|
Mail Order Bride Law
Brands U.S. Men Abusers
The Violence Against Women
Act (VAWA), www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=4620
signed by President Bush on January 5th, 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.
heraldnet.com/stories/05/12/19/100loc_b1bride001.cfm
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 heraldnet.com/stories/05/12/22/100edi_editorial001.cfm
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.
Thus, the IMBA was introduced to Congress by
Washington State Rep. Rick Larsen and Sen. Maria
Cantwell who championed the measure for
years.
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. Mail-order brides in the U.S. are protected
by laws against violence.
Now American men who
wishes 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 which is not similarly offered
to American women.
Nor should it
be.
Contacting a woman for
romantic purposes -- internationally or
domestically -- is not a crime. Those who do so are
not apriori criminals who must prove themselves
innocent before being allowed an email
exchange.
How many American men will
be impacted by the IMBA? heraldnet.com/stories/05/12/19/100loc_b1bride001.cfm
According to Rep. Larsen, between 8,000 and 12,000
American men find foreign wives through for-profit
brokers each year. Presumably, a considerably
higher number attempt but fail to find a wife who
successfully emigrates.
Next to no statistics are
available on how many 'mail-order' marriages are
happy. www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/05/politics/main561828.shtml
A report on "the problem" by CBS accurately states,
"No firm statistics exist on the extent of abuse
suffered by mail-order brides, or even the numbers
of such women."
The few media accounts
that provided background for the IMBA referred to
two 'mail-order brides' who were murdered:
Anastasia King in 2000, and Susanna Blackwell in
1995. The murders are deplorable.
But no solid foundation of
data underlies Sen. Cantwell's claim of "a growing
epidemic of domestic abuse among couples who meet
through a broker." There is no reason to believe
that violence against mail-order brides is higher
than against women in general. No evidence supports
the criminalization of every American man who looks
overseas for a wife.
And, yet, such men are
easy targets. Men who seek wives abroad often
explicitly state that women here are not worth
marrying because they are too independent, ruined
by feminism, or 'fill in the pejorative blank.' If
some of those ideal wives subsequently say
"goodbye" at the first glimpse of a green card, I
can't muster much sympathy.
What I do sympathize with,
however, are the privacy rights of people who are
considered guilty until proven innocent. This is
especially true when a government violates the
privacy of its own citizens to benefit foreign
individuals.
What view of the American
man does the IMBA broadcast to the
world?
American men are so
predatory and violent that the U.S. government must
protect foreign women by providing police checks
before allowing the men to say "hello." The "Ugly
American" has become an article of federal law,
supported by Congress.
©2006, Wendy
McElroy
* * *
Wendy
McElroy is the editor of ifeminists.com
and a research fellow for The Independent Institute
in Oakland, Calif. She is the author and editor of
many books and articles, including her latest book,
Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the
21st Century. She lives with her husband in
Canada. wendy@ifeminists.net
Also, see her daily blog at www.zetetics.com/mac
Contact
Us |
Disclaimer
| Privacy
Statement
Menstuff®
Directory
Menstuff® is a registered trademark of The
National Men's Resource Center™
©1996-2023, The National Men's Resource
Center
|
