U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.
        Here's how you know
      Here's how you know**Official websites use .gov**
            
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
      **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            
            A **lock** (
            A locked padlock
            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Menu

      
        close

            
            
                                              About NIJ
        
                    
  
          About NIJ
      
    
          The NIJ Director
          How NIJ Is Organized
          Mission and Guiding Principles
          Research and Development Process
          Strategic Framework
          Assessments of NIJ
          Annual Reports & Reports to Congress
          Staff Directory
          Funding & Awards
        
                    
  
          Funding & Awards
      
    
          Current Funding
          Forthcoming Funding
          Expired Funding
          Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
          Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
          Fellowship & Student Programs
          Travel Scholarships
          NIJ Challenge Program
          Library & Multimedia
        
                    
  
          Library & Multimedia
      
    
          NIJ Journal
          Podcasts
          Publications Listing
          Multimedia Listing
          Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
          Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
          Software & Databases
          Datasets
          Patents
          Topics
        
                    
  
          Topics
      
    
          Article Listing
          Corrections
          Courts
          Crime Prevention
          Crimes
          Drugs and Crime
          Equipment and Technology
          Forensic Sciences
          Youth Justice
          Justice System Reform
          Law Enforcement
          Tribal Crime and Justice
          Victims of Crime
          Events
        
                    
  
          Events
      
    
          NIJ 2024 Research Conference
          Scheduled Events
          On-Demand Events
          Research Meetings & Workshops
          NIJ-Hosted Online Training

                            
                                About
          Contact Us
          Subscribe
          Topics A-Z
                  Share
FacebookXLinkedInRedditPinterestEmail Home
                            Funding & Awards
 Queering the American Family: Same-Sex Couples and the Marriage Green Card Process
Award Information
Awardee
              CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Award #
              2020-R2-CX-0018
Funding Category
              Competitive Discretionary
Location
                    ITHACA, NY
Congressional District
              19
Status
              Open
Funding First Awarded
              2020
Total funding (to date)
              $150,000
Original Solicitation
              Graduate Research Fellowship, Fiscal Year 2020
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2020, $150,000)
The proposed dissertation is a qualitative study of same-sex couples undergoing the marriage green card process in the U.S. - specifically regarding the evaluative process for married couples, immigration lawyers, and immigration officers, and how couples navigate the process so their marriage is deemed legitimate. Marriages are seen as subjective and therefore expected to be proven for and judged by immigration officials using family norms (e.g., children born). The goal is to understand how immigration enforcement officials evaluate the legitimacy of same-sex marriages, and how couples and their lawyers adjust aspects of family behavior in anticipation of evaluative criteria used to determine the petitions lawful nature. The student will employ qualitative research methods to explore how these groups modify their practices in differentiating legitimate same-sex marriages from fraudulent ones. Research questions address: how same-sex couples make their marriage legible to a heteronormative bureaucratic system, how immigration lawyers influence same-sex couples family behaviors (given immigration bureaucracys evaluation criteria), and how immigration officers assess whether same-sex marriages are legitimate or fraudulent (given expectations regarding family norms). The student will interview same-sex couples who are going (or recently went) through the marriage green card process, lawyers who serve as brokers in the immigration adjudication process and construct the couples narrative through documentation, and immigration officers who exercise critical discretion in this process. The protocol involves working with the New York Immigration Coalition and other organizations to recruit subjects using snowball sampling, purposefully on the immigrant spouses nation for racial/ethnic diversity and stratified by gender. Pending signed consent for audio recording, the student will conduct 90- to 120-minute interviews with 25 couples in person or via online videoconferencing for $50 Amazon.com gift cards. Interview topics include marital behavior, legal procedures, and immigration history. They will also recruit, with immigration services provider support, 10 immigration lawyers and 10 immigration officers about same-sex couple assessment criteria. Also, the student will examine federal archive documents (institutional procedures, training guides, and assessment rubric) for information on how immigration policy is implemented at the bureaucratic level, focusing on immigration officer guidance on how to evaluate same-sex couples. Plans entail a bottom-up analysis of interview transcripts using flexible coding to move from case-level codes to analytic codes to data-driven theory, and NVivo software to analyze archival documents. Expected products include a dissertation, peer-reviewed publications, academic and practitioner conference presentations, and a presentation to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law, and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR  200.210(a)(14).  CA/NCF

  
Date Created: September 18, 2020
    
          Side navigation
  

        

  
  
              Current Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Forthcoming Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Expired Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
    
      
            
            
            
      Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
    
      
            
            
            
      Fellowship & Student Programs
    
      
            
            
            
      Travel Scholarships
    
      
            
            
            
      NIJ Challenge ProgramSimilar Awards
        
                      A Statewide Mixed-methods Evaluation of Pennsylvania’s 8th Edition Sentencing Guidelines and their Impacts on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing Outcomes
                  911, What's Your Emergency?: Factors Impacting Call Coding
                  Evaluation of a Healing-Centered Community-Wide Approach to Addressing Firearm Violence in New Orleans
 Top

      National Institute of Justice

        
        
                        About NIJ
                    About NIJ
      
    
                  How NIJ Is Organized
      
    
                  NIJ Director
      
    
                  Research Disclaimer
      
    
                  Funding & Awards
                    Funding & Awards Home
      
    
                  Awards Listing
      
    
                  Current Funding
      
    
                  Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
      
    
                  Resources
                    Events
      
    
                  Podcasts
      
    
                  Publications
      
    
                  Topics
      
    
                  Multimedia
      
    
                  Reuse Policy
      
    
                  Contacts
                    Contact NIJ
      
    
                  Staff Directory
      
    
                  Submit a FOIA Request
      
    
                  File a Civil Rights ComplaintFacebook
          
                      X
          
                      YouTube
  

      810 7th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20531
      
              Secondary Footer link menu
            Accessibility
              Plain Language
              Privacy Policy
              Legal Policies and Disclaimer
              No FEAR Act
              Freedom of Information Act
              USA.gov
              Justice.gov