Often immigration decisions affect the spouse and family of the immigrant that is in question. This may mean that an illegal immigrant who is granted the right to remain in the United States is able to bring his family into the country as well. On the downside, if an immigrant has to leave the United States, this often means that the family has to go too. Recently, the Democrats in the House of Representatives have been focusing on how gays and lesbians are regarded in connection with immigration principles. The Obama Administration said that they would treat homosexual marriages the same as heterosexual marriages when it regards immigration. Yet that fact has yet to be put into writing.

Members argue that since homosexual principles aren’t yet documented, they are relatively ineffective and can’t be upheld in court. Right now, homosexuals who are married are still at risk of being deported, even if their spouse is a United States citizen. In general, those who are U.S. citizens are able to remain in the country with their family. That is not always the case for LGBT couples. Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying that keeping loving families together should be a priority for immigration enforcement, especially in cases where one spouse is an American citizen. The Department of Homeland Security has stated that they will try to factor in family ties of both heterosexual and homosexual couples whenever they are dealing with an immigration case.

Yet the Democrats continue to press the priority to put this in writing so that they can provide clarity to those enforcing the laws. This will help to give measure of confidence to families that are at risk to separation, because the courts will be able to fall back on printed statutes. According to the Huffington Post, when the Obama Administration announced their new prosecutorial direction for immigration in August of 2011 they made an unstated provision for homosexual couples. The new action showed that the law enforcement would focus on immigrants with criminal records and give deferred action to many of the innocent men and women in the United States that were undocumented. Obama also said that he would gran deferred action to some of the men and women who had ties to the United States. These ties were normally familial, such as a spouse that was a legal resident. When asked he said that the LGBT couples would also fall under the umbrella of deferred action in most cases.

In September of 2011, House Democrats made their first pleas to the Department of Homeland Security to incorporate same-sex partnerships into their instruction. This is because the same-sex partners are not protected under DOMA. They cannot petition for their spouse or partner to get a green card, running the risk of potential deportation. The Democrats in the House are increasingly worried that this could affect the immigration courts because the judges are not aware that LGBT couples and families should be treated like traditional ones.

In addition, they are worried that the statement that LGBT ties to the community and contributions are taken into account isn’t enough to protect these people. While the statement regards gay and lesbian immigrants, it doesn’t say anything about protecting their partners in immigration situations. These politicians are now going to try and take legislative action by proposing g two new bills which could change the definition of the immigrant families so that it includes homosexuals and their partners. The politicians say that these gays and lesbians are important to society and shouldn’t be forgotten. Talk to an immigration attorney if you are LGBT person that is looking for help with your immigration situation.