This video was made for presentation at a Candlelight Vigil
Haverhill, Massachusetts
August 12, 2008

Created and Edited by Genesio Oliveira
©2008 Genesio J. Oliveira, Jr. All rights reserved.
---------------------------------------
The haverhill Gazette:

'I just want Junior to be able to come home'
By Joni Quinn
Staff Writer

Family and friends gathered at the home of Tim Coco and Genesio "Junior" Oliveira Jr. on Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil marking the one-year anniversary of the couple's involuntary separation.

Candles, one for each day they have been apart, glowed outside their home.

"Junior came here in 2002 on a tourist visa and, as they say, the rest is history," Coco told the gathering.

The couple met in Boston six years ago when Oliveira was visiting from Brazil. A long-distance romance began, and Oliveira returned to the United States. They were married in 2005, after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violated the state constitution.

But their marriage is not recognized by the federal government for immigration purposes, Coco said, leading the couple on a yearslong journey to get permission for Oliveira to immigrate here legally.

Coco said the couple have always believed in following and honoring the law. They started the process with immigration to keep Junior in the country in October 2002. After meeting with lawyers, the couple decided to seek political asylum for Oliveira.

"The State Department lists Brazil as one of the worst human rights offenders in the way they treat homosexuals. The government is very progressive, but the people of Brazil are not," Coco said.

Immigration officials denied the request for asylum. After the ruling was issued in 2006, the couple immediately appealed, Coco said.

In the meantime, in 2005, they married and made their home in Haverhill.

But they were forcibly separated in August 2007 when the Board of Immigration ruled against their appeal.

"They said he had to leave, calling it voluntary departure but if he didn't leave, they would have put him in jail," Coco said.

The couple have petitioned Department of Homeland Security. In March, the couple filed an "I-130 Petition for an Alien Relative," the same mechanism heterosexual couples use to gain recognition for immigrant spouses.

However, the couple expects that request to be denied based on the Defense of Marriage Act, a 12-year-old law that prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

The couple will wait for formal denial before challenging the portion of DOMA that prevents federal recognition of their marriage, bringing the case before the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

"We are legally married so we have standing. There have been cases before us where the couple was not married so neither had standing. However, we are, so we can claim we were deprived of a federal benefit," Coco said.

If the court rules against the couple, they plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

However, the couple are still looking for an administrative solution.

"Bottom line, there are so many illegals here and we did the right thing. It's a matter of compassion," Coco said.

U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey has the authority to overturn the Immigration Board of Appeals decision, Coco said. The couple hopes that will happen.

"My goal was not to be an activist and a hero for everyone else, even though they'd all like me to be. I just want Junior to be able to come home. This is a government-sponsored hate crime," Coco said.

For more informations:
www.reunitethisfamily.com