DHS Grants Reprieve to Widows of U.S. Citizens

On June 10, 2009, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano tackled what is known as the “widow penalty” by granting a two-year reprieve to immigrant widows and widowers of U.S. citizens who were targeted for deportation because their immigration status was not resolved before their spouses died. The affected widows and widowers (and their minor children), who reside in the United States, were married for less than two years prior to their spouses’ deaths.

The order is viewed as a welcomed step toward eliminating the widow penalty. However, widows throughout California and the Pacific coastline are already protected by an April 2009 court order in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the plaintiffs in a ruling that forced the DHS to reopen the cases of certain immigrant widows for whom it had previously denied green cards and sought deportation.