Musings on Immigration

On June 9th, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a reformed policy of granting “deferred action” for two years to widows and widowers of U.S. Citizens, as well as their unmarried children under 18 years old, who are living in the U.S. and who were married for less than the required to years when their U.S. Citizen spouse died. Under current U.S. immigration law, immigrants applying for Lawful Permanent Resident status and other immigration benefits through marriage to a U.S. Citizen must be married for two years in order to receive these benefits. However, when a U.S. Citizen spouse dies before the two-year mark, the petition for their alien relative dies with them, leaving the alien spouses to face not only the heartbreak and grief of losing a spouse, but the harsh reality of having to leave behind their lives in the U.S. and return to their home countries. This new policy of deferred action does not resolve the surviving spouse’s immigration stat...