Posted on 02/14/2006 6:12:25 AM PST by GermanBusiness
The Violence Against Women Act signed by President Bush on Jan. 5 contains an almost unnoticed attachment.
Subtitle D, also known as the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005 (IMBA), will become law when VAWA is enacted. The IMBA is an ostensibly noble measure with a surprising and ominous twist.
The scant attention directed toward the IMBA has been positive.
A headline in Washington State's The Daily Herald announced, "Mail-order brides gain protection" with the subtitle "The mother of a murdered immigrant hopes that pending federal legislation will keep foreign brides from abuse, neglect and slavery."
The "murdered immigrant" refers to Anastasia King, a "mail-order bride" from the former Soviet Union. In 2000, King was murdered by her husband in Washington State where the case created a sensation largely because the husband had violently assaulted a previous "mail-order bride."
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who championed the measure for years, introduced the IMBA to Congress.
Some parts sound reasonable. For example, U.S. consulates will provide "mail-order brides" with brochures that explain their legal rights.
Other parts sound draconian. For example, the IMBA requires American men who wish to correspond with foreign women through private for-profit matchmaking agencies to first provide those businesses with their police records and other personal information to be turned over to the women.
Corresponding with a foreigner is legal. Marrying a foreigner is legal. Immigrating spouses and their husbands go through rigorous and lengthy screening before visas are issued. U.S. laws against violence protect "mail-order brides."
Now American men who wish to pursue a legal activity must release their government files to a foreign business and foreign individuals for their personal benefit.
(Note: The act's language is gender-neutral but its clear purpose is to protect foreign women from predatory American men. Application to "male-order husbands" would be incidental as such 'brides' are relatively rare.)
The disclosure requirement is detailed under the provision entitled "Obligations of International Marriage Broker With Respect to Mandatory Collection of Information."
An international broker cannot provide contact or general information on a foreign woman to an American man unless that broker first collects and discloses to the woman the following information about the man:
Every state of residence since the age of 18; Current or previous marriages as well as how and when they terminated; Information on children under 18; Any arrest or conviction related to controlled substances, alcohol or prostitution, making no distinction on arrests not leading to conviction; Any court orders, including temporary restraining orders, which are notoriously easy to procure; Any arrest or conviction for crimes ranging from "homicide" to "child neglect"; Any arrest or conviction for "similar activity in violation of Federal, State or local criminal law" without specifying what "similar" means. U.S. law will provide foreign women with extensive government information on American suitors that is not similarly offered to American women — which it shouldn't it be either.
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 e-mail exchange.
How many American men will be impacted by the IMBA?
By the way, in terms of me becoming an "agency"...I will sell the email address of my friend in Moscow for $1 in order to break the dumb law. So its not exactly a "vested" interest. :-)
SOLD!
He's a slave trader because as a single America working overseas he thinks he should be allowed to talk to foreign women? This is like the twilight zone.
That is true. According to Cripplecreek, because of OJ, all black men in the USA need to have a background check done before they are allowed to meet white women.
Sorry. Thems the rules.
Don't we all have a vested interest in being allowed to communicate to whomever we please?
Or more likely, with each other.
My marriage is based on love and trust, not cost and whether I could sneak a crimminal record past my wife. Has love even been mentioned in this thread amidst the bragging about breaking the law and seeking help from the Russian Mafia?
Theres a difference between mail order brides and internation match making. One being a slave trade and the other just setting people up. Either way I wouldn't trust women from Soviet Block nations because all that I've heard is that most are crazy, and cheat, ALOT.
So when you met your wife, did you give her your police report? As you would have American men do with foreign women. Are you just a hypocrite.
"So when you met your wife, did you give her your police report? As you would have American men do with foreign women. Are you just a hypocrite."
I gave her everything she asked for and I didn't buy her like a pathetic John buying a prostitute.
"I gave her everything she asked for and I didn't buy her like a pathetic John buying a prostitute."
How does a service that introduces men and women from different countries seeking a spouse, equate to prostitution? Are all these men and women whores to your mind?
I have a theory that politicians saw the enormous amount of money in businesses that introduce prospective husbands and wives. Then the politicians used a few bad examples of knuckleheads to create legislation which I'm sure involves fees to the US government.
It does cost money to file this paper, correct?
I'm married to a wonderful Catholic American girl FWIW.
??? Site please, I must have missed this.
"I gave her everything she asked for and I didn't buy her like a pathetic John buying a prostitute."
I guess we'll just have to take your word on that.
I have absolutley no idea what you are talking about. Did you have to have a background check before you met your wife? No. So why should you simply if she was from another country? And who the hell mentioned the Russian Mafia?
I agree. But if you happened to visting a friend in, say, Warsaw, should it be illegal if that friend introduced you to someone without first producing a background check on you?
Cripplecreek's point was that an American once abused (or killed, I don't know) a russian mail-order bride, therefore russian mail order brides should have to have background checks on american men before they should be allowed to meet. The simple logical extension of that is that since OJ killed a white woman, that white women should have to have background checks on black men before they are allowed to meet.
Why just foreign women? Don't our domestic women deserve the same protection?
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