After Hate Murder, Widow Battles Deportation
![GW20170131854[10]](https://immigrationprof.lawprofessorsblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/982/migrated/6a00d8341bfae553ef01bb09c69a5a970d-800wi "GW20170131854[10]")
Photo of Sunayana Dumala courtesy of Wired
The hate murder of Indian avionics engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas City earlier this year shocked many people. His killing is affecting his widow’s ability to remain in the United States.
Even in her grief, Sunayana Dumala realized that her husband’s death would put her immigration status in jeopardy. “The same night I lost Srinivas, I knew,” Dumala said in a call from Kansas this week, where she has since returned to work as a database developer. Though the couple had already been waiting for permanent residency for seven years, she was dependent on her husband’s H-1B visa to stay in the United States.
Dumala flew to her native Hyderabad for her husband’s last rites. After the services, she began a process of bureaucratic wrangling to be able to return home to the US, where she had lived since 2007. Luckily, she was assisted by immigration attorneys from her workplace, Intouch Solutions, and her husband’s company, Garmin. Rep. Kevin Yoder, the Republican congressman from Dumala’s area of suburban Kansas, advocated for her case with immigration and customs officials, as well. Dumala applied for two different visas: an H-1B sponsored by her company and a U visa, which is reserved for victims of crime. She finally returned home to Kansas this spring on a temporary fix known as “humanitarian parole,” used in emergency situations to allow entry to someone is otherwise inadmissible. She’s on a 12-month work authorization while she waits for her visa to be approved.
But it’s likely Dumala’s immigration saga has just begun. Even if she receives one of those visas, she’ll be shunted to the back of the decades-long line of Indian tech workers waiting for a green card. Stay tuned.
KJ