The Supreme Court on Friday ruled 6-3 against a Los Angeles woman who argued her constitutional rights were violated when the federal government denied a visa to her Salvadoran husband, in part because they viewed his tattoos as gang-related.
Luis Asencio Cordero, who lived in the U.S. until 2015, has been separated from his wife, L.A. civil rights attorney Sandra Muñoz, since the visa was denied during a consular interview in El Salvador.
The couple sought to file a new visa application with evidence refuting his alleged membership in the MS-13 gang, and wanting assurance that the federal government would review it.
The government said it denied the visa due to concerns that Asencio Cordero would be likely to engage in unlawful activity if he were allowed back into the U.S.
Separately this week, President Biden announced an executive order to protect immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens who have lived consecutively in the country for at least a decade.
At the White House on Tuesday, Biden said it’s the right thing to do.
“There’s already a system in place for people we’re talking about today,” Biden said. “But the process is cumbersome, risky, and it separates families. From the current process, undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens must go back to their home country... to obtain long-term legal status.
They have to leave their families in America, with no assurance they’ll be allowed back in the United States.”
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