Signs That Reform Is Coming: Senate Repeals “Widow Penalty”

America's Voice Blog

Posted 10/21/09 at 12:26pm

Signs That Reform Is Coming: Senate Repeals “Widow Penalty”

Yesterday, on a vote of 79-19 on the conference report on the Department of Homeland Security Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations bill, the Senate repealed the “widow penalty” – a measure that was enacted 71 years ago, prohibiting a widowed, foreign spouse to file for citizenship (for themselves and their non-US citizen children) in the event that they had been married for less than two years. According to the New York Times:

The new provision does not directly address the government’s definition of marriage, but it allows foreigners married to Americans for less than two years to submit their own petition for residency within two years of the spouse’s death, as long as they have not remarried and can prove a good-faith marriage.

The law is also retroactive; any immigrant whose citizen spouse died less than two years after they wed, no matter how long ago, would have two years from the law’s enactment to petition for residency.

The news comes as relief to many advocates who have been fighting deportation cases on behalf of a segment of the population that clearly has the right to stay in the country. The Wall Street Journal reports:

"This utterly changes the lives of these immigrants,” said Brent Renison, an attorney who has been fighting widow cases for several years. "They will go from being in the shadows and fearing a knock on the door by an immigration agent to leading productive lives with their families."

Under the “widow penalty,” the sadness over the death of a loved one was further compounded by the lingering possibility of deportation – an unfortunate circumstance for those immigrants who had followed the rules and were here “legally.”

Furthermore, the presence of the unfair rule sent the message that despite following the rules and suffering the loss of a loved one, these immigrants were not welcome by an immigration system in clear need of reform.

Congratulations to the 111th Congress for including this provision in the Homeland Security appropriations bill, and especially to those who championed it: Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT). Last week, the House of Representatives passed the conference report, so now the bill now goes to the President for his expected signature. This is a step in the right direction, and will give hundreds of families the peace of mind needed to get on with their lives. But many more people continue to be victims of our broken immigration system. the only clear solution continues to be a comprehensive fix to our broken immigration system.