A new day has dawned at the Department of Homeland Security.
Imagine you have found the love of your life, you marry, you pick up your whole life and move to a new country. Things are going well as you and the love of your life are together. Yes, things are difficult, but you are learning the culture and the language of the United States. Things are improving. While a honeymoon was not possible after the marriage, you and your spouse decide to take one for your one year anniversary. While on your honeymoon, your U.S. citizen spouse passes away unexpectedly in tragic circumstances. As you return to your marital home, you are feeling lost and very depressed about the recent death of your spouse. However, despite this you realize you must carry on. You decide that the best way to carry on will be to continue the life you have settled here in the United States. Within a few weeks you receive a letter from the immigration service denying your application for benefits under the immigration laws of the United States because your spouse died.
This was a daily horror story that countless immigrants faced when their U.S. citizen spouses passed away. The unrelenting and unsympathetic Immigration and Nationality Act imposed this awful scenario on thousands of immigrants each year and the Government was for too log too happy to trap these immigrants in a technicality of our laws. It was a gross abuse committed by the government on a very vulnerable group.
Yesterday, the Secretary of Homeland Security suspended this gross abuse of government power. "Smart immigration policy balances strong enforcement practices with common sense, practical solutions to complicated issues. Granting deferred action to the widows and widowers of U.S. Citizens who otherwise would have been denied the right to remain in the United States allows these individuals and their children an opportunity to stay in the country that has become their home."
Effective immediately, the immigration service is instructed to suspend pending actions against widows and widowers in this situation. In addition, pending removal hearings will be suspended, and finally, Secretary Napolitano has announced that "USCIS will consider favorably requests for humanitarian reinstatement where previously approved petitions for widow(er)s had been revoked because of the law."
We laud this most recent effort on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security to restore common sense and decency to the immigration process. The Department is currently working on issuing guidance on how to move forward with these cases, Murad & Murad, P.C. is closely monitoring this situation and will be available to assist those affected by this humanitarian change in policy.
