Law Assignment #2 for Immigration



Law Assignment #2 for Immigration

Memorandum

From: XXXX

Date: January 31, 2013

Issue

The main issue is that Christopher and Joseph is a same-sex couple who legally married in August 2005 in the fictitious U.S. state of Petoria. Christopher is a citizen of United States while Joseph is a citizen of Beijing. Christopher wants to file a family based petition on behalf of Joseph as his spouse however, under the Immigration & Nationality Act the same-sex marriage is not considered as a married couple, yet the fictitious U.S. state of Petoria classifies them as a legally married couple.

Rule

Under the immigration law of United States, the married couple, fiancées and even their children are considered as eligible for receiving numerous immigration benefits as per the sponsor's immigration status. The DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), in the year 1996, described a legal marriage as a union between one woman and one man under the federal laws. This definition and description of marriage as stated by DOMA creates concerns for the immigration of the same sex couples. According to the definition of marriage as defined by DOMA, a same-sex couple cannot be recognized as legally eligible for attaining immigration benefits. This holds true even if the same-sex marriage is legally considered valid in any other country or in any other state of United States. This is the reason why the immigration status cannot be granted to a partner on the basis of family based petition. There have been several past cases on this issue, in which the immigration status was not granted to the partner in a same-sex marriage.

In the case Lui v. Holder, on September 28, 2011, Stephen Wilson who was the U.S District Court Judge on the case, rejected the challenge to DOMA. The 1982 case called Adams v. ...