Activists had said the agency would wait until pending DOMA court challenges had been ruled on before deciding on deportation in these cases. The Daily Beast called the action "a game changer" and "a lifeline" for binational married gay couples.
On Wednesday USCIS cut that lifeline when it announced that it would continue to enforce DOMA as outlined by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in last month's memo.
Metro Weekly reports:
The "hold" on same-sex married bi-national couples' green card applications -- celebrated by immigration and LGBT advocates -- is over, according to the spokesman for the agency that processes those requests. "The guidance we were awaiting ... was received last night, so the hold is over, so we're back to adjudicating cases as we always have," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services press secretary Christopher Bentley told Metro Weekly this morning.
The agency will continue to "enforce the law," he says, which means that the Defense of Marriage Act -- which prohibits the government from recognizing same-sex marriages -- prevents those green card applications from being approved.
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