My Blog

October 24, 2013 /LGBT News/ Ivo Widlak, who since moving to Chicago from his native Poland in 2001 has become a highly popular local media personality, is in a battle to not be deported, wishing to stay in Chicago with his wife of 11 years. Being legally married to a U.S. citizen, Ivo Widlak’s wife has been seeking citizenship for her husband. Unfortunately, due to controversial reasons, the U.S. Government is instead seeking to deport Widlak, claiming he cannot be legalized and his work permit is expired. 

A media star in Poland since 1992, Ivo Widlak was a journalist, a writer, a blogger, a TV host, a producer, a publicist, and an event emcee there. While he was college educated in Gliwice and Warsaw, Poland, he wanted to learn even more. He chose to get that additional education by attempting to get an internship or job with Oprah Winfrey at Chicago’s Harpo Studios. Widlak’s hope was that by working with a media giant like Winfrey, he could then return to Poland to apply those lessons to his own media career there. In 2001, Widlak left Poland and moved to Chicago to try and achieve that dream. 

He did arrive in Chicago as planned, but did not end up at Harpo Studios. Instead, he started working as a foreign correspondent and journalist for a Polish website. He also did some work as a publicist locally and a few other jobs. 

Another unexpected turn of events happened to Widlak after arriving in Chicago in 2001. He met a woman named Laura Zabedra, or “Lale” as he affectionately calls her, and fell deeply in love. The two were wed in September 2002.

Since then, Widlak’s star continued to rise in Chicago. He has created and hosted many local television shows, became a local news anchor, was a TV Executive Producer, been a special assignments reporter for local newspapers, hosted events, and did a great deal of work, much of which was targeted toward helping Chicago’s Polish community. Ivo Widlak also founded the Polish Cultural Institute in Chicago, a not-for-profit organization established to promote a positive image of Polish people.

In 2002, Lale Widlak filed forms on behalf of her husband so that he could obtain a permanent resident card — a green card to legally stay and work in the U.S. The story should happily end here, with no problems attached to it. Unfortunately, that is not the case…

After a very long wait for the card to arrive, Widlak was told that his paperwork was “lost.” After years of trying to get the situation rectified, Ivo Widlak and his wife were asked to come to the Immigration Service in December 2009. The couple were split into different interrogation rooms and grilled for many minutes each. The Immigration Service was claiming that Widlak’s marriage was nothing more than a sham to gain citizenship illegally. Despite little more than circumstantial evidence to support this, the Immigration Service began the deportation process.

This situation gets even more complicated from there.

Ivo Widlak is openly bisexual. His wife is also openly bisexual. However, by all accounts, Ivo and Lale are very much a couple, very much in love with each other, and very much married. It is possible that bigotry or discrimination toward Ivo Widlak’s bisexuality is playing a role in the government’s refusal to allow citizenship. 

That may just be a cover for something possibly more shady going on…

Earlier in 2009, Ivo Widlak uncovered corruption taking place during the renovation of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland building in Chicago. He published an in-depth article about his findings, which resonated not only to its Chicago readers, but also with Polish authorities. The Republic of Poland’s Supreme Audit Office looked into what was happening at the Consulate General building in Chicago and found that Widlak’s report about corruption was true. Many serious violations with the Polish taxpayers’ money was found to be taking place. 

It was soon after that expose was published that a local attorney with ties to the Consulate contacted Immigration Services about Widlak, alleging that Widlak was not bisexual and not even truly married. The attorney claimed that Widlak as gay and that his marriage was phony. That was what initiated the December 2009 interrogation of the Widlaks and Ivo Widlak’s current deportation situation. 

Widlak fears that his current situation has more to do with his public exposing of corruption and less to do with his sexuality. It seems to Widlak and others that he has been targeted by some “connected” individuals who are using their influence to have Widlak’s paperwork “lost,” his legal marriage declared fake, and force him to be deported.

Be it though corruption, discrimination, outdated views on marriage, or disturbing flaws in our immigration system, Ivo Widlak is certainly in a difficult situation right now. His deportation decision could come as soon as December 12th.

In an interview with the Polish newspaper Super Express last winter, Lale Widlak said: “Words cannot express how I feel about this case. The fact that I will lose my best friend and husband after 10 years of marriage. A bond we created with God, is being judged and scrutinized because we don’t reflect the 1950’s image of marriage. You can’t tell me that our marriage is not consummated because we are bisexual.”

Lale Widlak long ago refilled the “lost” green card paperwork. However, the Immigration Service has yet to schedule an interview with the Widlaks or acknowledge the forms after many months or requests by the couple.

Ivo Widlak is currently being represented by immigration attorney Ira Azulay. In an article in “White Eagle News” – the biggest Polish-language news paper in the U.S. – late last year, Azulay said: “The first step is to convince the Immigration Service that he and his wife are a genuine, loving married couple. If this happens, Ivo qualifies for a Green Card.”

“Ivo and his wife Lale are victims of the immigration system. They are a married couple and have been living together for over 10 years and they are still trying to take advantage of the rights that they entitled to,” added Azulay. “Some may think that this case is related to the sexual orientation of Ivo and Lale. But this is absolutely not so! In my opinion this is an outdated way of thinking. We continue to be forced to struggle against a rather Victorian approach to unions between sexual minorities, yet we believe that this case must be based upon evidence, like any other case, to prove the authenticity of this relationship. We very frequently tell our clients that when two different nationalities, languages, races, religions or social classes become involved they should expect a higher than usual level of control and existence under the microscope of the Immigration Service. Too many people too often struggle as a result of documents lost by Immigration and too many people too often give up as a result. This is very unfair!”

The website Change.org recently set up an online petition. The goal of the petition is to bring this case directly to the attention of Alejandro Mayorkas, the Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, as well as for an immediate and fair review of the case, with the hopes of having Lale Widlak’s legal request finally approved, allowing Ivo Widlak to become a lawful, permanent resident of the United States.

Those who wish to sign the petition may do so at this link HERE. Even more information about this highly unusual case can be found there, as well.

On September 17th, Ivo and Lale Widlak celebrated their 11th anniversary. They hope to be able to celebrate their 12th anniversary together in Chicago next year, although that is by no means a certainty — at least not right now.

Source: Larz Crm / Chicagoland Radio and Media 

More info about Ivo Widlak:

Wikipedia: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivo_Widlak

Official website: www.IvoWidlak.com