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?
I'm lost. I fail to see your point.
By the way, it isn't the male who would get in trouble with the law. Someone just mentioned that the male would only fall into trouble if he ever applied for a fiance visa and he or his fiance was stupid enough to say they met via a non-complying service.
The Gestapo is unforgiving when it comes to regulating who an American man can marry.
We need to see some American-based services openly violating the law and DARING the jackasses in the government to come down on them. The biggest of them seems to be ready to comply however. They will do so by having a man fill out a one page form that would be submitted to s a foreign woman before she agrees to correspond. The problem with this, beyond the red tape delays that could take months for someone who only has an address but no email, is that it takes privacy away big time and makes American males look guilty until proven innocent. I don't know yet what info will be on the form. I am sure half the men will lie about their age on the form to begin with. You just can't take away privacy rights like this. It is BS.
Yet American males have shown the capacity in the past 30 years to really wimp out.
In other words, a man might have all kinds of nefarious reasons for going through such an agency to 'meet' foreign women, and you don't want to talk about them.
If you don't want to turn over your police records (hmmmm. . .wonder why), then meet foreign women on your own, without using an agency.
Sad but true.
The major political parties are not at all concerned with protecting the rights affirmed to us in the Constitution.
For them, it's all about control. And this legislation is just another example of big brother tightening the screws.
Bad Idea ? A friend of mine married a Russian woman. He was having trouble FINDING a nice Jewish girl: the ones he was meeting and/or dating just weren't working out. Out of sheer desperation he tried one of the "mail-order bride" outfits.
After 6 months, he found Irina: 2 months later, he went over to St. Petersburg to meet her. They were married 8 months later. That was 6 years ago.
I have no idea if Irina was a typical "mail order bride". But, she's a real sweetheart, utterly devoted to her new husband (she's a widow, her first husband was killed fighting Chechens, the guy was Speznaz. . . ). She's drop-dead gorgeous, a fantastic cook, and smart as a whip: she also speaks more languages than I do (I speak 3 other than English: he speaks English, Hebrew, and French, and has picked up Russian: SHE is fluent in English, German, French, and Japanese, plus some Hebrew and Arabic). They're both observant Jews (Conservative). . . and their little boy is 4, and they're expecting another in a few months.
I'd say he hit the jackpot.
BTW, parties at their place are rather interesting. Her cousin is apparentely a junior Military attache at the Russian Embassy, and also the guy who introduced her to her late husband. It's interesting to swap war stories with a Speznaz officer. . .all three of us have fought Muslims: him in Chechnya, and Abe and I during Desert Storm. . .
A man should be honest with a spouse-to-be. But it's not the place of the federal government to dictate the terms of the information exchange.
Great story...but the benefits of marrying foreign women is not the issue here.
It is the right to be introduced by someone. It is the right to say hello.
This is basic. It is elemental.
Yet George Bush happily signed away that right for single males on January 6th. It comes into effect on March 6th.
ok...
bump
No one has told these men they must go through an agency to obtain a wife.
Yeah....well...this guys russian mail order bride (who is hot) has been chasing me around the office for the better part of a year. Luckily, I dont do that kind of thing...bad karma.
But, sure...it works for some. Just like for all the lotto ticket buyers, some one does tend to win from time to time.
You're missing (or purposely avoiding) the point. If you are a true Conservative, you should be opposed to the government injecting itself further into the lives of it's citizens.
This garbage is not what I expect to receive when I pull the lever for a Republican.
But it just goes to show that neither of our major parties is interested in limiting the invasiveness of government.
Just seems strange that some think they should have a right to hide their past from a potential future spouse. These so called intriduction services don't want the women to find out when they introduce a woman to a child molester, rapist murderer etc. When there's money involved who needs a conscience?
My wife and our Russian roomate recently became part of a workshop to help these women who have been victimized. In some cases they help with immigration paperwork so they can stay and some so they can go home and warn others to stay away from these slave traders.
I'm not going to say that love isn't possible, but that happens naturally without money needing to go into a third greedy set of hands.
Not just the middle east, but S. American countries. I have a friend who married someone who is suspected to be a drug trafficker. His father was already arrested for such activity, but he this is good. (SARCASM).
I was replying to the guy who said we didn't NEED foreign brides.
I agree, the law is raping our rights. But then, Dubya won't protect our borders but WILL protect foreign women.
Figures. My disappointment in this administration is more than tangible: great war on Terror, but on the home front, two thumbs down: protect the borders and SHRINK THE EFFING FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!!!
But humans, OTOH, have rights which Bush seems to be protecting.
A much ado about nothing.
Who here thinks that these businesses, if they were disreptutable to begin with (engaging in sex trades or slave trades, some of which are out there) are actually going to hand over criminal records to the women they already have captive in the first place!
This is an absolutely useless law. How can it be proven that a company complied? Are they going to have independent agents monitoring every woman to make sure she gets copies of criminal records?
The only reason this was put on the books was to make some politicians look good. It's one of those feel good laws that will never do any bit of good.
An astute observation. This law is meaningless and intended to win brownie points with the feminists. It is like the law in the Philippines that the feminist passed that prohibits marriage agencies. They simply changed them to introduction agencies. And they continue to abound.
Probably the next source of brides for Americans will be the middle east. My son said they are extraordinarily beautiful. And without all the feminist neuroses.
American men with the wherewithal have a whole world of women to choose from. Women who are praying to be American wives and mothers.
Any man interested in such an endeavour should PM me for details.
http://www.singlefilipina.com
http://ab3.com/asian_ladies.htm
http://www.acebubride.com
http://www.jaderune.com/
http://planet-love.com/
Let the games begin.
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