The officers said that he had "... too many entries on your tourist waiver, which tells me that you're not just a tourist... You're planning on staying here permanently, aren't you?"
After his 10 hour detainment and thoroughly explaining his situation, he was then escorted by security to the gate of a departing flight where he was immediately deported back to Australia.
This is wrong on so many levels but has been a situation that has been repeated over and over again. However, on Friday, October 5th, the Obama Administration issued written guidance to immigration officials regarding same-sex relationships. It stated that immigration officials are required to recognize same-sex partners as family members when deciding whether to deport undocumented immigrants. This means that the Obama Administration created this policy to ensure that the deportation of immigrants in same-sex relationships (who pose no security risk) no longer took place. It is important to note that this policy came into effect BEFORE this all happened to Cameron. Therefore, the regulation was in fact intact during the time at which Cameron was deported, which means US Immigration officers did NOT abide by the newly-established policy.
So, lets make this simple and bring Cameron home to Mark and abide the policy which is in place!
Photo: Mark Smalley (L) & Cameron Gray (R)
