SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – U.S. immigration authorities have agreed to halt a deportation case against a Venezuelan man in a same-sex marriage in California.
Lavi Soloway, an attorney for Venezuelan citizen Alex Benshimol, says Immigration Judge Marilyn Teeter administratively closed the deportation case against his client at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Soloway says he learned of the Aug. 11 decision only recently.
Benshimol was fighting to stay in the country with his American husband Doug Gentry after overstaying his visa. The Cathedral City couple was married last year.
Soloway asked for the deportation to be halted in line with a June memo from ICE director John Morton outlining the discretion prosecutors have in immigration cases.
ICE says the decision is consistent with the agency’s focus on deporting foreigners convicted of crimes.
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