www.chicagotribune.com/topic/sns-ap-us-widows-penalty,0,1160317.story
chicagotribune.com
Provision to stop automatic deportation of immigrant widows of Americans to become law
MARIA SANMINIATELLI
Associated Press Writer
3:00 PM CDT, October 21, 2009
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal provision that triggered the automatic deportation of widows and widowers of newlywed U.S. citizens will not be in effect for much longer.
Congress gave final approval Tuesday to legislation that would abolish a provision known as the “Widow’s Penalty.” The measure is part of a bigger Homeland Security bill that President Barack Obama is expected to sign.
Existing U.S. law triggers the deportation of surviving immigrant spouses of American citizens who die before they have been married two years. The new law would allow the survivors to submit petitions seeking residency even when the spouse dies before two years of marriage.
“It’s definitely a big relief; it doesn’t feel like prison any more” said Agnieszka Bernstein, whose husband, Bryan, died at age 32 of a heart attack in 2006, just short of their first anniversary.
Bernstein came to the U.S. in 1998 from Gliwice, Poland, and lives in Spring Valley, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of New York City. She works part time as a dental assistant and cleaning houses, unable to visit her family in Poland for fear she would be denied re-entry.
“Until yesterday it just felt like a beautiful prison. I could leave but I could never come back. I felt trapped in this immigration mess,” Bernstein said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
Those affected come from all corners of the world and span all economic backgrounds. They include a woman from Kosovo whose contractor husband was killed in Iraq; a woman from Ecuador whose husband was a U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in the line of duty; a Jamaican whose husband was killed in New York City’s Staten Island Ferry accident; and a Briton and former head chef for Prince Charles and Princess Diana whose actor husband died of pancreatic cancer.
“I’ve got hundreds of messages (from widows), and it’s really great,” said Brent Renison, a lawyer in Portland, Ore., who created a support network for widows and widowers and has taken the lead in the widows’ class action suit. At least 200 people are affected by the widow penalty, he estimates.
“I’m not religious, but I just think that if there are souls of the deceased out there they’re finally at rest,” Renison said.
Congress’ action came as the requirement went under legal attack all over the country, including a class action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles and individual litigation in Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio and Texas.
It also had led Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this summer to suspend it for two years.
Lawyers representing some of the widows said they would wait until Obama signs the bill before making any moves in the court cases, though they expect either to withdraw the lawsuits or settle the cases.
“We’re thrilled to see the end of this unjust policy that has had devastating effects on the lives of so many surviving spouses,” said Caryn C. Lederer, a lawyer for the New York Legal Assistance Group. The nonprofit group is suing on behalf of Irina Gorovets, a Russian woman who lost her American husband 1 1/2 years after they married.