Steve King vs. widows and orphans

by: desmoinesdem

Sat Jul 19, 2008 at 10:00:00 AM CDT

According to the Des Moines Register, about 160 immigrants face deportation "because their U.S. citizen spouses died less than two years after their marriages and before the survivors' permanent residency applications were approved."

A bipartisan group in Congress, including some conservative Republicans, is trying to change the law so that these widows' and widowers' residency applications can be reviewed individually. Otherwise these unfortunate people are forced to fight deportation while also dealing with a bereavement and in some cases looking after children.

Who's the one person loudly objecting to this law? None other than fifth district Representative Steve King. In addition to being generally concerned about our "runaway immigration policy," he has specific problems with the bill:

King also said more protections were needed to ensure immigrant spouses have good moral character or that they planned to come to the United States prior to the spouse's death.

"A soldier, man or woman, could get drunk in Bangkok, wake up in the morning and be married, as will happen sometimes in places like Las Vegas or Bangkok, be killed the next day, and the spouse who was a product of the evening's celebration would have then a right to claim access to come to the United States on a green card," King said.

Remember, this bill would have U.S. immigration officials review applications on a case-by-case basis. I doubt a marriage of drunk people who barely knew each other would be deemed legitimate.

Anyway,

He said he agreed with the sentiment in the bill but Congress cannot take care of "every sad story that we have and if we do that, we are going to create a lot more sad stories in the United States from the people that will take advantage."

His position has befuddled advocates of changing the penalty [...].

"I've never come across anybody who actually voiced opposition," said Brent Renison, an Oregon immigration lawyer [...].

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who sponsored the bill in committee, said the "widow penalty" is one of the top reasons for private relief bills in Congress.

But why do something humane that will also save members of Congress the time they spend on passing these private relief bills?

Better to continue making a name for yourself as the guy who can always think of a reason not to help immigrants.