The Widow Penalty.

This video show a segment on a quirk in US immigration law which at the moment is the subject of a class action. Legal immigrant spouses of US citizens whose immigration paperwork is still being processed, or who haven’t been married at least two years to their husband or wife, face deportation due to what some call ‘The Widow Penalty’

Everybody loves a love story - everybody it seems, except the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. In our post-9/11 world, immigration has become increasingly tough on, of all groups, widows.

A foreigner who marries a U.S. citizen is entitled to become a U.S. resident. But as correspondent Bob Simon reports, immigration wants to deport several hundred widows-and a few widowers-foreigners who had been married to American citizens when the Americans died.

Immigration claims basically that a widow is not a wife, and that if the widow did not complete the process to become a U.S. resident while her husband was alive, she cannot remain in the country.
If that sounds a little strange, wait till you hear what happened to Raquel Williams when she met up with immigration.

It was once an honored rule that a foreign born immigrant who marries a U.S. citizen was entitled to become a U.S. resident. That concept is is not as straight forward as it once was. The Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS), under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), says that if an immigrant spouse doesn’t complete their application while the citizen spouse is alive, they cannot remain in the country.

Listening to the stories of the widows, it becomes apparent that it is often not possible for a spouse to complete an application while their wife or husband are still alive. And, though they may have been in the process already, many widows who have lost their spouse are still facing deportation.

Taking their case against before the courts, a group of widows being denied citizenship won. In fact, four courts ruled in favor of the widows, however, the Department of Homeland Security continues to appeal the cases at taxpayer expense.

Why CIS making this such an issue? They argue that although a foreign born spouse is eligible for citizenship, they don't consider a widow a spouse. They cite Black’s Law Dictionary, which defines spouse as "a married person”. However, as the 60 Minutes report points out, the court sided on behalf of the widows because same law dictionary defines a surviving spouse as "one who outlives the other".

The Department of Homeland Security refused a request for an interview from CBS News, leaving the public to speculate why these widowed spouses and their families are left in limbo.
Continue reading here:

The Widow of U.S. Soldier fighting for deportation.

The widow of a Galva man killed in Iraq in 2004 who has been fighting deportation for more than three years will tell her story on CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday.

Todd Engstrom, a 1987 Galva High School graduate, was killed in September 2004 near Fallujah, Iraq. Engstrom, 35, who was working as a private contractor for the Army, died when his convoy was bombed. His mission was training Iraqi security forces.

Diana Engstrom of Athens met Todd in Kosovo while he was there with U.N. peacekeeping forces. They were married Dec. 29, 2003. After their marriage, the Engstroms filed paperwork to gain permanent U.S. resident status for Diana. But Todd's death halted that process, because he could no longer be his wife's residency sponsor.

According to family members, Diana is scheduled to appear on "60 Minutes" with Todd's parents, Ron and Cindy Engstrom, formerly of Galva, now of Athens. The family, including Todd's grandparents, John and Pully Engstrom of Alpha, have been working to help Diana stay in the United States.

It seems unfair to deport someone just because they miss an arbitrary date. Families have been torn apart by this law and it should be changed.

Under current immigration law, an immigrant spouse of a citizen automatically faces deportation if their spouse dies less than two years after their marriage and before the survivor's permanent residency application was approved. (See, 8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i)).

The bill would allow a spouse in this situation to avoid deportation by proving, "by a preponderance of the evidence that the marriage was entered into in good faith and not solely for the purpose of obtaining an immigration benefit." While the bill was considered non-controversial, one member of the committee, Steve King (R-IA), voiced concerns.
Rep. King, while agreeing with the sentiment of the bill, thought more protections were needed to ensure immigrant spouses have good moral character. He told the committee, "A soldier, man or woman, could get drunk in Bangkok, wake up in the morning and be married, as will happen sometimes in places like Las Vegas or Bangkok, be killed the next day, and the spouse who was a product of the evening's celebration would have then a right to claim access to come to the United States on a green card." (Des Moines Register, July 18, 2008) King offered an amendment requiring the married couple to have shared a residence together in the United States, but the amendment was ruled as non-germane by Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), and therefore could not be considered by the committee

It just shows you that when you have rhe rule of law so strictly, you forget the human element. Who would have thought when they wrote this law, that you'd have a situation where someone's married less than two years, dies protecting people from our country, but not in the armed services? The laws didn't consider those options, and that happens so many times when you're dealing with immigration questions."

Barack Obama, have co-sponsored a bill to grant Diana Engstrom permanent residency. Their legislation suspends the deportation process while the two senators round up votes.

In recent years, Congress has been reluctant to pass bills designed to benefit a single individual, and mostly they deal with immigration issues. Of the 132 so-called "private relief" bills introduced in the last Congress, only six became law


60 Minutes" airs at 6 p.m. Sunday

When Nok Kells' American military husband died in a traffic accident three years ago, the government began deportation proceedings against her. It's called the widow penalty. Nok is one of 160 widows and widowers facing deportation because their U.S. citizen spouses died less than two years after their marriages. Nok Kells and her lawyer explain how they are fighting to legally get Nok and her two children clearance to stay in the country.
The Mark Krikorian mindset, which wants to clamp down on legal immigrants or turns a blind eye to their punishment, I have never understood. We don't need legal immigrants? The US is facing a shortage of 800,000 nurses in a little over 10 years. That will affect the healthcare system of this country. Sure so lets cut back on the total of visas given out to trained nurses. Makes sense? Nooooooooo!
Nor does the Widow Penalty. Widows like Mrs. Kells are legal immigrants, not terrorists. They haven't committed any crime, and therefore if the marriage was valid, there should be no reason for them not to be able to remain in this country. Death doesn't totally end the obligations of marriage. A widow is still responsible for debts and other obligations they and their spouse signed onto before one of them died.