Years of work by a Portland immigration lawyer are paying off. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano granted a reprieve today. It applies to foreign born spouses of American citizens who face deportation after their partner’s death. Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

Portland attorney Brent Renison says there are 60 to 70 known widows and widowers in the Western U-S in this most unfortunate bind. The affected people are immigrants from all over the world who’ve recently married Americans. But then some accident, shooting, or illness claims the American before the foreign born spouse gets her green card. A quirk in U.S. immigration law then calls for deportation of the widow and children if there are any. Brent Renison calls Secretary Napolitano’s announcement a “temporary reprieve,” not a victory.

Renison: “Those people while they’re trying to resolve their cases, they’re not going to face deportation for at least two years. Still when you’re in this limbo and you’re trying to grieve, it makes it awfully hard when you don’t know where you are going to live.” Copyright 2009 KUOW

On the web: Department of Homeland Security statement

Surviving Spouses Against Deportation

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