labguy22
04-04-2009, 09:22 AM
Pacifica Domestic Partners Get Temporary Reprieve
PACIFICA, Calif. (KCBS) - A same-sex couple in Pacifica may have to move to the Philippines because of a deportation order.
Same-sex advocates say the case of Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado highlights inequities in U.S. immigration law.
Tan and Mercado have been registered as domestic partners since 1991. They have twin 12-year-old sons.
Tan applied for political asylum in the United States after she was shot by a relative during an inheritance dispute. The government turned that request down in 2002, and has ordered Tan to leave the country.
She was supposed to be deported Friday, but Congresswoman Jackie Speier, (CA-12), helped Tan get a three-week stay.
KCBS' Chris Filippi reports
According to Immigration Equality executive director Rachel Tiven, the situation Tan and her partner are facing is not unique. "An American citizen like Jay Mercado is losing her family, having the person that she loves most in the world, the mother of her children, the caretaker of her elderly mother, being ripped from her, all because they're a lesbian couple," claimed Tiven.
The couple's attorney says the government often overlooks immigration violations for heterosexual couples with children.
The couple is appealing the deportation order. If that effort fails, Mercado said the entire family would move to the Philippines.
Copyright 2009, KCBS. All Rights Reserved.
PACIFICA, Calif. (KCBS) - A same-sex couple in Pacifica may have to move to the Philippines because of a deportation order.
Same-sex advocates say the case of Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado highlights inequities in U.S. immigration law.
Tan and Mercado have been registered as domestic partners since 1991. They have twin 12-year-old sons.
Tan applied for political asylum in the United States after she was shot by a relative during an inheritance dispute. The government turned that request down in 2002, and has ordered Tan to leave the country.
She was supposed to be deported Friday, but Congresswoman Jackie Speier, (CA-12), helped Tan get a three-week stay.
KCBS' Chris Filippi reports
According to Immigration Equality executive director Rachel Tiven, the situation Tan and her partner are facing is not unique. "An American citizen like Jay Mercado is losing her family, having the person that she loves most in the world, the mother of her children, the caretaker of her elderly mother, being ripped from her, all because they're a lesbian couple," claimed Tiven.
The couple's attorney says the government often overlooks immigration violations for heterosexual couples with children.
The couple is appealing the deportation order. If that effort fails, Mercado said the entire family would move to the Philippines.
Copyright 2009, KCBS. All Rights Reserved.