Judge Gives Immigrant in Same-Sex Marriage a Reprieve From Deportation

The Venezuelan, Henry Velandia, had been awaiting the hearing with dread, since immigration authorities had said it was the last step before his deportation. Mr. Velandia, a dancer, was legally married last year in Connecticut to Josh Vandiver, a graduate student at Princeton. Mr. Velandia was denied legal residency as Mr. Vandiver’s spouse because under a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act, immigration authorities do not recognize same-sex marriage.

On Thursday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. intervened in a different immigration case involving a same-sex couple, suspending the deportation of a man from Ireland and sending his case back to the immigration appeals court, asking it to consider several possible grounds on which the Irishman might qualify for legal residency.

Citing the move by the attorney general, Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl of immigration court in Newark postponed Mr. Velandia’s deportation until December at the earliest. The judge said he wanted to allow time for the attorney general and the appeals court to work out whether a gay partner might be eligible under some circumstances for residency.

Gay rights advocates said the back-to-back developments were an important sign that the Obama administration was working to bring consistency to its policy on same-sex marriage. The administration determined in February that the Defense of Marriage Act discriminates unconstitutionally against gay people.

Mr. Holder said then that the administration would no longer defend the act, also known as DOMA, in the courts, but would continue to enforce it until the courts reached a decision on whether it was constitutional.

Rachel B. Tiven, the executive director of Immigration Equality, a legal group that advocates for gay immigrants, said the change of course in the two cases had sent “a signal of openness” from the administration.

“Something is shifting and opening, and change is on the horizon,” Ms. Tiven said.

Supporters of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage for the purposes of federal law as between a man and a woman, reacted strongly to Mr. Holder’s action.

Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, the Republican who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the attorney general had “instructed an immigration court to ignore DOMA in future rulings.”

Mr. Smith said the administration was “coming dangerously close to giving the impression they don’t care what the law says.”

In Newark, Mr. Velandia and Mr. Vandiver were mainly relieved that they had avoided separation. “We know this is just a reprieve,” Mr. Vandiver said. “But every day we can have together is invaluable.”

Mr. Velandia, 27, is a salsa dancer who came to the United States in 2002 and failed in his effort to gain an employment visa. He has become a poster case for gay immigrants across the country, as he and Mr. Vandiver, 29, gathered thousands of signatures on an online petition asking Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, to suspend deportations for all same-sex spouses.

Before the hearing, dozens of gay protesters demonstrated on the sidewalk in front of the federal building in Newark where the immigration court is housed.

Judge Riefkohl noted in the hearing that Mr. Velandia and Mr. Vandiver were a married couple, and he said he wanted to wait for the outcome of the immigration appeals court’s reconsideration of the case of the Irish immigrant.

“We won the victory we were looking for,” said Lavi Soloway, the lawyer for Mr. Velandia and Mr. Vandiver. “The government acknowledged that Henry’s removal was no longer a foregone conclusion.”

The Irishman, Paul Wilson Dorman, came to the United States in 1996 and stayed beyond the term of his visa. But in a potentially important wrinkle, Mr. Dorman joined with an American citizen in June 2009 in a civil union — not a marriage — in New Jersey. That state does not offer same-sex marriage.

His lawyer, Nicholas J. Mundy, said the courts had denied his partner’s petition for a permanent resident visa for Mr. Dorman. But Mr. Holder asked the immigration appeals court to re-examine the case to determine whether Mr. Dorman might qualify for the visa by virtue of his civil union.

Mr. Mundy said he was optimistic about the significance for gay immigrants of Mr. Holder’s action. “It is an extraordinary measure,” he said, “and it sends a clear message that the Obama administration intends to do away with DOMA in its entirety.”

Ms. Tiven, of Immigration Equality, was more cautious. “This is not yet the solution that thousands of families clearly need,” she said.

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Harvard Gives Christie’s Education Plans a Warm Welcome

 

Speaking to almost 200 students and staff members at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the New Jersey governor drew rounds of applause with his talk of sharply limiting teacher tenure, rigorously evaluating teachers and administrators, curbing the power of teachers’ unions and pledging to appoint more-conservative justices to the State Supreme Court.

Mr. Christie’s first ovation came when he said, “The reason I’m engaging in this battle with the teachers’ union is because it’s the only fight worth having.”

The ground he covered would be familiar to anyone who has watched the town hall-style forums in New Jersey that have made Mr. Christie a YouTube star. There, at least a few detractors usually show up to question him, and his policies and pugnacious statements can make even some supporters uncomfortable.

But here, during Mr. Christie’s 40-minute opening talk and a question-and-answer session of the same length, the response was less equivocal.

“I came away very encouraged, and I admire him for saying things that might be unpopular,” said Matt Shiraki, 26, a graduate student at the Kennedy School of Government.

The closest thing to a hostile question Mr. Christie faced came after he embraced the title bestowed on him recently by The New York Times Magazine: The Disrupter. Jenny Hanson, a graduate student in education, told him that she liked his ideas, but added, “I think using language like ‘disrupter’ and ‘battle’ and ‘fight’ could prevent buy-in.”

Mr. Christie, uncharacteristically, said he often thought about — and “struggled a lot” with — the notion that he is too combative, his language too harsh.

But he said he would not change his tone until the teachers’ union, the New Jersey Education Association, agreed that schools are in crisis and showed more willingness to make major changes.

“I have to convince the public that the house is on fire,” he said.

The friendly response here could reflect concerns about the state of American schools among those who study and may some day run them. It parallels opinion poll findings that Mr. Christie is more popular around the country than he is back home. And, of course, the audience was a self-selected one, turning out for a visiting Republican governor best known for videos in which he publicly berates people.

Still, many of those applauding him described themselves in interviews afterward as politically liberal. Any objections they raised tended to be technical rather than philosophical — like how, not whether, to evaluate teachers.

The tone of the session was polite and subdued, and the questions alternately supportive and wonkish. More than usual, Mr. Christie stayed away from incendiary language, though toward the end he loosened up and opened fire on the teachers’ union (“a political thuggery operation”).

He broke some new ground in saying that he planned to change New Jersey’s system of elected local school boards, though he did not say how. The teachers’ union is a powerful force in electing board members, and it is those boards that have approved contracts with the benefits and job protections the governor reviles.

“They’ll be the next step,” he said. “Even for me there’s just so much you can swallow at one time.”

Mr. Christie said that when he told his young son, Patrick, that he was traveling to Harvard, the boy replied, “You don’t go there, do you?”

A graduate of the University of Delaware and the Seton Hall University School of Law, the governor quipped that it had taken him 30 years to get here. But he also reflected on the stature of Harvard and the influence the audience would have.

“You are among the leaders of our educational future,” he said, “and if you’re not disrupted yet, I’m going to disrupt you now.”

 

Smithsonian's Spark!Lab gives big ups to robots

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
Smithsonian Adds to Robotics Collection and Invites Public to National Robotics Week Activities in Spark!Lab

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History today accepted donations relating to the development of autonomous mobile robots in the United States and its Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation unveiled National Robotics Week activities taking place in Spark!Lab, the center's hands-on invention space in the museum, April 9 through April 16.

Sandia National Laboratories donated objects such as its first minirobot, the Miniature Autonomous Robotic Vehicle. About 1 cubic inch in size, MARV is one of the first miniature robots developed in the United States. Other acquisitions from Sandia include descendants of MARV-including one named the 2001 robotics invention of the year by Time magazine-hopping robots and "Dixie," one of the earliest battlefield scout robots.

Velodyne donated an improved laser vision system that was invented for use in robot vehicle races held by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, including the 2005 Grand Challenge and the 2007 Urban Challenge. The laser vision system allows terrain mapping in three dimensions. Also included in the acquisition is a competition robot developed in 2000.

"Technological advancement has always been a strong theme running through American history," said Brent D. Glass, director of the museum. "The donations made today not only reflect the historical record of robotic development, but offer a glimpse of-and inspiration for-the future."

These donations join objects already in the museum's permanent robotics collection, such as "Stanley," a modified blue Volkswagen Touareg that won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.

The Lemelson Center is participating in National Robotics Week-an initiative of the Congressional Robotics Caucus that aims to educate the public about how robotics technology affects society, past, present and future-for the second year. Featured in Spark!Lab through May is Robbie, an Autonomous Robotic Manipulator (ARM) from DARPA. Robbie is designed as a tool for researchers at leading U.S. universities and research labs to find ways to enhance the types of tasks robots can perform while minimizing the amount of human input necessary. While in Spark!Lab, Robbie will play games, such as a memory game similar to Simon, with visitors and facilitate discussions about how robots process information.

"Spark!Lab has always been a place for our young visitors to ignite their imaginations and creativity," said Arthur Molella, director of the center. "The activities offered for National Robotics Week are an exciting new way to pique their interest in science, technology, engineering and math."

Other robotics activities in Spark!Lab April 9 through April 16 allow visitors to invent a robot arm, take an Invention Challenge to earn a special Spark!Lab patent, build and test-drive remote-controlled (teleoperated) robots and experiment with the electronics that comprise robots. Spark!Lab will also feature Survivor Buddy, an innovative search-and-rescue robot operated by engineering students from Texas A&M and Stanford Universities; an ornithopter robot that flies by flapping its wings designed and built by students from the University of Maryland Robotics Center; and ELECTRO, Spark!Lab's autonomous robot dog.

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