The past few months have been none too kind to the issue of immigration. Any lingering hopes that the White House would prioritize comprehensive reform this year were dashed when Obama stated that he didn't anticipate a bill passing before 2010. Repair of the country's broken detention system got that much more complicated with the resignation of Dora Schriro, the Homeland Security special adviser tasked with its overhaul. Not to mention that the health-care fight pretty much poisoned discussion of immigration.
So, some good news! The widow penalty looks like it's done for. Using a recent example, the penalty works like this: A Thai woman with two children marries an American. The couple files naturalization green card paperwork. Her spouse dies before the paperwork is processed, eight months into the marriage. On top of suffering this huge loss, the woman and her children are now threatened with deportation, since they are no longer considered to be family in the eyes of Citizenship and Immigration Services.
This summer, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano called for a temporary suspension of the penalty, and an amendment that would solve the problem permanently was attached to the Homeland Security appropriations bill. This week a slew of cases in Maryland, Florida, Texas, and Missouri that involve spouses presently targeted by the penalty have determined that the immigrant spouses and stepchildren of deceased citizens still qualify as surviving relatives and that USCIS' reading of the current law is wrong.
The ending is certainly a happy one for all of the plaintiffs involved, but the fact that something as uncontroversial as giving a widow a green card -- that she was due to receive anyway! -- was policy for so long highlights how in need of reform our current immigration system is.
--Alexandra Gutierrez
