Despite Deportation Detention, Marriages Go On

http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/tcrmag/2014/05/2014-05-30b-tcrmag.mp3

People being held in federal custody awaiting deportation have no legal right to a public defender. But they can in some cases marry a U.S. citizen or legal resident while in immigration detention. Marriage might stop a detainee’s deportation, but it’s no guarantee the newlyweds will live happily ever after.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in the Mojave Desert town of Adelanto may not be the most romantic place on earth, with its antiseptic cream-colored walls and armed guards marching detainees down long corridors.

But amid the clatter of security doors and ankle shackles at this remote lockup two hours east of L.A., there is also the occasional peal of wedding bells.

Well, not actual wedding bells but definitely the exchange of wedding vows. The warden at Adelanto, who preferred to speak on background only, says marriages are fairly common. He’d approved several in recent weeks.

San Francisco attorney Zach Nightingale has represented a number of clients who have tied the knot in ICE detention.

“Unfortunately, sometimes it’s in a visiting room where it’s through a glass partition,” says Nightingale. “I’ve seen them done sometimes in a courtroom setting. Usually it’s a free space that they have.”

There are strict guidelines for in-detention marriages. ICE reviews the case and, if approved, gives the warden the OK. After the warden signs off, the facility chaplain takes over.

Only people considered “essential” to the wedding can attend. There were just four people in Yu Wang’s wedding party.

“At that time my wife, my attorney and the pastor,” says Wang.

The Chinese national got picked up by immigration authorities two years ago after overstaying a student visa. He was studying massage therapy. He’d also fallen in love with an American woman.

The couple had no immediate plans to marry. Wang’s detention changed that. While being held at an ICE facility near San Diego he applied for an in-custody marriage. According to ICE guidelines, detainees should get a response within 30 days. Wang says he heard nothing.

“I pushed ICE and filled out the application,” says Wang. “And after two or three months, there is no response. That is why we used (a different) procedure”

With deportation looming, Wang’s attorney, Brian Jiang, found an outside pastor to come to the facility and discreetly conduct the ceremony during regular visiting hours.

“As long as the pastor is authorized to perform ceremonies and as long as he saw two people together, that is all he needed,” says Jiang.

“If you wanted to have it done inside the detention center by their own chaplain, once someone in the chain of command says ‘no,’ then it’s not going to happen.”

There are lots of reasons for wanting to go to such lengths to get married while in ICE detention. There is, of course, the most obvious; love. And if you marry a U.S. citizen, you can stay in the U.S … right?

“That is certainly a drastic overstatement of the law,” says attorney Zach Nightingale.

However, in some cases marriage may provide a shield from deportation.

“Immigration law revolves around a key concept of family unification,” explains Nightingale.

“And so, if a U.S. citizen marries a spouse, they can generally apply to sponsor that spouse to be granted lawful permanent residence, otherwise known as a green card.”

Someone like Yu Wang, for example, who overstayed a visa, could be eligible for a green card.

Attorney Christina Lee tells us about another man, a former client. We’ll call him Roberto. He came to the U.S. from Mexico as a tourist with his family when he was a child — and overstayed his visa.

Roberto, now in his early 30s, got picked up by authorities over alleged gang ties. He was never charged. But his expired visa was exposed and he was detained.

“He was living with his girlfriend and they were planning on getting married and actually inviting family members and having it in a church,” says Lee.

“Unfortunately, he was detained, so his marriage was the key to his case.”

Because Roberto, like Yu Wang, entered the U.S. legally, he could apply for an adjustment of status upon marrying. So he and his wife were wed while he was in immigration detention. But a honeymoon would have to wait. It took another seven months before Roberto was granted a green card and released.

“The marriage is only the very first step because then, after they got married, immigration is going to look at whether or not this marriage is a real marriage or not,” says Lee.

“So then I had to document all this evidence to show that this is client that’s been in this relationship for years and they planned on getting married at some point, maybe not this soon.”

Roberto is now living with his wife in Arizona. Christina Lee says such “happy endings” are rare. Most people facing deportation crossed into the U.S. without a visa. That means they can’t get legal by getting married.

“And I’m all for love,” laughs Lee. But in most cases she’s leery of assisting a detainee get married while in custody.

“If I thought legally it was a tool that would add to their case, I would definitely do it,” says Lee. “But usually they are in there for some kind of violation, and so merely getting married would not always add a benefit.”

Yu Wang was released from detention after being wed. But before papers could be filed and approved to adjust his legal status to that of a permanent resident, he was detained again by ICE in San Francisco and deported back to China.

“Oh my gosh, this is horrible actually,” says Wang by phone from his home in central China.

“I’m (the sole) supporter. If I am deported there are no other people who can support my daughter and my wife. I don’t know how long (until) I will return back to America.”

It could be a very long time. Now that he’s outside the U.S., Wang faces an enormous hurdle: a 10-year bar for re-entry.

The only way to avoid that is to secure a waiver by convincing authorities that his wife will suffer extreme and unusual hardship if he is not allowed to return.

That’s a claim that even Wang’s own attorney says could be very difficult to prove with or without a wedding ring.