Australian loses fight to stay with husband

An Australian man has been ordered to leave the US after his application for permanent residency as a spouse of an American citizen was denied.

Anthony John Makk was married to his American partner, Bradford Wells, seven years ago in Massachusetts and has been the primary caregiver of his AIDS-afflicted husband.

Citing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the Obama administration denied immigration benefits to the married gay couple, who live in San Francisco, and ordered the expulsion of Makk.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the decision was issued on July 26 and that Immigration Equality, a gay-rights group that is working with the couple, made the news public on Monday.

Makk has been ordered to leave the US by August 25.

“I’m married just like any other married person in this country,” Wells told the Chronicle.

“At this point, the government can come in and take my husband and deport him. It’s infuriating. It’s upsetting. I have no power, no right to keep my husband in this country. I love this country, I live here, I pay taxes and I have no right to share my home with the person I married.”

Wells has made personal pleas to US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and President Obama to intervene.

The agency’s decision cited DOMA as the reason for the denial of Makk’s visa, or spousal petition that could allow him to apply for permanent US residency, despite the Obama administration deciding earlier this year that DOMA was unconstitutional and would no longer defend it in court.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives have since hired outside counsel to defend the law.

Despite still enforcing DOMA, the Obama administration has been exercising discretion on a case-by-case basis.

The couple are reported to have spent nearly $2000 trying to gain Makk residency and must now decide whether to file a motion to reconsider the decision.

Makk gave up a professional career in Australia to be with Wells. He started a business in San Francisco and invested in rental property to meet various visa requirements.

Wells could choose to move to Australia with his partner but said doing so would require him to give up extensive medical care and insurance in the US.

“We are appealing to the Obama administration to begin to put into action what they’ve said repeatedly they can do,” Immigration Equality spokesman Steve Ralls told the Chronicle.

A spokesman for San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi, said she had contacted immigration officials on behalf of the couple and “will be working to exhaust all appropriate immigration remedies that are open to pursue.”

Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle here.