The Salvadoran woman’s husband was denied entry into the United States by federal officials, partly due to the interpretation of his tattoos, and she claimed that this violated her rights. On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected her claim.
The primary reason Luis Asencio-Cordero cannot enter the United States is because of his tattoos, which were deemed to be associated with gang activity.
“They had concluded he was a gang member based on the tattoos,” Asencio-Cordero’s wife, Sandra Muñoz, a civil rights attorney, said. It has been over ten years since she was able to live with her spouse.
The pair were married in 2010 and then began the process of obtaining an immigration visa. To finish the procedure, Asencio-Cordero—who had been residing in the country illegally—had to fly to the consulate in San Salvador.
However, the consulate officer there rejected his application, citing a statute that forbade admission for anyone who may engage in illegal conduct.
The State Department declined to provide a more detailed explanation, but following the filing of a lawsuit, they discovered that the denial was partly predicated on a consular officer’s conclusion that the man’s tattoos probably indicated he was a member of the MS-13 gang.
Muñoz filed a lawsuit, claiming her right to marriage was infringed. She maintained that her spouse had never been a criminal or a member of a gang.
Rather, his lawyers claimed in court documents that the tattoos—which included images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, theatrical masks, and a portrait of scientist Sigmund Freud—expressed his academic pursuits and Catholic devotion.
The couple lost their case, 6-3, in the Supreme Court.
“The court’s ruling that there is no right to live with your spouse attendant to the right to marriage is an extraordinarily dangerous and unprecedented ruling,” Muñoz’s attorney Eric Lee stated.
An appeals court made a decision in Asencio-Cordero’s favor back in October. However, the Biden administration then filed a challenge, claiming that the couple had the option of relocating abroad.
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“The Biden’s administration’s decision to appeal this case after Ms. Muñoz and her husband won at the 9th Circuit is a slap in the face to every single immigrant and every single person who is in a mixed-status family,” Lee stated.
President Joe Biden just this week declared the creation of an executive order to safeguard foreign spouses of citizens of the United States who have been residents for ten years or more. In Muñoz’s instance, it wouldn’t apply.
According to Muñoz’s attorney, the administration’s intervention is the only hope at this point.
