Is deporting husband easier than deporting wife?

by Atty. Emmanuel Samonte Tipon 

There appears to be a double standard practiced by immigration authorities when it comes to deporting a husband or wife. When a U.S. citizen or LPR wife complains to immigration authorities that her alien husband did not fulfill his marital vows, immigration acts rather quickly to place the husband in deportation. But when it is the USC or LPR husband who complains that his alien wife did not fulfill her marital vows, immigration acts very slowly, if at all.

ALIEN HUSBAND ARRIVES IN U.S. BUT GOES TO RELATIVES’ HOME

Take the case of Ilocano parents who wanted to have their daughter, an unwed mother of one, get married – to hide the shame? They went to the Philippines and met a young man who seemed interested in their daughter. They succeeded in convincing him to marry her. Upon returning to Hawaii, the daughter petitioned for the husband. It was approved. The husband had advisers in the Philippines who counseled him to delay his travel to the U.S. until their marriage was more than two years old so that he would be a lawful permanent resident rather than a conditional resident.

When the young man arrived in Hawaii, he did not go to his wife’s home but went to the home of relatives. A relative of the wife found him working at a fast food restaurant and told her. The wife and her parents went to confront her husband and demanded to know why he did not go to their home directly. The man told them that he preferred to go to his relatives and that they could not do anything to him because he had a permanent green card.

The wife filed for divorce. The man had family support and hired a Chinese lawyer. When they ran out of funds the lawyer gave up the case. Meanwhile, the wife with the assistance of an excellent Filipino lawyer reported the matter to immigration authorities claiming that the man committed marriage fraud and that their marriage was a sham. Immigration picked up the husband and detained him at the Federal Detention Center and filed removal proceedings. Since he had no money to pay for a lawyer to defend him and his relatives no longer wanted to give him financial support or did not want to be involved any more, he opted to leave voluntarily.

ALIEN HUSBAND HAS CHILD WITH USC WIFE BUT PLACED IN REMOVAL

A Filipino couple wanted their daughter to be married. They found a potential husband in the Philippines and introduced their daughter to him. Their daughter “fell in love” with the young man and they were married. She returned to Hawaii, petitioned for her husband, and he arrived in Hawaii within two years of their marriage, so he was a conditional resident. He did not have advisers like the other Filipino.

They lived together and had a child. During their “unhappy marriage” the husband blurted out to his wife’s mother that he had married the daughter so he could come to the U.S. The mother was so shocked that she was hospitalized. The daughter then retained an excellent Filipino lawyer who helped her write to immigration authorities to terminate the conditional residence of the man and deport him on the ground that the marriage was a sham. They submitted an article written by the lawyer which cited a case holding that merely having a child does not necessarily make the marriage genuine for immigration purposes. The alien husband was placed in removal proceedings.

The head of the local immigration agency in charge of removing aliens remarked to the Filipino lawyer, half smiling: “Usually, you are fighting hard to prevent people from being deported; now you are fighting to have them deported.”

Retorted the lawyer: “We are simply enforcing the law. If a person is deportable, we want you to deport them. If the person is not deportable, you should not deport them and we’ll work hard to prevent their deportation.”
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(Atty. Tipon has a Master of Laws degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines. He specializes in immigration law and criminal defense. Office: 800 Bethel St., Suite 402, Honolulu, HI 96813. Tel. (808) 225-2645. E-Mail: filamlaw@yahoo.com. Websites: www.MilitaryandCriminalLaw.com, and www.ImmigrationServicesUSA.com. He is from Laoag City and Magsingal, Ilocos Sur. He served as an Immigration Officer. He is co-author of “Immigration Law Service, 1st ed.,” an 8-volume practice guide for immigration officers and lawyers. Listen to the most witty, interesting, and informative radio program in Hawaii on KNDI at 1270, AM dial every Thursday at 7:30 a.m., rebroadcast at  www.iluko.com. This article is a general overview of the subject matter discussed and is not intended as legal advice. No warranty is made by the writer or publisher as to its completeness or correctness at the time of publication.)