VOICE OF AMERICAN IMMIGRATION FRAUD VICTIMS Fighting For Truth & Justice |
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1) What exactly is marriage immigration fraud? 2) What are some of the more common signs that I may be a victim of immigration fraud? 3) How can something like this happen? Isn't marital fraud illegal? 4) I am a victim! What should I do now? 5) I thought VAWA was a domestic law to help abused women. How does it apply to immigration? First, let's start off with a history lesson. The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 was originally introduced in 1990. It was drafted by Sen. Joseph Biden's office with support from The National Organization of Women and Legal Momentum. It was signed into law in August of 1994 as a part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, with the help of outspoken advocates around the country. VAWA created new penalties for gender-related violence and new grant programs encouraging states to address domestic violence and sexual assault. Some of these grants were: law enforcement & prosecution grants(STOP Grants); grants to encourage arrests; rural domestic violence & child abuse enforcement grants; the National Domestic Violence Hotline; grants to abused women's shelters. Since the provisions in VAWA 1994 were due to expire, Congress reauthorized these provisions in the fall of 2000 with the passage of the Violence Against Women Act of 2000. VAWA 2000 was merged with the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and several smaller bills. In addition to continuing existing programs, VAWA 2000 also: created a Civil Legal Assistance program to give women legal help; created a Transitional Housing program to aid individuals with housing; funded Supervised Visitation Centers to provide supervised exchange for the children; allowed for Full Faith & Credit, meaning protection orders in one state will be recognized in another; allowed for grants to adddress dating violence; provided grants to address the needs of older and disabled victims of domestic and sexual violence; and lastly, a provision for Battered Immigrant Women. We'll talk more about this one later! VAWA was reauthorized again in 2005, with the Violence Against Women Act of 2005. It contained initiatives to provide crisis services for victims of rape and sexual assault, train health care providers to support victims of abuse, help children exposed to violence, and encourage men to teach the next generation that violence is wrong. It also expanded on a Battered Immigrant Woman's rights, as well as created the International Marriage Brokers Act. You might ask, how can any of this be bad? This helps protect women. It is wrong to abuse a woman, and anyone that does should be punished. If a woman is being abused, doesn't she deserve protection? IF a woman is being abused, yes she does! Here is where VAWA impacts an American man, or a woman for that matter since VAWA is gender neutral, that has married a foreign spouse. VAWA 2000's Battered Immigrant Women provision, and the 2005 reauthorization, provided the following benefits to an immigrant: removed the US residency requirement and "extreme hardship" requirements for immigrant women to receive VAWA protections; gave them the right to obtain lawful permanent residence without leaving the country; stops deportation proceedings if she claims she is a victim of abuse; strengthens VAWA confidentiality enforcement; guarantees access to legal services for immigrant victims; and mandated that all VAWA cases are to be adjudicated at the specially trained VAWA unit at the Vermont Service Center. Here is how a foreign spouse uses VAWA to their advantage. Foreigner meets an American citizen. They fall "in love" and decide to get married. After the Ameican citizen jumps through the myriad of hoops that is our immigration system, at least from the perspective of obtaining a fiance visa(K-1) or spouse visa(K-3), the foreign spouse comes to America and starts a new life. After the couple are married and living together in the US, the foreign spouse with the sponsorship of the American citizen files for temporary residency, which lasts for 2 years. A few months before this expires, the happy couple are suppose to file for removal of conditions, thus giving the foreign spouse permanent residency. But what if the foreign spouse does not want to stay married for two years? What if the foreign spouse only used the American citizen as means to get to the US? What can a foreign spouse do to bypass the residency requirements and the immigration laws of the United States of America? The foreign spouse can claim to be a victim of abuse! The foreign spouse can stage confrontations, call 911, visit an abused women's shelter, and tell stories of abuse to friends and family. The foreign spouse can go to the county courthouse and receive a Domestic Protection Order. It doesn't matter if there is no proof of abuse. It doesn't matter if the Domestic Protection Order is thrown out by the judge when the foreign spouse and the American citizen go to court. The "damage" is done, and the foreign spouse has all the evidence that is needed to convince the USCIS that he/she qualifies as a victim of domestic abuse under the VAWA provisions. The foreign spouse can now file a self-petition with the USCIS to remove the temporary conditions. The foreign spouse does not have to worry about the American citizen trying to get in the way either. As part of the VAWA provisions, no employee of the Department of Justice (which includes INS and immigration court personnel and judges) may "make an adverse determination" about a person's application for status "using information furnished solely by" the applicant's abuser, an abusive member of the applicant's household, or someone who has abused the applicant's child. So, even if the American citizen has proof that no abuse occurred, and even if the American citizen has proof that the forign spouse entered into the marriage fraudulently, the USCIS is bound by law to ignore it! The American citizen is now labeled as an abuser by the US government, but is not given an opportunity to prove otherwise. 6) Do you have any tips for writing letters to different government officials and agencies? 7) I'm afraid that my spouse may take our child out of the country. What can I do? |
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