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U.S. NEWS Friday 13 September 2019

Gay married couple sues after

daughter denied U.S. citizenship

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Roee Kiviti, 41, said he and head,” he added.
Associated Press his husband felt their pri- The couple is represented
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) vacy was invaded when by attorneys from two New
— A gay married couple a consular officer asked York-based legal advo-
in Maryland sued Thursday them questions about how cacy groups, Immigration
to challenge the State De- their daughter was con- Equality and Lambda Le-
partment’s refusal to rec- ceived and born. gal Defense and Educa-
ognize the U.S. citizenship “We are the only parents tion Fund Inc., as well as
of their infant daughter, she has ever known. To the law firm Morgan Lewis
who was born in Canada have that questioned by & Bockius. Their case was
via a surrogate this year. your own government is assigned to U.S. District This undated photo provided by Immigration Equality shows
The federal lawsuit says very unsettling, to say the Judge Theodore Chuang Roee, left, and Adiel Kiviti, right, with their children newborn,
Kessem and older brother Lev.
a State Department pol- least,” he said during a tele- in Greenbelt, Maryland.q Associated Press
icy discriminates against phone interview Thursday.
same-sex married couples The State Department de-
and unlawfully treats their termined that Kessem Kiviti
children as if they were isn’t a U.S. citizen because
born out of wedlock. Adiel, the only parent with
An attorney for the plain- a biological connection
tiffs, Roee Kiviti and Adiel to her, hadn’t lived in the
Kiviti, said their suit is at U.S. long enough to meet a
least the fourth such case five-year residency require-
to challenge the policy. ment under a provision of
In February, a federal judge the Immigration and Natu-
in California ruled that a ralization Act, according
son of a gay married cou- to the couple’s lawsuit. But
ple has been a U.S. citizen the five-year requirement is
since his birth. The State De- not meant to be applied to
partment is appealing that the children of married U.S.
decision. Two other federal citizens, the couple’s law-
cases are pending in Wash- yers maintain.
ington, D.C., and Georgia. Adiel moved to the U.S. in
The State Department May 2015 and became a
didn’t immediately re- U.S. citizen in January 2019.
spond to an email seeking Roee has lived in the U.S.
comment on the latest suit, since 1982 and became
which names Secretary of a U.S. citizen in 2001. They
State Mike Pompeo as the married in California in 2013
lone defendant. and live with their daugh-
Roee and Adiel Kiviti are ter and 2-year-old son in
naturalized U.S. citizens Chevy Chase, Maryland.
who were born in Israel. “State Department policy
Their daughter, Kessem, unlawfully denies that the
was born via gestation- Kiviti family is a family at
al surrogacy in Canada all,” the suit says.
in February using Adiel’s The lawsuit asks the court to
sperm and a donated egg. rule that Kessem Kiviti has
been a U.S. citizen since
her birth and seeks an or-
der for the State Depart-
ment to immediately issue
her a passport.
Adiel Kiviti, 40, said the legal
challenge consumes pre-
cious time that he and his
husband could be spend-
ing with their children.
“You don’t want to have
these clouds above your