Immigration

WASHINGTON — Far-reaching immigration legislation neared a final committee vote on Tuesday as the White House and Democratic supporters pressed the panel's chairman to delay a showdown over the rights of gay spouses until a debate in the full Senate. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy says he will not offer -- for now -- an amendment to an immigration bill allowing gay Americans to seek green cards for their spouses. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Two people familiar with the Senate immigration deliberations say the White House has suggested to Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy that it would be best to put off a controversy over same-sex partners until a bill goes before the full Senate. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee is aiming this week to pass a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. [ Read more → ]

On May 12, 2007, I sat in a restaurant in West Hollywood swearing off men forever after a string of bad relationships. That was until my future husband walked in. ... For two hours we ate, drank and laughed. In one meal, I had gone from having lost all interest in dating to hitting it off with a guy who I may as well have designed myself. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that if the Senate Judiciary Committee attached an amendment to include provisions for same-sex bi-national couples in the pending immigration reform bill, he'll pull his support. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday expressed concerns over whether or not the final draft of a comprehensive immigration reform bill would contain protections for foreign-born partners of gay Americans, but would not commit to voting for such an amendment. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Religious leaders said Wednesday that adding a gay rights proposal to immigration legislation could risk their support for the bill, setting up a potential Senate showdown. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday filed an amendment to a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would allow legally married gay Americans to sponsor their foreign-born same-sex partners for green cards. [ Read more → ]

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- President Barack Obama says he supports recognizing gay unions in a broad immigration bill pending in Congress but won't say whether he would sign legislation that fails to do so. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Republicans in the U.S. Senate are warning that efforts to include an amendment that offers a path to legal residency for foreign-born partners of gay Americans would derail an immigration package currently being considered in the Senate Judiciary Committee. [ Read more → ]

Frustrated at being left out of an immigration overhaul, gay rights groups are pushing to adjust a bipartisan Senate bill to include gay couples. But Democrats are treading carefully, wary of adding another divisive issue that could lose Republican support and jeopardize the entire bill. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona on Monday urged a Senate committee to expand its immigration reform bill to include a path to citizenship or permanent residency for immigrant same-sex partner partners, including his own. [ Read more → ]

LOS ANGELES — A lesbian couple facing immigration troubles has the standing to challenge the federal Defense of Marriage Act because it violates the constitutional rights of immigrants in same-sex marriages, a federal judge has ruled. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON — Gay rights advocates have expressed disappointment after a bipartisan Senate group’s 844-page immigration bill omitted married gay and lesbian binational couples, leaving out the Uniting American Families Act. [ Read more → ]

Jason Kirchick and Christian Pinillos of Stowe, Vt., are worried not only about their future working at a struggling ski lodge but also about their marriage. Now that the lodge has fallen on hard times, the men's jobs are in jeopardy and with his job, so is Pinillos' immigration status. [ Read more → ]

Some U.S. Republican leaders on Wednesday pushed back against a new comeback plan after a poor showing in last year's elections, saying the party shouldn't give up its conservative stance on sensitive but core issues like immigration and gay marriage. [ Read more → ]

SAN DIEGO – A 26-year-old gay man is accusing two immigration guards in El Centro, Calif. of making anti-gay slurs at him, violently roughing him up while in custody, and putting in danger his health and his life. [ Read more → ]

The Human Rights Campaign on Monday issued an apology for its treatment of transgender and immigration rights activists during rallies supporting marriage equality outside the U.S. Supreme Court last week. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Patrick Leahy wants the government to start affording same-sex, married couples the same immigration benefits that heterosexual couples now enjoy. [ Read more → ]