Patricia Nazario
April 23, 2009
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A federal appeals court ruling yesterday could order immigration officials to reopen and review a dozen immigration cases as early as next week. KPCC's Patricia Nazario has more on the widows and the attorney behind the class action lawsuit.
Patricia Nazario: The attorney representing the women, Brent Renison, says that almost exactly three years ago, one case forced the courts to examine a little-known facet of immigration law.
Brent Renison: And that was the case of Carla Freeman.
Nazario: Renison said a Pepsi delivery truck hit and killed Freeman's husband while her naturalization application was pending.
Renison: Carla Freeman's case was the first case to argue that a spouse who has filed an application for residence status together with the American citizen spouse, remains a spouse after the death of their spouse.
Nazario: Renison said he won the case in court. But immigration officials never incorporated the rules into their handbooks. They deported Carla Freeman back to her native South Africa. That compelled Renison to cast a nationwide search for widows and widowers in similar situations.
The attorney said he found a couple hundred. He named 22 in a class action lawsuit. This week's tentative decision in the federal Ninth Circuit Court court of appeals doesn't benefit all Renison's clients. But he hopes the ruling will influence other courts.
Attorneys for the federal Department of Homeland Security insist that a marriage dissolves when someone dies, so surviving spouses of American citizens are not entitled to receive the same immigration benefits as foreigners married to U.S. citizens.
