected.
Deportation proceedings against Hanford didn't start until last December, and Renison believes the government is trying to deport Hanford in retaliation for the lawsuit.
The case is mired in legal wrangling, with the government seeking to have it dismissed for various reasons, including jurisdiction because an immigration judge has yet to issue a final decision.
While such cases are emotionally wrenching, the law is the law and must be followed and respected, advocates against unauthorized immigration said.
“It's like someone that comes here legally on a work visa but then his job gets cut,” said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “It's time to go home.”
Not everyone who opposes unauthorized immigration sees the “widow penalty” issue as clear-cut. For some, there's something to be said on behalf of immigrants who play by the book.
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, a longtime advocate of cracking down on unauthorized immigrants, sees no point in punishing people like Hanford, and he backed a bill last year that would have given people such as her a break. The bill failed to pass.
“Those who follow our laws and begin the process to immigrate the right way should not be penalized when tragic circumstances make the completion of the process impossible,” Smith said.
Color me stupid if you want Pilgrims, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out why a gob'mint that can't find and deport 15-20 million ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS would be spending it's time and our money trying to deport around 200 legally entered, rules abiding, widows and mothers of born in the USA American Citizens !!
Maybe this hits Ole' Pecoz close to home, because I brought a foreign bride to this country while in the service over fifty years ago. Her citizenship was granted early because we were being re-assigned overseas and she needed an American Passport. The young'ns already had their American Passports.
For all these fifty years. she has paid taxes. raised a family, voted in every election, served on jury duty, and been a model citizen. Supposing all those years ago, before her final citizenship was granted when she was sworn in by a Federal Judge up in Dallas, I had given up the ghost. Would she and the boys have been deported ..... I think not!
I reckon this whole current situation is another example of the Feds playing the old 'misdirection' game. "See what we are doing with these two hundred widows? Well, then don't pay any attention to what we are not doing under our constitutional duties with those millions of totally illegal folks runnin' around the country!"
Whatta country -- !!!
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