Good news on immigration: why it matters

The Obama Administration has made the sensible decision that people who are in the country without documents but aren't criminals should be lower priority for deportation.

This is particularly heartening for same-sex "transnational" couples. If they were straight, the citizen partner could sponsor the non-citizen partner for a green card. But thanks to DOMA, they aren't given that right, and there are lots of heartbreaking cases of people being ripped apart.

But with this new implementation policy, that should change. From the NY TImes:

The administration’s announcement also had an immediate impact on a case in Denver, where an immigration judge on Friday postponed the deportation of Sujey Pando, a lesbian from Mexico legally married in Iowa to an American from Colorado, Violeta Pando. Although federal law does not recognize same-sex marriages, administration officials said they would consider same-sex spouses as “family” in their review of deportation cases.

The judge, Mimi Tsankov, cited the flux in laws and policies affecting same-sex cases in delaying a decision on Sujey Pando’s deportation at least until January, said Lavi Soloway, a lawyer for the couple.

Our families are just as real, and our love just as important. It's good news that this will finally make a difference.

But what we really need is the elimination of DOMA, and as cases wend their way through the court system, I hope that will happen.