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Illegal: What are Her Options? (Veronica's Story, Part III)

Veronica came here legally with her family as a child. Now in her late 20s and in a long-term relationship with a woman, the Alameda resident is undocumented.

This is part III of Veronica's story.  is about her childhood and her family's claims for asylum. is about her teen years and early 20s and how she lost her legal status.

To sift through the legal specifics of Veronica’s story is difficult: the family's asylum claim, the numerous appeals, her dependent visa, her student visas.

The accumulation has left Veronica exhausted and wary of false hopes. She still avoids telling people her story; she doesn’t want people’s pity.

When she does talk, people often try to help. They jot down a name and number for a lawyer friend who they hope might have some answers for her.

“I’ve been in the situation for how long?” says Veronica. “I’m sure I’ve done everything I could do.”

But to know whether she ever had a chance, a real chance, of becoming permanently legal is difficult. The key for many heterosexual people, who can marry their way to citizenship, is not there for Veronica, even though she is in a long-term relationship with a woman with whom she would like to build a family.

“Unless I married a dude,” she says jokingly.

She almost did, twice, but never had the heart to go through with it. A high school boyfriend offered to marry her, but she said no. The second time, a good friend of hers offered to marry her. They got as far as the marriage interview, but Veronica says she didn't have the heart to put up the front. Also, she felt the friend really loved her, and it would have been heartbreaking for both of them.

To date, immigration law doesn’t recognize gay marriage, which for a straight couple would offer a ready solution. And the law doesn’t offer permanent solutions to people who were brought to the United States at a young age and who, like Veronica, have established deep roots in this country.

If Veronica had finished school, she would at least have a degree to her name, though she figures her situation would be largely the same: an expired visa, no legal way to land a job and living with the fear of being deported.

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In retrospect, Veronica acknowledges that dragging out school only to drop out probably hurt more than it helped.

“Many LGBT people go through that,” said Steve Ralls, the spokesperson for Immigration Equality, a national organization that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender immigrants.

“They move from temporary visa to temporary visa, hoping to stay in the U.S. for as long as possible. But they just aren’t able to continuously jump from one option to the other,” he said.

Ralls points out, however, that those who have access to visas are the fortunate ones. Generally, it is difficult for most people to even obtain a visa, with many wait lists currently backlogged for years.

Attorneys also say that overstaying a visa, as Veronica did, dramatically lessens a person’s options for becoming permanently legal. Although one can apply for what is called a cancellation of removal, the guidelines are stringent. The person must have resided in the U.S. for 10 years, prove they are of good moral character, and have a spouse, parent or child who is a green card holder or a citizen who can show they will suffer extreme hardship if the person leaves — which would be difficult for Veronica to show.

Robert Jobe, a San Francisco attorney who’s an expert in handling asylum cases, says the people who are most successful in legalizing their status are gay people who can prove they can’t return to their country for fear they will be persecuted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. While he hasn’t seen such claims from Panamanian immigrants like Veronica, many cases do come from immigrants from other Latin American countries, like Mexico, El Salvador and Brazil, where there is a well-documented history of persecution against LGBT people.

“Being gay can affect your immigration status in a whole lot of ways,” said Jobe, “not always necessarily for bad, but oftentimes it is.”

Of all her family, Veronica is the only one who remains in legal limbo. Her youngest sibling graduated from a four-year school and secured a work visa. And her oldest sibling, over 21 at the time the family was told to leave the United States, never returned here after the family’s final asylum claim was denied.

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Recently, though, Veronica’s fate took a possible slight turn for the better when her parents became legal residents. Although they must wait two years to apply for citizenship, they can petition for Veronicaa now, as green card holders. She’s planning to meet with an attorney to file the petition.

But since Veronica is over 21, she likely has to wait roughly 10 years for her case to be reviewed. 

“Ten years? It just seems pointless,” says Veronica, her voice revealing the frustration simmering within her. At the café, the sun is high above. Veronica has shifted in her seat and now faces sideways, looking into the distance as she speaks.

Ralls, with Immigration Equality, says there is another hope for Veronica. The Uniting American Families Act, which would allow U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration benefits, is pending in Congress and could become law as early as 2012.

Also, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a memo in June, stating that immigration officials would exercise discretion in which individuals to remove. This could spare people like Veronica, who have resided in the U.S. for a long time and don’t pose a security threat, from being deported if they are discovered to be here without proper documentation.

Ralls understands Veronica’s frustration. He says immigration law is outdated. It can be a cumbersome and oftentimes oppressive system that makes it difficult for anyone, but especially LGBT people, to become legal. 

“Her story is a perfect example of the double impact that LGBT people feel under current immigration laws,” said Ralls.

“This is why there do need to be permanent solutions to allow people who were brought to the U.S. to be able to remain in what is the only country they know as their home.”

This is Part III of Veronica's story.  is about her childhood and her family's claims for asylum.  is about her teen years and early 20s and how she lost her legal status.

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