A California family will be torn apart this Friday as Shirley Tan is deported back to the Philippines, leaving behind her partner of 23 years Jay Mercado and her twelve-your-old twin sons.

As reported in the San Jose Mercury News…

It’s hard when they are breaking up families,” said a tearful Mercado, as she sat next to Tan in the house the couple owns overlooking the Pacific Ocean. “Why can’t they just leave us alone? Just because I am not a man, that I cannot petition her (for a green card), they are punishing us.”

“The thing is,” Tan said, “it’s not only me who they are punishing. It is mainly my kids, because they are innocent. They are the ones suffering.”

If deported, Tan will be banned from entering the U.S. for 10 years. Mercado is prepared to leave her job and home behind to keep the family together in the Philippines.

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA-12), co-sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) and representing the couple’s district said this of the situation (from Immigration Equality)…

“Shirley Tan’s unacceptable situation is just one example of why Congress must pass immigration equality legislation.  The Uniting American Families Act, which I co-sponsored, will allow lesbian and gay Americans to sponsor their permanent partners for residency in the United States … In the near term, I am confident that any official who examines the facts in Shirley Tan’s case will come to the conclusion that this hard-working mother of two should not be sent to a country where she has no support network and was the victim of a horrific act of violence.”

The White House also confirmed their support for UAFA this week through spokesman Shin Inouye who said “The President thinks Americans with partners from other countries should not be faced with a painful choice between staying with their partner or staying in their country. We will work closely with Congress to craft comprehensive immigration reform legislation.”

Of course not everyone is so supportive…

“I’ve Got a simple answer for both of you lesbians, instead of trying to change our laws, just take your two sons with you, nobody will be suffering then. And don’t let that 747 plane door smack on your rear-ends, on your way to Manila!”

— The Mark Chamot Report

Hopefully opinions such of as Mark Chamot’s are in the minority. Since Congress is going into recess next week, we should make every effort to meet with our representatives and let them know we can no longer allow families like this to be split apart by supporting the Uniting American Families Act. The Immigration Forum has made a toolkit available detailing how to schedule meetings with your local representative.

Read more on the personal story of Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado.

A Washington Post editorial today comes out in favor of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would allow gay Americans to sponsor their foreign-born partners and provide a legal path to U.S. citizenship.

The strain of the status quo on gay and lesbian binational couples should not be discounted. Because their relationships are not legally recognized by the United States, some couples have resorted to illegal marriages where the foreign nationals marry Americans to get green cards that allow them to stay in the country permanently. In other cases, Americans have exiled themselves to be with their partners. Sixteen countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, South Africa and the United Kingdom, allow residents to sponsor same-sex permanent partners for legal immigration. American gays and lesbians should not have to choose between their country and their partners.

Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy who introduced the bill spoke recently on Vermont Public Radio…

For more on the UAFA…

– Immigration bill to unite gay binational couples with path to citizenship
– Urge judiciary committees to take action on gay immigration bill (UAFA)

On February 12, 2009 Representative Jerrold Nadler (D, New York, 8th) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) which would eliminate discrimination in immigration laws and allow gay Americans to sponsor their foreign-born partners, providing a legal path to U.S. citizenship.

Representative Nadler…

“In 2009, we should be ready as a society to acknowledge that stable American families come in all varieties. We in fact strengthen our communities – and our nation – by encouraging loving couples and families to stay together and live as cohesive units. Any committed couple deserves the potential to form a life and a family together – this is a basic human right – and whether that couple is gay or straight should be irrelevant. Gay and lesbian Americans in loving, committed relationships deserve the same rights as everyone else.”

Senator Leahy…

“Like many people across the country, there are Vermonters whose partners are foreign nationals and who feel abandoned by our laws in this area: Vermonters like Gordon Stewart who has come to talk to me about the unfairness of our current laws, or a committed, loving couple of 24 years in Brattleboro, Vermont, who travel back and forth between Vermont and England, and who wish nothing more than to be able to be together in the United States. This bill would allow them, and other gay and lesbian Americans throughout our Nation who have felt that our immigration laws are discriminatory, to be a fuller part of our society. The promotion of family unity has long been part of Federal immigration policy, and we should honor that principle by providing all Americans the opportunity to be with their loved ones.

“The idea that immigration benefits should be extended to same-sex couples is not a novel one. Many nations have come to recognize that their respective immigration laws should respect family unity, regardless of a person’s sexual orientation. Indeed, 16 of our closest allies – Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom – recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes.”

The UAFA has now been referred to the judiciary committees in both houses for review, which has been the case for each of the previous versions of the bill introduced since 2000. The difference this time however is that there are no longer Republican majorities in those committees so the bill may have legs to walk out of the judiciary and back into the houses for debate and eventually a vote.

Reaching out to members of the judiciary committees — particularly Democrats, and those on the immigration subcommittees (marked by an “x”) — could make a difference in helping move the legislation forward. If you or someone you know would benefit from the passage of the UAFA, please urge the representatives and senators listed below to take action.

United States House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary

United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary

* – chairman of the immigration subcommittee

While the UAFA may be in the judiciary committees, it’s still important to contact your senator and representative and ask them to be co-sponsors. The more momentum the act can generate, the harder it will be to stop.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler of NY will introduce the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) tomorrow February 12 which would allow gay Americans to sponsor their foreign-born partners and provide a legal path to U.S. citizenship.

Originally introduced in 2007, the 2009 version of the bill is essentially unchanged and has a growing list of 43 original cosponsors. You can help add to the list of cosponsors before and after the bill’s introduction by doing the following:

• Find out who your U.S. House Representative is. Go to www.congressmerge.com, enter your address, and you will be provided the name of your U.S. Representative.
• Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask to be connected to your U.S. Representative.
• Tell your representative’s staff:

I am calling to ask Representative ________________ to be an original cosponsor of the Uniting American Families Act of 2009. To cosponsor, he/she must contact Rep. Jerrold Nadler who is the lead sponsor.

The U.S. government discriminates against gay and lesbian binational couples by not allowing us to sponsor our foreign-born life partners for immigration. Because of this, we face the terrible choice of separating from the person we love or leaving our country. As Americans, we should not have to choose between family and country. Please ask Rep. _________________ to cosponsor the Uniting American Families Act of 2009.

While not a cosponsor of the 2006 bill, former senator and now President Obama wrote in an open letter to the LGBT community in early 2008 that he worked to improve the Uniting American Families Act, “so we can afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system.”

Rahm Emanuel former Congressman from Illinois and now President Obama’s Chief of Staff was also a cosponsor of UAFA bill.

On a more personal level this issue is of tremendous importance to me. Many of my closest friends live with the threat of forced separation every day, knowing that each day could be their last together. And considering my personal background and history, it is a situation that I could easily find myself in. So it’s hard to remain optimistic and hopeful as friend after friend says goodbye…

But the significance of the introduction of this immigration bill on February 12, on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, shouldn’t be lost on any of us. Like Lincoln before him, Obama must heal a nation that is divided, with the promise of expanding freedom and opportunity to all Americans, regardless of race… regardless of gender… regardless or sexual orientation. The echo’s of Lincoln we see in Obama, give me pause, and give me hope. It makes Lincoln’s words especially relevant now as we hunger for change…

“Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we here — hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.”

For additional information and resources vist

Immigration Equality

Out4Immigration