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LAVI SOLOWAY
Cristina Ojeda, 25, and Monica Alcota, 36, no longer face the fear of being separated by deportation.
An Argentine immigrant who lives in Queens with her U.S.-born wife is no longer facing the threat of deportation.
Monica Alcota and Cristina Ojeda, who legally married in 2010 in Connecticut, received word this week that the U.S. government dropped its deportation case after a long legal battle to get Alcota recognized as the spouse of a U.S. citizen.
When the couple heard that the case was dismissed, it marked the end of a years-long struggle that began for them in 2009. That was the year Alcota was pulled off a Greyhound bus bound for Buffalo after she could not present identification to Border Patrol officers. She was held in a detention center for the next three months.
"These have been the most horrible and stressful years of our lives and we are so happy that we can live peacefully without that burden and the fear that we may be torn apart," Ojeda told Metro.
Alcota is still fighting for a green card.
Ojeda said they will remain outspoken activists against the Defense of Marriage Act, a controversial federal law that can prevent giving a spouse in a same-sex marriage the same protections as one in straight marriage.
Monica Alcota and Cristina Ojeda, who legally married in 2010 in Connecticut, received word this week that the U.S. government dropped its deportation case after a long legal battle to get Alcota recognized as the spouse of a U.S. citizen.
When the couple heard that the case was dismissed, it marked the end of a years-long struggle that began for them in 2009. That was the year Alcota was pulled off a Greyhound bus bound for Buffalo after she could not present identification to Border Patrol officers. She was held in a detention center for the next three months.
"These have been the most horrible and stressful years of our lives and we are so happy that we can live peacefully without that burden and the fear that we may be torn apart," Ojeda told Metro.
Alcota is still fighting for a green card.
Ojeda said they will remain outspoken activists against the Defense of Marriage Act, a controversial federal law that can prevent giving a spouse in a same-sex marriage the same protections as one in straight marriage.
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