Mail Order Bride

A Boom to Immigration Fraud

2006-03-28T18:52:00.000-08:00

A rising but seldom heard segment of Immigration Fraud known as Green Card Scammer was given a “Green light Go Ahead” in America March 6, 2006.

Know by USCIS Immigration experts to exist in 8% of all K-1 and K-3 visa petitions little or no attention was granted to this rising problem as new laws “Aiding and Abetting” these types of fraud were signed into law. What is more, provisions of existing laws then make it easier for persons committing fraud to receive United States Citizenship at an accelerated rate, and even receive State financial aid while waiting processing of their Self Petition. Nothing short of rewarding the Bank Robber with a bank of their own.

Proponents of the International Marriage Broker Act of 2005 purposefully overlooked INS statistics revealing 8% of all K-1 and K-3 visa applicants enter into these relationships and marriages for fraudulent reasons. The diplomatic staff at U.S. Embassies positioned through out the world has conducted intensive interviews for decades attempting to attest to the true nature of the visa beneficiary. By U.S. Immigration law, the visa beneficiary is even required to submit a letter of Intent, stating once granted entry into the United States they intend to marry the petitioner.

It is quite simple, some people are willing to lie to get into the Promised Land, (America). I was alarmed to find out how easy it was to find on the internet the “going price” offered by foreign criminals to American Citizens to facilitate phony marriages with foreign women that wish to gain access to America. Korea - $3000.00, Cuba - $10,000.00, Federated Soviet Union - $25,000.00, and the list goes on. Quite simply deceiving an unsuspecting American Citizen looking for a life mate through marriage fraud is considerably cheaper. In fact it can be down right profitable.

A problem exists in identifying and then deporting persons who perpetuate immigration fraud in this fashion. Cases have been found where the American Citizen have used key logging software on the home PC and telephone records to illustrate the Green Card Scammer’s intent to bring over their ex spouse once they obtained a green card. Others don’t wait that long and leave the unsuspecting American fiancées with in days of their arrival here in the United States. What complicates matters more, female perpetrators of immigration fraud are highly familiar with U.S. Domestic violence laws and understand a false claim of abuse not only insures free legal assistance but also invokes new federal laws prohibiting their removal from the United States

Once the false allegations are made by persons committing immigration fraud, local police departments are mandated by law to file reports even if no physical evidence of abuse is present. Immigration laws only rely on the filling of the report not the outcome of any legal proceedings generated by the reported abuse. Immigration laws have been modified recently that also prohibit the American Citizen from even attending any proceedings, or even from submitting evidence that proves the immigration fraud.

Citing an array of cooked statistics the authors and proponents of the International Marriage Broker Act of 2005 attempted to portray an abuse rate of “over 50%”. Further examination of the facts revealed it was a telephone survey of 175 agencies dedicated towards providing Spousal Abuse services where over 50% have offered services to foreign women who entered the United States through a K-1 or K-3 visa.

“Tahirih Justice Center which represents several abused brides. A survey by the group found that 50 percent of 175 U.S. legal-aid groups had been approached by abused mail-order brides”
http://movingoutmovingon.bloghi.com/2005/11

Given the rate of over 4000 marriages per year since the early 90s, the reality is this translates into a rate of 0.22% or 154 times less likely then the average American woman to be abused. Given the number of persons perpetrating immigration fraud each year, claiming abuse that number should have been higher. What is not revealed in their report is that during that same period of time over 4000 persons have engaged in defrauding the American government and unsuspecting US citizens.

Proponents of the new laws readily claim the “abuse victims” come from poor, economically depressed economies. What they don’t wish to acknowledge is that desperate people can take drastic measures and immigration fraud is one of them.

Balikatan Brides

2006-03-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

Surrounded by her family, her many sister’s families, her brother’s families, all 35 of them, she awaits half impatiently, half hesitantly for the man that would soon be her husband. Waving frantically from the causeway erected 10 meters above the main floor of the Cebu International airport, her niece nips at her ”asa na imong kano” (where is your American).

Fidgeting for an answer as she turns to answer she is interrupted by the voice she recognizes from the many hours of internet chat and international phone calls “Cindy”. She turns to find his open arms and warm smile. As promised she wraps her arms around him and embraces him warmly. She fains from allowing him to kiss her on the lips as he wanted and settles for returning his kiss on her cheek.

This reunion of hearts is played out 1000s of times each year in train stations, ferry terminals and air ports all across the Philippines as the many cyber suitors are joined together with the women they love.

The advent of the internet has resulted in love stories such as these being played out world over. Traditional boundaries and even racial stigma is broken down by these countless hearts seeking happiness.

International relationships or “Long Distance Relationships” as they are frequently called brings with them as many concerns as there are benefits. As anonymous as the internet may be the mitigating factor is the distance. There are few if any American men willing to jump on an airplane tomorrow for any Filipina they have just met on the internet. Nor would there be any Filipinas willing to meet them if they did.

The magic and the blessing of Long Distance Relationships is the time factor. These long distance cross cultural relationships endure a average of 12 months of constant communication prior to culminating in a physical meeting. Some as long as 4 years. All of which leaves the couple begging for 1 thing.

Intimacy
1 : the state of being intimate : FAMILIARITY
2 : something of a personal or private nature

Intimacy in its purest form, true intimacy is the joining of two minds, becoming familiar to each other through countless hours of communication, uninterrupted by physical aspects of a relationship. Many a wise man (and wise woman) have said “At the end of the day what are you 2 going to talk about” In the case of the Filipina / American marriage, the answer is plenty, “We established this relationship on communication”

It is no wonder many of these long distance marital unions have success rates far exceeding those achieved through religious organizations. In fact 1 such study conducted in cooperation with the CFO of the Philippines cited the Filipina American marriages of having an 80% success rate. Not even religious organizations such as the Catholic Church can tout a more impressive statistic.

Currently Non-profit Organizations receiving United States Federal funding are attempting to redefine these relationships and marriages as “Abusive” or “Human Trafficking”. Or they attempt to redefine the women as “Mail Order Brides” and the relationships as Prostitution in nature. However misguided their thinking is I feel it significant to point out they are funded by Abuse programs and Human Trafficking Awareness programs. In short they make a descent living finding abuse and human trafficking under every rock and crevice they can accuse.

More importantly these Long Distance/Cross-cultural Relationships serve as a testimony to the value of communication and understanding in marriage. The rest of America might best be served to take notice and follow the example.

Communication and Understanding works – plain and simple.

Big Internet Dating Companies Seeking to Corner the Foreign-Women Dating Market

2006-02-15T00:46:00.000-08:00

International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005 -- Welcomed by Big Internet Dating Companies Seeking to Corner the Foreign-Women Dating Market

Regulation of international marriage brokers creates competitive advantage for big Internet dating companies.

(PRWEB) February 14, 2006 -- The Big Internet Dating Organization (BID) supports the efforts of Internet dating sites in their opposition to criminal background check regulations (see http://www.onlinedatingmagazine.com/news2005/online-dating-regulation.html). However, despite BID's opposition to background checks, BID supports the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005 (IMBRA) as it will enable BID's Member Websites to capture more of the cross-cultural dating market.

Cross-cultural dating is the fastest growing segment of the Internet dating industry. It seems that there is a large and growing segment of American men who desire strong family relationships and believe women from other cultures also have this goal in mind. BID’s Member companies facilitate communication between foreign women and American men, although it is not their primary business. Typically, the women do not pay for membership since many come from impovershed circumstances, and the men join as paying members in order to receive their contact information.

Feminist organizations have been seeking to regulate the cross-cultural segment for years. The first law was from Washington State in January, 2002, (House Bill 2667). The feminist groups that helped write the law were mainly focused on International Matchmaking Organizations (IMO’s) that, in their opinion, advertise women as commodities and perpetuate sexist and racist stereotypes of foreign women. However, the law was too inclusive and would have negatively impacted our Member Websites’ cross-cultural segments. Therefore, BID worked with these groups to develop a more narrowly tailored definition that would only affect the IMO’s.

To further separate the IMO’s from the cross-cultural dating business, they were labeled International Marriage Brokers and the law was taken national as the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act. The hallmark of the law is the requirement that mandatory criminal and marital background checks be performed on each American man and each foreign woman must receive and approve of this information before her email address can be released. This last provision will certainly drive more traffic to BID Member Websites since most men, CRIMINAL OR NOT, will not want to be bothered with all the paperwork and compromise their privacy just to say “hi” to a woman. BID also anticipates that, in addition to the declining customer base, the cost of compliance will drive most marriage brokers out of business.

Sex Trafficking in the Philippines

2006-02-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Trafficking

150,000 Filipina women have been trafficked into prostitution in Japan. (Press Statement, Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, "Open sale of little girls at Tanbaza brothel," Daily Star, 2 July 1998)

150 Filipinas were sold into prostitution to night club operators in African countries, particularly Nigeria. The women were bought for $5,000 each by international syndicates. Four Filipinas were rescued by the Philippine Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria after they sought help from officials. (Bureau of Immigration, Lira S. Dalagin, "150 Pinays sold as sex slaves in Africa," Manila Chronicle, 31 May 1995)
In 1991, Filipinas were being sold in Japan, often to the Yakuza, at $2,400 to $18,000 each. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

In 1996, 492 of 3,776 reported cases of child abuse involved pornography, prostitution, paedophilia and trafficking. There were 8,335 cases of child abuse from 1991-1996, 96% of the victims were females. (Department of Social Welfare and Development, "375,000 Filipino Women & Kids Are Into Prostitution," Philippine Daily Inquirer, 26 July 1997)

Philippine women are vulnerable to trafficking due to the Asian economic crisis. Requests for entertainer visas for Japan did not decline in the first six months of 1998. Travel to Japan increased 21% in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 1997. The label "entertainer" sometimes implies "sex worker." The women are vulnerable in Japan, not because they lack skills, but because they are young, beautiful women in a hazardous or vulnerable occupation. Trafficking laws exists but are not enforced. (Supalak Ganjanakhundee, "Migrant workers booming as Asian economy declines," Kyodo News, 23 September 1998)

Meeting a Foreign women over the internet

2006-02-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

Try to put all of this into perspective. The majority of testimony offered against the Mail Order Bride industry referred to an implied possible interpitation of the descriptions given the women of the Philippines. While I personally advocate against derogatory comments in reference to Philippine women I personally find comments and site description of groups on some of the sites exempted by the IMBA laws more offensive.

A google search for the term Filipina Groups yields the No.1 result for the term which leads to another yet exempted site, Yahoo groups.

The No.2 group filipinaangelheartspenpals is mostly comprised of message titles I can not say here.

My point is simply this. If the TRUE intention of the law was to protect Philippine women then how could they exempt such businesses that offer exploitive materials such as those.

Truth of the matter is this.

The Feminist organisations that pushed the new IMBA laws sold out to the Big Corporate interest of Online Dating and wrote exclusions in the law that allowed them to continue these practices. The small Mom and Pop web based businesses this law will effectively put out of business have a vested interest in outcome of the unions formed by there businesses. These GIANTs of the industry could care less.

The incidence of SEXUAL EXPLOITATION will rise dramtically.

The Feminist here in America have effectively ushered in a new age of oppression and sexual exploitation for women of the Philippines.

How does being married to a foreigner make Filipinas prostitutes?

2006-01-30T17:32:00.000-08:00

Proponents of the International Marriage Broker Act defend their right to equate all Filipina women married to a Foreign Husband are prostitutes.

Comments like these caught my attention on this feminist blog supporting the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005

Here are the things that Daran wrote that make an incredibly strong parallel to prostitution:
In return, money flows back to the Filipino family who are very often in dire poverty. So it’s an economic deal.
An economic deal. A contract in which Filipina woman provides sex and other services in return for monetary compensation. Seems like prostitution to me.

Racial Slurs and Intolerance fueling this important issue concerning the protection of Foreign Women clearly demonstrate the feminist proponenets real sentiment regarding the women they so velemently claim to defend.

What a sad day for women the world over.

To be classified as a prostitute because they care about their family still living in a poor economically depressed country is a TRUE TRAVISTY of JUSTICE

Here is my response to those Feminist that refer to my wife as a prostitute

Racial Slurs directed towards a woman or a woman’s home country objectifies her and attempts to define her as less then human. Of these racially intolerant comments we can define them into several categories.

1. Immigration Fraud, or Visa Scammer, where as the women engages in the services of MOB agency or other internet dating agency currently exempted by current provisions of H.R. 3402 to facilitate immigration to the United States other wise off limits to her by existing immigration laws.
2. Poor, Submissive, and Uneducated Woman, which by no means is reflective of an average sampling of women from the Philippines commonly found on the internet seeking relations with men of both America and other Western countries.
3. Prostitute, entering into an unwritten agreement where by she would sacrifice herself to facilitate sending money to her family back home in the Philippines.

Notably these racially intolerant and biased accusations can commonly be found on the internet, proliferated by the proponents of H.R. 3402, Public Law No. 109-162.

Information quoted from THE "MAIL-ORDER BRIDE" INDUSTRY AND ITS IMPACT ON U.S. IMMIGRATION should aid persons to dispel these common myths and racial slurs against women of the Philippines.

It is interesting to note that, based largely on data provided by the agencies themselves (along with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas report cited above), marriages arranged through these services would appear to have a lower divorce rate than the nation as a whole, fully 80 percent of these marriages having lasted over the years for which reports are available.

Persons committing Immigration Fraud, commonly referred to as a Visa Scammer, have no incentive to remain in the marriage once Permanent Residency, or Citizenship has been granted but yet the statistics clearly demonstrate other wise. So generalizing the women of Philippines in such a manor is statistically incorrect.

Classifying them as Poor, Submissive, and Uneducated Woman implies the ignorance of persons making those statements to the social economic conditions existing in the Philippines today. In fact I personally take offense to such statements in relation to my wife’s own experiences.

Realizing that in an economy where the daily average wages is the equivalent of $4 USD. My wife was able to graduate with a B.S. of Architecture, and eventually operate her own construction engineering company. An Industry most organizations supporting H.R. 3402, Public Law No. 109-162 would profess as 1 dominated by men.

In fact during my first visit to her home country, she received an urgent call to 1 of the projects she designed and was supervising the construction there of, where she was forced to fire an entire crew of construction workers.

Not something I would suspect most women in America would relish the experience of, and speaking from my own experience as man with over 30 years in the industry, a difficult task for a man at best.

Lastly and the most offensive is referring to Philippine women whom choose to marry a foreign citizen as Prostitutes is some thing any women of your stature should advocate a veracious opposition against.

Ignorance of the economically oppressive conditions plaguing the country in general is no excuse in this matter. Better yet perhaps the purveyors of statements indicative to those would like to classify all 600,000 male and female Overseas Foreign Workers, commonly referred to as OFWs by the Philippine Government, leaving each year for foreign countries to seek a better living for their family, as prostitutes both male and female.

The TRUTH of the matter is this.

Many American husbands of women from the Philippines CHOOSE, to send extended family members funds for many significant reasons. Please allow me to outline several occasions I have insisted on sending money to my extended family in the Philippines.

1. My sister in law residing in the Philippines had suffered a stoke and was in need of medical attention. The Philippines do not have laws forcing privately owned hospitals to provide emergency medical attention to persons in dire need of medical attention. They can and do literally die in the lobby awaiting medical attention.

2. My father in law, who due to a work related injury, suffered the amputation of 1 of his legs. Subsequently due to lack of proper medical attention had to undergo an additional amputation.

3. Our Niece, who was impregnated by a young gentleman of Philippine citizenship, and was then abandoned by the father of the child, was in the hospital with her new born baby. The hospital refused to release the baby until the bill was paid.

4. Our 2 Nephews, who are faced with the oblique and dismal outlook of the Philippine economy, asked our assistance and funding in order for them to attend college.

I have witnessed my wife at times faced with the decision of spending her own paycheck in some of her favorite stores, (Macy’s, BeBe, or Victoria’s Secrets) or to provide the help so desperately needed by her family. She and I choose to be true human beings and make the selfless decisions. My wife and I feel true compassion for our family and are only too aware of the economic blithe plaguing the Philippines today. It is a travesty of justice to portray us as prostitutes and johns because we truly care for them.

( Please excuse my rant, I am deeply hurt and appualed by the lack of understanding I’ve witnessed in the above fore mentioned matters )

I can’t help from feeling sorry for the girls

2006-01-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

The IMBA laws enacted January 5, 2006 were hailed as providing protections from abusive men here in America. Bad enough it labeled all American men with foreign born wives as abusers it also has the potential to harm innocent couples. More importantly it now clearly reveals the true intentions of radical elements of the Feminist movement in America.

Anti-immigration, Anti-Marriage, and Anti-Family

It provides no legal mechanisms requiring the U.S Government from warning unsuspecting couples. Clearly the authors of the new law did not take into account the number of births of U.S. Citizens born abroad as a result of happy couples consummating these same internet relationships.

Statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Kiev

“You should be aware of certain legal realities that generally preclude issuing nonimmigrant visas to these persons”.

The law does not take into account a large percentage of women in these foreign countries genuinely want out of the conditions presumably championed by organizations such as NOW.

PLEASE

I urge you to call your Senators and Congresspersons and demand they act now! If not to repeal this law then to enact emergency legislation requiring all websites providing U.S Citizens and foreign citizens with a means to contact each other to warn them of these cruel realities.

Discriminatory New Immigration Law

2006-01-19T17:57:00.000-08:00

Just when Foreign Women thought it was safe to come out again they have been slapped in the face with a new law that claims to champion their rights.

Imagine yourself, a woman, 30 some thing years old, well educated (BS Engineering), career orientated, (Managing Engineer of your own Construction Firm). You’re on top of the world but yet you feel the urge to complete your life with a family. A pretty common reality today happening all over the world.

Eventually you meet your match. A wonderful well educated gentlemen who seems to fit perfectly into your life. He is kind, courteous, and proper and after an extended courtship you have the most wondrous day of you life and marry the man of your dreams.

Except this is the beginning of your Immigration Nightmare.

The husband is from America and you are living in a foreign country. You’ve been a proper young lady all your life and during your honeymoon together with your new husband you conceived your first child. You are married, 6 ½ months pregnant, and starring at a U.S. Embassy Consular Officer as he just handed you a VISA DENIAL form letter. An 8 ½ x 11 termination of your dreams.

How you ask!

As you and your new husband had done every thing correctly, filled all your forms correctly, even rejected ideas of attempting to cheat the immigration system.

Welcome to catch # S. 1618 The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005

REAL, very real as this new law offers equal opportunity discrimination against couples.

What our new bride and her husband didn’t know was International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005 places restrictions on the K visa regulations that can harm innocent couples in very real ways.

K Visa Interview Changes

The U.S. consul must ask the fiancé(e) during the Embassy/Consulate interview whether an IMB facilitated the couple's relationship, and if so, the consul must determine the name of the IMB and confirm that the IMB acted in accordance with the new requirements regarding information gathering and disclosure, as well as pamphlet dissemination.

The fiancé(e) will be asked in every instance whether she met her fiancée through a matchmaking site. If she replies untruthfully and is found out (a very real possibility), she will be denied the visa and barred from ever receiving a U.S. visa of any kind. If she admits to the means of acquaintance, but can not convince the consular officer that the marriage agency provided her with the required disclosures, the visa will be refused, and at best the case will go into administrative review.

Is the law unjust? We think so. Will it harm innocent couples, unfortunately this we know it well. People ARE going to meet on the internet. The WWW. At the top of your browser stands for World Wide Web and there is no way other then entering into a closed society to stop it. When they write laws to exclude 50% of the U.S. population and 50% of the world’s population from meeting exchanging ideas, and yes, even falling in love, you have written a formula for disaster

Now explain to me how can anyone label their self as Championing Human Rights, Protector of Women, and all around Good Guy when they write laws so ill thought out as to allow realities such the 1 portreyed in this story to become reality.

To this question we would like to know the answers as well

Get involved, pick up the phone and call your Senator, write the president, or even tell your friends, but don’t allow this to happen to poor unsuspecting couples all over the world

Sign the Petition

International Dating is about to change

2006-01-16T15:50:00.000-08:00

Looks like International Dating is about to change – and not for the better.

The adoption of International Marriage Broker Regulation Act 2005 threatens to change the face of internet dating for the worse and very quickly.

The law as it is written excludes large International Dating sites such as Match.com, Yahoo Personals, MSN Personals and many other International Dating agencies by definition and focus on 200 or so Matchmaking Dating agencies based here in the United States.

How ever well intended the law is, it will accomplish the exact opposite of it intentions. United States based operators or entities will be closed and only off shore unregulated agencies will exist. Dating Mega sites that offer no protections required by this law and other laws designed to aid the plight of the women they claim to protect, are exempted by definition of this new law.

- (ii) an entity that provides dating services between United States citizens or residents and other individuals who may be aliens, but does not do so as its principal business, and charges comparable rates to all individuals it serves regardless of the gender, country of citizenship, or residence of the individual.

This exempts Yahoo Personals, MSN Personals, and many others from the provisions of this law and they could continue to provide member information and contact information where as a small free site like Hinigugma.com would have to fully comply.

Does this make Women of these foreign countries less safe?

These Mega Sites offer no information for legal immigration to the United States, or cultural differences between the 2 countries. The likelihood of a perspective gentlemen entering in to a relationship and attempting to circumvent her legal immigration to the United States would rise drastically. Many times unwitting gentlemen visit Hinigugma.com inquiring about back door approaches for foreign fiances to enter the United States. Some thing we discourage and rather offer detailed instructions for legal immigration to the United States through K1 or K3 visa programs.

These same Mega Sites do not foster or encourage cultural understanding between the members that are actively seeking romance abroad. Legitimate Foreign Matchmaking services routinely provide forums, information, and advice regarding the cultural differences between and perspective partners. This simple understanding can provide non-abusive relationships, the lack of understanding cultivates abusive, dominant/submissive relationships.

Reality is the authors of the new law WILL provide the means for an increased occurance of the unfortunate conditions they seek to prevent.

Full Text of S.1455 here http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.1455:

The Backdoor Law That Sabotages International Romance

Where the author of this law established statistical data for the new law is completely contrary to well documented statistics by the United States Goverenment.

The Men

David Jedlicka (1988, cited in Glodava and Onizuka, 1994) surveyed 607 American men seeking mail-order brides and received 206 responses. He found that the men were generally white (94 percent); highly educated (50 percent with two or more years of college, 6 percent with M.D.'s or Ph.D.'s, only five did not complete high school); politically and ideologically conservative; and generally economically and professionally successful (64 percent earned more than $20,000 a year; 42 were in professional or managerial positions). Their median age was 37. The men came from 44 states, with 22 percent from California, and 84 percent lived in metropolitan areas. Fifty-seven percent had been married at least once; most had been divorced after an average of seven years of marriage, 35 percent had at least one child, and 75 percent wished to father additional children. When asked about their religious affiliations, 48 percent of the men identified themselves as Protestant, 23 percent as Catholic, 15 percent as belonging to other religions, and 14 percent as having no religious affiliation.

THE "MAIL-ORDER BRIDE" INDUSTRY

We have been searching for the statisics mentioned in this new law but as of yet have not been able to find anything in the USCIS, State Department or DOJ statistics database that would illustrate claims made in this new law. In fact we found CBS reports claiming No firm statistics exist on the extent of abuse suffered by mail-order brides

If you have any solid data we would certainly appreciate it if you would forward the information.

As so elliquently put -

Contacting a woman for romantic purposes -- internationally or domestically -- is not a crime. Those who do so are not a priori criminals who must prove themselves innocent before being allowed an email exchange.

http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2006/0111.html