immigration

LGBT immigrants are undergoing severe abuse when held in custody by the federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an immigrants’ rights group charges in a complaint filed this week. The complaint, filed Wednesday by the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance on behalf of 13 LGBT detainees, alleges mistreatment at jails and other detention centers in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The facilities are either operated by ICE or under contract with the agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Two key pieces of legislation to advance gay rights will be reintroduced in Congress Thursday. A group of Democratic representatives will introduce the Uniting American Families Act, which would allow gay and lesbian Americans to sponsor their foreign partner or spouse to become U.S. citizens. New York representative Jerrold Nadler, who announced the move Wednesday, said passage of this legislation was overdue, and without it, many couples and families are torn apart. Among the sponsors are two of the four openly gay members of the House, Wisconsin 's Tammy Baldwin and Colorado's Jared Polis.

Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey is expected to introduce comprehensive immigration legislation before the Senate adjourns this week for the midterm recess. “We fully expect that the Menendez comprehensive immigration reform bill will be inclusive of the Uniting American Families Act,” said Steve Ralls, director of communications for the pro-LGBT Immigration Equality.

U.S. representative Luis Gutierrez of Chicago said Thursday that foreign-born partners of gay and lesbian Americans should have the same rights to citizenship as those of heterosexual Americans - and that he would fight to include that proposal in his immigration reform bill.

The number of LGBT refugees coming to America every year is on the rise, a possible indication of gay acceptance in the U.S. coupled with the extreme persecution the immigrants are enduring in their home countries. Asylum based on sexual orientation and gender identity has been possible for the last 16 years, thanks to then-Attorney General Janet Reno declaring an LGBT asylum case precedent.

The number of LGBT refugees coming to America every year is on the rise, a possible indication of gay acceptance in the U.S. coupled with the extreme persecution the immigrants are enduring in their home countries. Asylum based on sexual orientation and gender identity has been possible for the last 16 years, thanks to then-Attorney General Janet Reno declaring an LGBT asylum case precedent.

The Obama administration has officially taken the first step in lifting the 15-year-old law banning HIV-positive people from entering the United States.

A New York man has been convicted of a hate crime for beating an Ecuadorian immigrant to death because he thought the victim was gay.  Keith Phoenix was found guilty in a Brooklyn court Monday in the fatal 2008 beating of José Sucuzhañay. Phoenix and a friend assaulted Sucuzhañay after mistaking him and his brother, Romel Sucuzhañay, as a couple.

Lady Gaga denounced the new immigration law in Arizona when she took the stage in Phoenix for her Monster Ball tour Saturday. The pop icon stopped short of calling for a boycott of the state, saying that it was preferable to “peaceably protest” the controversial measure, which includes harsh penalties against illegal immigration.

The Republican governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, has vowed to appeal a federal court ruling that blocked key provisions of her state's new immigration law. Bloomberg reports that Brewer wants to appeal the decision made Wednesday by a U.S. district judge in Phoenix. Susan Bolton ruled that Arizona can’t mandate that police make a “reasonable attempt” to determine whether a person is legally in the United States and then detain him or her if there is “suspicion” that he or she isn’t. Nor can it be required that immigrants carry their documentation with them at all times.

A bill to help millions of people, including LGBTs, realize their American dream is still stalled in Congress.

Lesbian couples fighting for immigration equality and extended rights for same-sex military couples will attend the President's annual State of the Union address Tuesday evening.

A federal judge has blocked crucial parts of Arizona's immigration enforcement law that was set to take effect on Thursday. The law, S.B. 1070, will still take effect Thursday, but lacking some provisions like requirements to check a person's immigrant stats while enforcing other laws. The state is also blocked from enforcing parts of the law that would require people to carry  their immigration papers at all times, as well as a part that would have made it illegal for migrant workers to solicit work in public places.

Prepare for all hell to break loose on the right now that Fox News is reporting that Democrats are trying to broaden immigration reform with a provision in immigration legislation that would allow gay and lesbian American citizens a basic right -- to live with and love their foreign-born same-sex partners in the United States. At a news conference Thursday, Democratic Reps. Jerrold Nadler of New York, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Mike Honda of Californian urged Congress to pass the Uniting American Families Act as one piece of a comprehensive immigration reform package.