United States v. Ferryman

This appeal concerns the fate of a young alien widow who seeks to remain in the United States notwithstanding that her citizen husband, to whom she was married for only a short time, tragically died in a car accident and, according to the government, thereby "stripped" her of her status as his "spouse." Complicating the widows appeal is the fact that although she (along with her citizen spouse) had petitioned to adjust her status to that of lawful permanent resident, she entered the United States under the terms of a special visa waiver program that limited her to a 90-day visitors stay in this country and required her to waive her rights to contest the governments decision to remove her. She now asks us, not to grant her lawful permanent resident status - something we cannot do - but rather, to determine whether she remains a "spouse" who can qualify for such status.