When Patrick Piazza and Veronica Solis married in San Francisco in 2007, they knew that sooner or later they would have to separate.
Solis’ undocumented status meant years of separation from her family in Mexico, marked by the constant fear of deportation.
After marrying Piazza, who is a U.S. citizen, Solis applied for a pardon for unauthorized stay. This required her to return to her home country for a minimum of seven months to be screened through interviews and wait for approval or rejection. Rejection would entail a 10-year bar from entering the United States.
Solis arrived in the United States about 15 years ago and settled in the Bay Area.z
She helped to organize the Mission Arts and Performance Project which takes place every other month, and has volunteered at the Red Poppy Art House.
Despite their long history in the Bay Area, they are now facing the uncertainty as to whether or not they will be able to reunite in San Francisco.
“Forcing people to leave the country is designed to be a punishment. It’s from this rhetoric: ‘These people broke the law and they need to be punished,’” Piazza said.
Though Obama has long promised immigration reform, over 400,000 deportations were carried out in 2012 alone. Because of it, many are both apprehensive and hopeful for the changes to come.
Solis applied for an I-601, or “Stateside Waiver,” and left the country toward the end of Obama’s first term, with the uncertainty of anti-immigrant laws strengthening.
From his second term, Obama has only announced one solid change: a modification of the waiver for which Piazza and his wife applied.
The newer version, called I-601A, is considered the first tide in a wave of upcoming immigration reform, allowing undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States while their application is pending.
Jessica Farb, an attorney at Immigration Center for Women and Children in San Francisco, pointed out how high-risk the past process was.
“There were people who were advised to apply who didn’t qualify and then they were separated from their family for 10 years,” Farb said.
Piazza, now separated from his wife for six months, is hoping to receive approval by the end of summer.
“I spend days thinking about whether I’ll live in Mexico too,” said Piazza, reflecting on the possibility of the waiver being denied.
The Obama administration has claimed that the I-601A will help up to 1 million undocumented immigrants, yet the qualifications are exactly the same as the I-601. Ironically, these 1 million undocumented immigrants qualified for the I-601 but did not apply due to the high risk of family separation.
Farb pointed out that the modification will make positive change to family-based immigration by allowing family members to stay in the United States while their application is pending.
“In the end it is more humane,” she said.
“I would never wish this onto anyone,” Piazza said, of the separation from his wife. “They need to stop acting like everything deserves a punishment.”