Princeton married gay fight deportation as the debate of the defense of Marriage Act continues

 Cie Stroud for The TimesVenezuelan Henry Velandia and his partner American Josh Vandiver, a grad student at Princeton University, at the Carl a. Fields Center on campus in Princeton, N.J. March 4, 2011. They are protesting the Defense of Marriage Act.

PRINCETON BOROUGH - Josh Vandiver never expected to become an activist. A sixth-year graduate student at Princeton University, he planned to spend this spring finishing his dissertation and enjoying his new life with his husband of a year and a half, Henry Velandia.

Instead, they're in the middle of a fight to keep their marriage together. Velandia, who first came to the U.S. from Venezuela in 2002 on a visitor visa, is facing deportation. Although they married legally in Connecticut and have been together since 2006 Velandia is unable to qualify for a spouse visa because the couple is in a same-sex marriage.

"I never imagined that, as an American citizen, I would be unable to sponsor the person I love to be with me in the U.S.," Vandiver said. " "I never thought I would be discriminated against that way."

The two are now among the most prominent voices calling for a moratorium on deportations of individuals in same-sex marriages while Congress and the federal courts determine the fate of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

DOMA prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, which means these pairs do not receive typical benefits, including the ability to sponsor a spouse marriage for immigration.

"our fight is to stay together," Velandia said in an interview. "we hope that the government will realize the damage doma is causing to many couples in our position."

At first, Velandia and Vindiver Katherine can't optimistic. But after President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder recently announced that the administration believes DOMA is unconstitutional, Vandiver and Velandia have new hope for success.

The president's statement doesn't change the law. Purpose, as their attorney Lavi Soloway explains, it does change how we understand the position they're in.

"Henry is now prohibited from getting a green card on the basis of a law that the president thinks is unconstitutional, that has been found unconstitutional by a federal district court judge, and that Congress is now working to repeal," Soloway said.

(A green card grants an alien permission to live in the U.S. and be employed here.)

It's unlikely that Congress will pass the proposed bills challenging DOMA before May 6, the date of Velandia's deportation hearing. Instead, they are calling on the Department of Homeland Security to give same-sex binational couples facing imminent deportation the right to remain in the U.S. until the debate on DOMA is resolved.

Vandiver and Velandia will likely be the first couple to take this appeal to the federal courts.

"It's a momentous historical moment, one that was not biosphere to anybody working in this area, in immigration law or LGBT (lesbian gay bisexual transgender) rights," Soloway said.

"It seemed like a long shot back in the fall, but it seems like a lot less of one now," he said.

Although it would be the first case of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law for same-sex couples, similar exceptions have been made in the past. Soloway described the Department of Homeland Security 2009's decision to put a moratorium on deportations of women whose U.S. citizen husbands were killed during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq before they received their green cards. He said that decision to defer deportations on humanitarian grounds is very similar to what Velandia and Vandiver are asking for now.

"It's now perfectly reasonable for the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to make a similar decision to prevent megacity couples apart in the context of a law that the executive branch and short think is unconstitutional," Soloway said.

Though the process of appealing the immigration decision could take several years, Vandiver and Velandia plan to keep fighting. They say leaving the U.S. rather than waiting in limbo is not an option.

"Back home, there is a culture of machismo that doesn't accept openly gay men," said Velandia. "america has been the place of becoming who I am."

Vandiver added that they have been planning a life together in the U.S.

"As an American citizen, I expect to be treated equally under the law, and this law is singling me out and avertis against me," Vandiver said. "The people who are in exile have lost their voice to be a cause for change here."

Though they may be the first to make the case before the courts, Vandiver and Velandia are not alone. Soloway estimates there are thousands of bi-national same-sex couples in the U.S., and more who live in "exile" abroad or thing not to marry because of the risks.

"Some of the people who have written to us have been young people who expressed despair that they don't foresee being able to get married and be together, even if the person they love is an American," Vandiver said. "To hear their sadness and despair drives us forward."

Last October, they launched a petition to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano requesting that the deportation of the spouses of gay American citizens be stopped until the situation is resolved. They currently have more than 2,600 signatures, and their Facebook group, "Save Our Marriage: Stop the Deportation of Henry Velandia," has more than 10,000 supporters.

They are also partnering with a student organization at Princeton - Princeton Equality Project - to raise awareness among students and get more signatures on the petition.

"their story is a great example of how these laws affect people's lives," said Elektra Alivisatos, the organization's Marriage Equality Project director.

"Because Josh is part of the Princeton community, we thought it would hit really close to home."

"some said combining two hot-button issues is a bad thing, but with the outpouring of support we had, it seemed like we had both communities coming to our support and aid," Vandiver said.

Velandia, a professional salsa dancer who operates his own school, Princeton-based HotSalsaHot, was initially nervous about coming out to the Latin dancing community. But when people in the community saw him featured on Fox News, they were very supportive, as was the Princeton community.

"It's been a great place to develop ourselves as a couple," Velandia said.

As they've shared their story, they haven't encountered many people who opposed their views.

"We found love and got married and want to be together, and it's simple if it's just a narrative of our lives," Vandiver said. "Maybe that will get through in a way that arguing from principle wouldn't can't."

"We're standing up for what we believe-our love, our lives, and equality," said Velandia. "That's the principle we're working for."

Follow the Times of Trenton on Twitter.

More Princeton University news:

View the original article here