Immigration
New Deportation Case Tests Obama Administration on Gay Marriage

Published July 13, 2011

The Obama administration's policies on immigration and gay marriage are being tested in another case of a gay man fighting deportation by citing his marriage to a U.S. citizen.

Alex Benshimol, a 47-year-old Venezuelan citizen who lives in California, married his partner, Doug Gentry, last year in Connecticut, the Contra Costa Times reported. Gentry is a U.S. citizen.

The couple was granted a reprieve Wednesday when an immigration judge delayed Benshimol's deportation by at least two years, as he presses the government to drop its efforts to deport him, the Times reported. He came to this this country in 1999, but his visa has since expired.

The U.S. allows citizens to sponsor their spouses for green cards and eventually citizenship, but the federal Defense of Marriage Act bars the government from recognizing such applications from same-sex spouses.

The decision in Benshimol's case comes on the heels of the Obama administration's decision last month to halt deportation of another Venezuelan man, Henry Velandia, 27, who married his U.S. citizen partner legally in Connecticut. In that case, Velandia's husband, Josh Vandiver, had not been allowed to sponsor Velandia for a green card for the same reason Gentry can't sponsor Benshimol.

The Department of Homeland Security dropped deportation efforts against Velandia but made no changes to procedures regarding the Defense of Marriage Act. Jessica Vaughan, director of policy students at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies told FoxNews.com that the decision was misguided prosecutorial discretion that could “destroy the credibilityâ€