Another Gay Couple Kept Apart by Immigration Law

It's a case of mistaken identity meets the need for LGBT immigration rights. RafiQ Salleh, a native of Singapore, moved to the United States legally in 1998 to live with his partner Cannon Flowers. He opened a café serving bubble tea in North Dallas, and was approved for an E2 entrepreneurial visa, the Dallas Voice reports. When he returned to Singapore to pick it up, however, he found he could not return, because his name appeared on the terrorist watch list.

It was in fact a different RafiQ Salleh on the watch list, but the Dallas Salleh and Flowers have spent weeks trying to sort this out with the State Department and Homeland Security.

Part of the problem is that even after 14 years together, Flowers cannot sponsor Salleh for permanent residency and citizenship, something that heterosexual married spouses can do for each other. Their case is only one of many -- over 36,000 same-sex families are being kept apart because of this, as Mike Jones wrote here in July. One such couple is Henry Velandia and Josh Vandiver, whom Mike profiledlast week. Velandia faces deportation even though the two men were legally married in Connecticut.

And then there are couples facing true tragedy like Roi Whaley and Aurelio Tolentino. Whaley has been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer. Because of his low T-cell count, chemotherapy is not an option. Whaley is in Mississippi, however, but Tolentino, a native of the Philippines, was forced to leave the U.S. because Whaley could not sponsor him for residency. Imagine being kept from the love of your life as you struggle with an almost certainly fatal illness. Imagine watching, unable to be there to help the one you love.

The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would allow same-sex partners to sponsor each other for immigration, has been stuck in committee, but is now part of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act that was introduced September 30 in the Senate. UAFA's Congressional sponsors in both houses, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) were each reelected last night, though, which is a hopeful sign for reintroduction, even if the legislation does not move (or if the UAFA provisions get cut) during the lame duck session. Reintroduction alone is not enough, however. We must convince many members of Congress that the current law needs to change. The family is the basic institution of our society, and any law that works to keep loving families apart is unjust and un-American.

Photo credit: Tim Pearce