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?
Apparently this "law" goes into effect on March 6th.
Patriot Act...OK...but this? How does this stop terrorists? Oh, I see...according to the left whose law Bush signed so happily...American males are the terrorists and foreign women need to know everything about us before we can even be introduced to them.
And I thought the TV show "Over There" was treasonous because it depicted American males as evil.
We need to cut through the red tape and just imprison American men who correspond with foreign women. [/sarcasm]
Good. it's about time and I don't care how you try to spin it. It's about time foreign women were protected from animals within our own country.
Perhaps there will be corresponding legislation to protect your bank account from your foreign bride and restrain her from sleeping with your friends?
Mail order brides are, pretty much, always a bad idea.
I wonder if this law is even constitutional; it may run into freedom of speech problems.
That being said, why not go over and meet these girls the old-fashioned way? I have enough friends, from the Navy and elsewhere, who came back from the Philippines with wives, to know that this works.
[We need to cut through the red tape and just imprison American men who correspond with foreign women. [/sarcasm]]
I haven't had such a pit in my stomach since 9-11. In the 6000 year written history of mankind...where has a country worked so hard to cut the rights of its citizens overseas? And I am talking about a right that is like breathing...an introduction: "Katrina, meet Jim...Jim, meet Katrina".
I had thought that the law was something about fiances being told by US consulates what their rights would be in the USA...plus maybe the consulates telling fiances if their husband to be had any criminal record or some such.
This law will force the matchmaking agencies to move offshore but nothing else will change.
Our legislature needs to read "Internet for Dummies" to finally get it through their thick skulls that you can't legislate Internet.
(Hint: It's global)
Bush is a RINO. Just like his Dad.
{Mail order brides are, pretty much, always a bad idea.]
We are not talking about brides. We are talking about "Katrina, meet Jim, Jim meet Katrina". We are talking about the government getting involved with basic human interactions....long before marriage becomes an issue.
We need to cut through the red tape and just imprison American men.
Fixed it for you.
This is what they want.
And we needed a Nanny State government policy to protect us from this? Or them from us? What a bunch of hyped up, non-issue, paternailistic, anti-freedom, anti-male, bullsh*t.
One of my best friends met a girl on-line from one of the "mail order bride" places. He went to Russia to meet her and her family a couple of times before they came to America to get married. It took months to get her visa.
They've been married about 8 years now, very happily, and have a beautiful daughter.
Certainly these situations can be very bad, but that's not the norm.
But this is typical of the government - a knee jerk response to isolated incidents that creates bureacracy and government meddling where it wasn't necessary.
[That being said, why not go over and meet these girls the old-fashioned way?]
I am already over "there" and I already have a girlfriend.
That is not the point.
This is a major rights take-away and, yes, I don't see how it is even a little bit constitutional.
Are there lawyers who can check on that? I am sitting in a hotel in Denmark now. If the desk clerk introduces me to her friend...is she breaking a US law because I didn't submit US government paperwork on my background?
This sounds sick. And yet the President signed the law happily because it was tucked inside another law and because, apparently, Republicans don't care about the rights of single males.
Uh, not sure where you got the idea that it was supposed to stop terrorists. Well, I guess you could call a wife beater a terrorist of sorts.
Yep...why this requires legislation is just nutz but look at the source.
The real problem is American woman are worried about the competition. Think about how many nasty skanks such as Maureen Dowd exist in America. These women wonder why no American men want to marry them. If they are going to be miserable then American men have no right to be happy.
LOL Nothing like a bit of hysteria to liven up the day.
Hey, the kind you meet here can be just as bad!
So. . .a man would contact such a service for what other reason than to seek a wife?
Oh for goodness sake! This is ridiculous.
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