Legally Married Gay Man Faces US Deportation
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(Oct. 27) – Henry Velandia is married to a U.S. citizen, but he might be deported anyway.
Joshua Vandiver, left, and Henry Velandia were married Aug. 29 in Connecticut, where same-sex marriage is legal.
That's because the Venezuelan-born salsa teacher's legal same-sex marriage in Connecticut isn't recognized by the federal government. So his husband – Josh Vandiver, a Princeton University doctoral student from Colorado -- can't sponsor him for residency the way he could in a heterosexual marriage.
The New Jersey couple of four years say the Defense of Marriage Act, which legally defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, could force them to leave the country.
"You come here and you expect to get a better life. I've been working really hard in this country. I finally realize who I am, and who I love, and then everything blows up. It's like a slap in the face," Velandia told AOL News in a phone interview today.
Velandia's application for a green card was denied, and he's scheduled to appear before an immigration judge in Newark, N.J., on Nov. 17. Although Velandia entered the country legally, he unwittingly let his visitor status lapse, making him ineligible for the green card, said the couple's attorney, Lavi Soloway.
Soloway said Velandia thought his immigration status was in good standing, and he had even been sponsored by an employer. "He thought he was doing what he was supposed to be doing," he said. Soloway noted that had Velandia been married to a woman, he would very likely be able to establish residency anyway.
In a statement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, confirmed that Velandia is facing deportation hearings, but said they were unable to comment on the pending case.
Vandiver said he feels like he's been treated like a second-class citizen in his own country. "It's discriminatory to me as a U.S. citizen that I can't have a successful petition for my spouse's green card," he told AOL News. "It's an injustice toward me and Americans like me."
Velandia, who came to the United States in 2002, said he has established himself in the country and doesn't want to move.
"I started from zero in this country -- new language, new culture," he told the Daily Princetonian. He started his own dance school in Princeton, called HotSalsaHot.The dance instructor said he hoped going public with his story would help other couples in the same position.
"As a gay man I need to stand up for my beliefs when there are so many other couples out there. We are fighting for them too," he told AOL News.
The couple are lobbying against the Defense of Marriage Act and have set up a Facebook page, "Save Our Marriage -- Stop the Deportation of Henry Velandia," to support their cause.
This morning, one commenter on the page said she and her partner were in a similar situation. "My partner and I are in the same boat," Kelly Ann Niedbala wrote. "We need to band together."
The men said they aren't yet sure what they'll do if Velandia is deported.
"Trying to imagine me being separated from Josh is just -- it's like I see my world crumbling apart," Velandia told AOL News. "We're in love."
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This is part of the reason why I live in the UK.
Don't forget, Obama loves us so much, that he has used extremely nasty tactics in defending DoMA in court. According to the Obama administration {Obama personally defended using such tactics}, our relationships are no better than incest, bestiality and pedophilia.
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Part of the reason why I live in Canada
Where we truly are much more the "home of the free" lol
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The facebook page alluded to in the article is
hxxp://www.facebook.com/SaveOurMarriageIf you click the thumbs-up "like" icon, it will add this to your facebook wall.
I did.
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I never understood double standards and never will. How the same thing can be ok and not ok depending on the location, genre of the person.
How can you be married in one country and bachelor in another. I think a country goes too much into people's personal lives way too often. How can the same relationship be recognized in one place and considered a crime in another. Location doesn't change the act, situation.
In my humble opinion, society is so strong that sometimes it kills individual. These individuals stop thinking for themselves and accept the societies version of right and wrong. Which is faulty as even murder in some places is wrong and in some not (the extreme case). I think that (more or less) every individual has the same sense of right and wrong. I am talking about the important rights and wrongs, not minor details, like likes and dislikes. We all know that it is wrong to hurt another, but society sometimes justifies that (even if law doesn't). For example, society can justify discrimination, even if in many countries law doesn't.-this is a very simplified explanation of my believes
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I can't agree more with the sentiments of those who say while they live in countries other than the USA, it is sad that we Americans talk a lot about freedom, but seemingly have less and less of it than they do. Freedom is not just for those you agree with! That concept should not be that difficult to grasp even for a bigot. Taken to the logical conclusion, if the power dynamic completely shifts and liberals gain control, they could theoretically silence the bigots. The bigots of course never realize this; never realize the Constitution gives them the freedom to believe/worship/vote as they choose and they are always the first to deny freedoms to others (Same Sex Marriage for example). And a side note - even if you are not all that comfortable with Gays, I just don't see how a SSM affects your male/female marriage in any way. I just don't and in all the debates, no one has made an argument to prove that assertion. They will say things like "it's not a good example for the children." What, every child will now turn Gay because they see two men married? I WISH I had 100% of the male population to choose from!
Although we in the USA are far from where we should be on Gay Rights, we've come a long way; I read an article - I think it was "The Nation" and they were quoting an official US State Dept memo from the 1970's and if it didn't use the word "faggot" (which I think it did), it was something almost as offensive. I was absolutely amazed. I didn't think the 1970's were the stone age. Still, that would never happen today, thankfully.
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I'm an American and my partner is British.
He almost had his green card through work visas, but in 2001 the US government gave illegals amnesty and at the same time they were given priority over everyone else. To make a long story short, my partner's green card application ran out of time even though we applied for it the very first chance we legally could, so he had to leave.
If gay couples had the same legal rights as hetero couples, we would still be living in the US right now.
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More reasons why I like living in Canada. As soon as I got married, my husband (now ex-husband) immediately qualified for a permant resident status card. Once you obtain a permanant resident status card, you're then eligible to apply for all the benefits that come with residency as though you were a Canadian citizen, with the accpetion of voting. After 5 years of being a permanant resident, you're eligible to apply for citizenship. There are of corse other ways of doing it, but even though it was Mr. & Mr., the Canadian government didn't care and treated it no differently than any other couple.
The point of the case… The USA has a long way to come when it comes to equal rights.
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Oh Raphjd - I'm so sorry that happened. It is hard enough to find the right person and then the laws are as if your relationship is meaningless. That is terrible. Please accept my sincerest empathy.
