ImmigrationFraudVictims

For all of you..

Do you know how many marriages (between US citizens, when neither party needs a green card) end every year? Almost half of people split up after under a year of "wedding bliss"!! Does this mean that all marriages are fake? No.
Then why don't you give a foreign person a benefit of a doubt? Why such a prejudice?

So she cheated on you. Maybe that's because you're bad in bed.
So she left. Maybe you were an asshole to her.

PEOPLE BREAK UP EVERY DAY

Of course arguments and misunderstanding will take place. It's marriage, it's hard! Espesially if you consider cultural/language differences.

What gives you the moral right to contact immigration and accuse somebody of marriage fraud just because things did not go right? Do you have any idea how hard it is to give up everything you worked so hard for and go to the country where don't have anything left !!!

What gives you the right to be the judge? What gives you the right to retaliate in such a sneaky and low way??

Want a divorce? Divorce.
Just don't go to immigration trying to deport her so you could "move on".
Let her stay. If she wronged you, it'll all come back to her.

Be a man.

Rachek, welcome to our forum.

Most of us are well aware that marriages break up every day. We are aware that marriage is hard. This has nothing to do with "being a man" and it has nothing to do with "such a prejudice" against our immigrant spouses.

Have you bothered to read some of the stories? Have you bothered to read our web site?



If you had, you wouldn't make the above statement. We are not being vindictive because things did not go right. Most of our immigrant spouses made false claims of spousal abuse in order to circumvent the immigration system, as well as to gain an upper hand in the divorce. We are able to present a defense against these abuse charges in our local court system, why shouldn't we be able to do the same with the USCIS? Why should our immigrant spouses be given a free pass with the USCIS? If there is actual abuse, I am all for an immigrant to be given the right to stay in our country.

My ex and I were together for 15 months. We had problems and I knew our marriage was not going to last. We argued, but I was never abusive. I offered to buy her and her daughter tickets to return home to Russia. She had told me many times she wanted to go home. Once I finally conceded, her strategy changed. I was served with a protection order in which she accused me of several forms of physical abuse, as well as with threatening to kill her. Her claims were dismissed in court at the TPO hearing. Her claims of abuse were also dismissed by the judge during the divorce. Why shouldn't I have been given the opportunity to tell the USCIS my side of the story? She was granted a green card and became a legal permanent resident based on the abuse claims that were dismissed on two separate occasions.

If my ex had come to me when it was obvious that our marriage was ending, and told me she wanted to stay in the US, I would not be on this forum today. I would have ended our marriage peacefully and would have been willing to assist her in starting over. She could have stayed and saved us a lot of heartache. I would have never figured out that she was never genuine about her intentions to have a life with me.

Instead, she made the decision to make false allegations of abuse. Instead, she chose to make my life difficult. She walked away from our 15 months together with over $20,000, and I had $30,000 in legal expenses.

Is what she did "moral"?

Well said Texan. My ex was actually with a gay NY ADA before our "marriage". Claimed that I abused him to INS but did not want to file a divorce, moved in with NY lawyer after moving out of my home and is now claiming that they are same sex partners with a domestic partnership and that there for they should have custody of our son. He probabaly has recieved a green card by this point.
This country was built by immigrants, my ancesters included, they came here with dreams for a better life, worked hard and helped make America the great country it is. It is an insult to them when potential immigrants come here and are rewarded for taking "the low road".

You did not understand what I meant
I realize, false accusations in domestic violence should not be tolerated and forgiven.
But that’s not what all posts are about. Some men merely complain that the wife is cheating and behaving weirdly, which gives them the justification to contact immigration services. Although cheating is a marital problem, when "immigration fraud" is an accusation that can harm someone forever.

Some people who went though this are so desperate to deport former spouse that’s ridiculous. They’ll go to great length to retaliate, even if it does not give them any benefits. I understand that proving that the marriage was fake frees them from the obligation to pay alimony or divorce settlement. But what benefit does actual deportation give them?

Plus, there is NEVER a 100 % certainty (unless woman confesses) that her sole intention was green card. There are lways mixed feeling, emotions, and intentions.
And if that’s the case, “who gives you the right to be the judge” and read my previous post.
Yes, false accusations are bad, but when I read something like “ Deport her so I could move on”, honestly, makes me nauseas.
A lot of men get hurt for whatever reason, run to immigration, then regret it, and try to get things back on track. But sometimes it’s too damn late. People get their lives destroyed, children get separated from parents. Immigration is not a freaking joke.
“If my ex had come to me when it was obvious that our marriage was ending, and told me she wanted to stay in the US, I would not be on this forum today. I would have ended our marriage peacefully and would have been willing to assist her in starting over. She could have stayed and saved us a lot of heartache. I would have never figured out that she was never genuine about her intentions to have a life with me.”

And I do like this response. I wish there was more man like you. But unfortunately a lot of man just would get hurt and try to deport their wife. Which is why women resort to VAWA.

Texan wrote this in his story



What I have observed these past 6 years with American men and women who have been victimized by a deceptive foreign spouse is that they usually have very clear evidence of being used. Or perhaps Texan was wrong to evade her privacy by checking on his own computer his wife's true intentions? Wanting to help deny the bank robber the reward of the bank is not vengence but justice.

False allegations have imprisoned a number of men I know. 2 1/2 years for one, 7 years for another and 30 years for the poor fellow down in Louisiana. This should be far worse than observing the desire for some to deport their wives or husbands. Look a the front page of this site at the two videos and watch them. Those men are justified in wanting to deport their wives and the woman that coached them.

Now that’s exactly my point. Look at this kind of logic:
Wife is looking at another man. Oh, she is a fraudster.
Wife is refusing to cook dinner. Oh, she does not love me, and just trying to get her green card.
Wife is arguing with me. Oh, she is trying to evade immigration law.
How many people experience the same problems while being married to US citizen? Read my first post.

Don’t you see what’s going on? American husband, after reading forums like this, becomes suspicions to every “warning sign”, tries to “serve justice” /protect his interests and reports (or threatens to report) his spouse to immigration, when in fact their marital problems have nothing to do with immigration. That kind of behavior is only producing arguing and retaliation (like, how would you like if someone was checking you text messages or internet sites you logged in?). Exactly this kind of behavior gives her the ground for filing VAWA (because according to VAWA rules, threatening to deport her is considered abuse, just like being “too controlling”). This is a cycle that will go on forever if legislation does not change.

Immigration and marriage are sticky subjects and it is very difficult if not impossible to prove if either side is wrong.

If you think of it, every little sign can become a “warning sign”. Take that and an insecure person (who, say, was a victim of infidelity from past relationship), and everything immigrant says or does gives him the ground to cook up an “immigration fraud” case.

Now put yourself in immigrant’s shoes. She has been living with you for a year or so, the relationship does not work for some reason. Should her husband divorce her, she’ll have to go back, she can’t even remarry without immigration questioning her intentions. Immigration law pretty much makes her depend on her current husband in order to stay in the country. Who cares if he is cheating, who cares if he neglects her? She has to stay married, otherwise there is a good chance she is charged with immigration fraud case, notwithstanding the fact that high percentage of marriages fall apart in the first place. How fair is that? How do you suggest to repair that kind of injustice?

Again, I never said that there is a justification for false DV accusation.

But let’s take a look at situation when only emotional abuse took place. Calling her names, threats to deport, etc. I bet these situations happen more often than broken ankles and bruised faces. Most likely police and court will never hold him liable (which is understandable, why should he go to jail if there is no bruises?). What is an immigrant to do? Right, file VAWA. Do you honestly think that immigration should contact that kind of abuser and ask him in a polite manner if he is indeed abusing his wife? Do you realize how much effort and taxpayers’ money would have been spent if it was the case. Do you realize t that this would not only endanger the woman (if abuse indeed took place), but would launch a long game of pointing fingers which would eventually lead to spending even more money on gathering the evidence of what happened or did not happen. That’s why it is cheaper to give an immigrant a “benefit of a doubt” as I said in my first post. If VAWA is filed without any lawsuit, then no harm to a citizen is done either.

VAWA is designed to help women even if there is is not enough proof of a violence. Filing VAWA is not the same as pressing charges in court. This is not realistic to expect USCIS take all cases and investigate DV on each of them. This is not their job. Their job is to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining immigration benefits. Proving that a marriage is a fraud is a burden of the USCIS. And if a woman has evidence that she resided with the husband, how can anyone PROVE that marriage was fabricated? Proof of infidelity is not in itself an immigration fraud. Proof of arguments and constant rows with a husband are not either.

Plus, like with any relationship, there are ALWAYS two sides of the story.

If you are seeking justice here, can you imagine how many men use wife’s immigration status to allege that she married them for the purposed of green card so they could avoid alimony payments in case of divorce?

Before anyone passes judgment, why not ask yourself these questions:
You can prove a murder. You can prove a robbery. How can you prove an intention?

You can prove violence. How can you prove that it did NOT take place? Think about it.

The point is that the system is cheating both immigrants and citizens. It gives citizen a power to withdraw his petition at any time hence control his spouse, which allows women file VAWA and gives immigrant a pathway to abuse immigration law. Who benefits from this? Gazillions of immigration and divorce lawyers.

Rachek,

I appreciate your input here, but you raise standard arguments that we are fighting against. Other groups are are fighting these same arguments about the entire domestic violence industry.



I don't think that anyone has ever claimed that these are warning signs of fraud. Our website certainly does not do so. While some of the posters may have mentioned these within their posts, they were a part of the bigger picture.



The vast majority of the men AND women that we have been in contact with through our site have found our website and forum AFTER the fact. They are trying to make sense of what has happened to them. They are trying to understand why someone they loved has betrayed them this way. If they are here and have not been victimized as of yet, they already have their suspicions, and we are not giving them reasons to distrust their spouses. That distrust is already there.

We agree that legislation must change. There is far too much weight given to what the immigrant spouse claims. How can the USCIS rule that an immigrant is a victim of abuse based on a form filled in by the immigrant? What does the immigrant stand to gain by possible lying, and knowing the lies cannot be refuted?



You are right. But, an attempt has to be made. When the couple divorce, they go before a judge. The judge makes a determination and ruling based on evidence and testimony submitted by BOTH parties.



The immigrant spouse is still eligible to self petition to stay in the country if the marriage ends prior to two years. He or she has to show that they entered the marriage in good faith. The current immigration system allows for this. An field agent interviews both parties and makes a determination based on interviews and evidence. If there is doubt, it goes before the Admin Law Judge. The immigrant isn't automatically deported just because of the divorce, or because the citizen spouse cries fraud.



Correct. There is no justification for false DV accusations. But, the reality of it is, immigrant spouses are using this to circumvent the immigration system because they know that they will be subject to little, if any, scrutiny.



Emotional abuse is hard to prove. As it currently stands, the definition of emotional abuse is very broad. Virtually any husband or wife can be accused of emotional abuse at one point or another in a marriage. An immigrant should have the right to file a VAWA claim with the USCIS. We do not dispute that, nor do we argue that. Our argument is with having accusations made without having the possibility to defend against those accusations. Local judges have to look at cases everyday where it is a he said, she said merry-go-round. This includes allegations of emotional abuse. These judges are trained to make decisions based on the preponderance of the evidence. Immigration should be subjected to the same standards.



Cheaper does not make right. The immigrant has much more to gain by lying. Any judge that is interested in doing the right thing, should be able to see if an immigrant is lying to gain immigration benefits, or if a citizen spouse is lying in order to be vindictive.



You are so wrong. Did you realize that US citizens that have been subjected to false allegations of abuse in order for an immigrant to file a VAWA claim with the USCIS have experienced some of these "harms"?
- bankruptcy
- shattered lives
- shattered reputations
- lost security clearance
- lost jobs
- passport renewal denials
- no fly / terrorist watch lists
I hardly call this "no harm"!!



False allegations of domestic violence are a drain on the system and hinder true victims from getting the help they need and deserve.



The job of the USCIS involves more than preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining immigration benefits. To be more accurate, this particular part of their job is to "prevent legal immigrants from obtaining immigration benefits ILLEGALLY." Marriage fraud falls here. True, proving fraud is a burden, but it is a necessary burden. Otherwise, why even bother with defining it? Why bother with defining the legal steps to take to marry an immigrant? If a marriage was bonafide, why take steps to prevent prying eyes by hiding behind false allegations of violence and VAWA?



THANK YOU! This has been our point all along. The immigrant spouse gets to tell one side of the story when the VAWA petition is filed. The citizen spouse is prevented from doing so.



This is a flawed argument. My ex-wife made the same claims in court that I am sure she made on her VAWA self petition. Part of my defense made the judge aware of the benefits she stood to gain with immigration by falsely claiming abuse. The judge rejected all her claims of abuse, but still awarded a hefty alimony.



This is America. We have judges and courts to hear the evidence and make the hard decisions. The immigration system has its own judges that are capable of hearing two sides of an argument. As it stands now, when an immigrant claims abuse, the judge is removed from the picture and a decision is made by a bureaucrat that was trained by a VAWA advocate while sitting at a desk hundreds or thousands of miles away from the immigrant that made the claim.



I agree. Immigration and divorce lawyers are getting rich. The system is broken. It needs to be fixed.

We are not here to solely complain and moan about what horrible luck we had. We are not here to bad mouth immigrants. We are here to give support to men and women that have been victimized. Our site addresses an issue that has largely been ignored.

We would be doing ourselves and anyone else that has experienced this a disservice if we stopped at providing a voice and support. That is why we are actively involved in lobbying Congress to make changes.

For me this site has provided me with a resource in which to progress with the healing process from the abuse that my ex has put me through, and is still putting me through. He has attempted to destroy me financially and mentally, the closes anallagy to this experience that I can come up with is that of a rape (an experience that I have also been through).
Rachek, I don't know what you are looking for on this site but, I don't need anyone else attaking me or attempting to bash this site which, at present is the only place that I have found that feels safe to go to and get support.

Let me begin with that I do agree that filing self-petition based on VAWA gives fraudsters incentive to fabricate domestic violence crime. But if there was no domestic violence, no court should be able to convict you. And if it does, it is not the issue of filing self-petition, it is the issue of prosecution system, and the website should read " victims of prosecution system” not “immigrant fraud”.
My arguments below are based on presumption that the immigrant is filing self-petition without the consequences for the citizen, e.g without pressing charges for domestic violence

First of all, what happened to “presumption of innocence”? There is often hardly any proof that the marriage was entered for the wrong reasons. That’s why instead of prosecution (deportation), “presumption of innocence” gives immigrant the right to stay in the country. There is nothing more to it. Again, the same “presumption of innocence” will clear your name in court (if there is no evidence that you’re an abuser).

Merely filing I-360 does NOT harm a citizen.

I am repeating myself again, Immigration authorities are not initiating law suits against you. All they care about is to grant/deny immigrant the status. Your desire to prove YOUR side to immigration does not make sense. People are usually eager to prove someone wrong in order to defend themselves from prosecution, false accusations when there would be repercussions. How is proving your point to immigration helps you avoid the prosecution in court?
I’m sure you know, normally court has two parties- plaintiff and defendant.
Immigration court is the same: it is between Department of Homeland Security and the immigrant (in most cases defendant). Spouse of the immigrant is neither plaintiff no defendant in the immigration court. He could have been a witness, but it would not procure him any damages.

Which brings be the only explanation of WHY so many people are trying to be a part of immigration court: the only reason citizen wants to reach immigration authorities and “defend himself” is pure retaliation, and desire to deport the spouse. This is vengeance, disguised as a “desire for justice”.

“These judges are trained to make decisions based on the preponderance of the evidence. Immigration should be subjected to the same standards.”

Ok, let’s run a hypothetical scenario.
I'm sure you do realize that in the courtroom lack of evidence would free a person from a prosecution. “The presumption of innocence is a legal instrument created by the law to favor the accused based on the legal inference that most people are not criminals.”
Now, imagine a citizen telling immigration that there was no domestic violence. Immigrant claims opposite, although without enough evidence. And immigration court –because there is a lack of evidence, would rule in favor of citizen .Ruling in favor of citizen automatically rules against the immigrant, which results in deportation .STOP! This does not make any sense, because remember, we don’t want to prosecute people that might be innocent.


If you think about it, Justice is more about NOT PROSECUTING AN INNOCENT PERSON THAN ABOUT PROSECUTING A GUILTY PERSON. Both immigrants and citizens deserve that. Citizen is not prosecuted if there is doubt that he was violent. Immigrant is not prosecuted/deported if there is doubt that he entered the marriage with a sole intention of getting a green card. Fair? I think it is.

More than that, I think this is the whole philosophy behind self-petitioning.

Plus, what gives an immigrant THE right to gain status? Marriage, which is not based solely on intention to get green card. So pretty much if she enters marriage in good faith, she is supposed to be granted a status. She falsely accused you of DV? Still does not mean her intention was to just gain citizenship.
Merely accusing falsely does not proof the intention to circumvent immigration system. Maybe she is just being vindictive?
In this case she should be sued for fraud. In a regular court. Immigration court should have nothing to do with it. Mere fact that she stands to gain status after she self petitions, is not a proof that she entered the marriage in bad faith.

And don’t get me wrong- I see what you’re saying: “Immigrant should not be granted a married status if he entered the marriage with a sole intention of getting a status”. But the “sole intention” is very hard to prove. Even a husband often can not prove it. And if there is no proof, there is no fault. Read my “presumption of innocence” paragraph.

When the couple divorce, they go before a judge.

Yes, Judge can decide how to distribute assets after the divorce, but not actual “validity” of relationship. What judge can actually determine that the intention was bona fide?
Imagine a situation when a gold-digging woman marries a rich man in order to get some money from him after divorce. She does not enter marriage in good faith, maybe even fools the poor guy into marrying her. But the judge is not supposed to deny her share of assets just because there is a suspicion of her intentions. Why? Cause there is no proof. This marriage was consent of two adults. So why is there a double standard? I’ll tell you why: when your citizen wife hurts you, you can’t do much about it. When your immigrant wife does, oh, yes, there is thing you can do: dial the number of immigration authorities, get her ass deported. Because “IT JUST FEELS SO MUCH BETTER”.

The whole point of my long explanation is: yes, VAWA has flaws, like any law.
But can you actually think of an alternative? Can you offer anything specific?

Something like:

Abolish self-petitioning as a way to procure immigrant status? OR

Do you want to lobby for the immigration authorities to contact the spouse when the immigrant files self-petition?

You seem to be seeking a whole lot of justice here. I’ll tell you a story and YOU tell me where the justice is, and who really should be flooding internet in an effort to lobby for better immigration law.

My friend (non-citizen) got married to a citizen, marriage was bona fide, and they knew each other for about 3 years (met in the US). Guy was somewhat insecure, but she hoped for the better. One day, they go to the night club, for whatever reason he calls her a “snow”, she gets upset, and leaves with her friends after the party to try and avoid a drunken confrontation. He comes over to her friend’s place, sees a guy there, presumes they’re having an affair, and beats up the guy, then leaves before police arrives. Assaulted guy (an American citizen by the way) presses charges. When police interviews wife, she just says what she saw- the truth. Next day when husband goes to the court for the summons, he finds out that his wife told the police what happened. He assumes that she wants him in jail and that the whole thing was a set up (!!). He rushes to immigration, withdraws his petition. Immigration authorities advise him (!) to move out and file for annulment. So he does. A few days later, her application for adjustment of status is denied. A month later she is put in deportation proceedings. FAIR?
There is more. Employment visa gets revoked due to denial of adjustment of status. There is not even a question of hiring an immigration lawyer at $200/per hour. FAIR?
I’ll tell you more – at that time she was enrolled in college. In the case of deportation, she’d not even get time to finish her degree. FAIR? Maybe you can explain how come immigration did not contact her or visit their place to set things straight? What kind of justice is that?

At least, when American is wrongfully accused of DV, he has all the money and rights in the world to refute that. Immigrant, accused of marriage fraud sometimes has mere months on his hands to collect all the evidence. FAIR?

If you want justice, why go one way?
You want to “clear your name” in immigration? Well, let the immigrant have his say too. Why not lobby for immigration to contact immigrant when spouse goes and “cries fraud”?

The main point is that the system is already prejudiced against immigrants in many ways.
VAWA is an awkward attempt to fix it.

Rachek,

When it comes to domestic violence, a conviction doesn't matter. I can cite numerous cases where a man is locked up based on accusations alone. I can cite numerous cases where a man is locked up based on injuries that have been self-inflicted by the woman. The police and courts are going to err on the side of caution.

Sometimes the man is able to clear himself in a matter of days. Other times, the man is fighting for months in order to set the record straight. Sometimes he is free on bail. Other times he is behind bars. Where ever he may be when he is fighting to clear his name, he is still paying huge consequences when he has been accused of domestic violence. In the end, he may be found innocent of all charges, but hasn't there been irreparable harm inflicted to him based solely on false allegations of abuse? I realize that this goes beyond immigration, because these tactics are used in courts nationwide everyday in divorce and custody cases.

When it is done by an immigrant spouse, it is being done for immigration purposes as well as for divorce. Is it fair that an immigrant be granted a permanent green card based on allegations that may or may not be true?

You talk about "presumption of innocence" for the immigrant, yet you ignore "presumption of innocence" for the accused citizen. If an immigrant accuses a citizen of spousal abuse, the citizen is allowed to defend himself in court. If the citizen is cleared of any wrongdoing, then should the immigrant be allowed to use these same claims of abuse on the I-360 self petition? Shouldn't the citizen be able to tell the USCIS that he is not the abuser he has been labeled as?

You are correct that the USCIS is not initiating lawsuits against a citizen that has been accused of abuse. But the US citizen is in a nationwide database and is labeled as an abuser. As I pointed out in my previous post, US citizens have lost security clearances because of these allegations. US citizens have lost jobs, income, and savings based on these allegations. US citizens have been denied passports and put on watchlists. There is no communication between the state and national government to ensure that someone that has been cleared in court is removed from a national database.

If a man decides he wants to try for love again, and search overseas for a wife, anyone that he communicates with will be notified that he has been accused of abuse. It doesn't matter if he was cleared, he is still potentially a risk. Do you think this will have any impact on the women he has contacted?

You say that you agree that filing a self-petition based on VAWA gives fraudsters incentive to fabricate domestic violence crimes, yet you still think they should be given a free pass to get a green card based on "presumption of innocence."

You point out that immigration court has a plaintiff(DHS) and a defendant(the immigrant). Well, when an immigrant files a VAWA based self petition, it DOES NOT go to an immigration court. The Vermont Service Center, where these petitions are processed, make their decisions based solely on the application. They cannot talk to the citizen spouse to verify any information. Even if the citizen spouse is cleared in court, the only way that the court records will end up in the immigrant's file is if the immigrant submits it. Do you think the immigrant is going to do something that would jeopardize the petition's approval?

I don't understand why you feel that a citizen's desire to set the record straight is retaliation and vengeance. By your standards, someone that has been accused of sexual harassment in the workplace shouldn't be allowed to defend himself to management. Management should just assume that the person that made the claims has nothing to gain by lying about something as serious as this. If the claim is made, it must be true.

If a couple divorce before they have been married for two years, an immigrant is allowed to self petition. As I previously explained in my other post, he or she has to show that they entered the marriage in good faith. The current immigration system allows for this. An field agent interviews both parties and makes a determination based on interviews and evidence. If there is doubt, it goes before the Admin Law Judge. The immigrant isn't automatically deported just because of the divorce, or because the citizen spouse cries fraud. The judge rules on the preponderance of the evidence. If the citizen claims fraud, but produces no evidence to show fraud, the immigrant stays. The goal is to show fraud, not that there isn't fraud. The goal is to show good faith, not that there wasn't good faith.

Let's say that the citizen has proof of fraud. Or that the immigrant can't show marriage in good faith. The immigrant does not want to go before a field agent or a judge. The immigrant can avoid this by claiming abuse. When the immigrant claims abuse, the immigrant knows there will be no field agent....no judge....no interview of the citizen spouse....low standards of proof. The immigrant knows that there are no penalties for making up the allegations of abuse. The immigrant knows a green card is virtually guaranteed this route. What to do, what to do???

Why should claims of abuse be treated differently than marriage in good faith? An immigration judge can make a decision based on the preponderance of the evidence just as well as a judge in a divorce. If an immigrant is basing a self-petition based on domestic violence, it should be provable. If an immigrant has no proof of domestic violence, then the self petition should be based on marriage in good faith.

If you take away the incentive to file false domestic violence charges, that is the easier route without checks and balances, then the process is fair to everyone.

One of the standards used by the USCIS in granting a permanent green card is "being of good moral character." Is this hard to prove? Of course it is. But if, as you say, an immigrant is just being vindictive by making the false abuse charges, doesn't this bring moral character into play? If so, this does bring immigration into it.

As for suing the immigrant spouse for fraud based on the false allegations of abuse, do you really believe this is possible? Number one, no one can be charged by the court or police for making a false allegation of abuse. If you take them to civil court, do you really believe anyone would ever be awarded a judgement against someone that claimed abuse? Not in this country. Too many people are afraid of what message that would send.

As for your marriage example using a rich man and a gold-digging woman, that doesn't hold water. All marriages have the potential to turn ugly and end in divorce. If the marriage ends, it goes to court. Good intentions are not considered. That is life. A rich man can protect himself with a prenuptial agreement. The judge makes a decision based on testimony from both sides.

When a marriage ends and an immigrant is involved, and the marriage was less than two years, a local judge decides where the fault lies, and what the distribution of assets is. After the divorce, there is the immigration side as well. Immigration MUST decide if there was good intent. This is the law of the land. This is not double standards. Immigrating to the US is a privilege, not a right. The US has immigration laws in place to prevent fraud, and to protect citizens. Unfortunately, these laws contribute to fraud and do not protect citizens when an allegation of abuse is made. There is no prenuptial agreement that can protect you from false allegations of abuse.

Does VAWA have flaws? Of course it does. Are we trying to do away with VAWA? Of course not. We are not that naive. VAWA has helped and protected a lot of women. it is not going anywhere. We only hope to bring attention to this awful immigration loophole that was created by VAWA.

As I pointed out in my previous post, we are actively lobbying Congress for change. Our website mentions this as well. I have posts on this forum about our lobbying efforts as well. We do have our suggestions as to what needs to be changed, and how. These have been presented and we are actively working with Congressional aides to have them enacted.

I am truly sorry about your friend. That seems to explain why you have the strong feelings you do. Your friend could have fought this. An immigrant has better chances of finding free legal aid than a US citizen does. Was it fair to your friend? Of course not.

But do I or anyone else that has been victimized by false allegations of abuse by an immigrant spouse deserve what we got? Should our spouses have been awarded a green card based solely on allegations?

Our immigration system is broken. There are a lot of aspects to it that need to be fixed. We are here to try to fix the part of it that has severely impacted our lives. It is human nature to focus on what you know. We do not have the emotional motivation, nor the personal experience, to focus on other aspects of immigration.

You say immigrant still can defend himself and prove that "marriage fraud" did not take place when citizen "cries fraud." Well, this is not exactly the case.

That's what usually happens when citizen goes to immigration when he suspects fraud: he goes there and mentions all the "warning signs", immigration official says that "that's a classic scenario, you should get a divorce/annullment, move out, blah-blah-blah, and hey, don't forget to withdraw the petition you filed for her". That's all. No proof needed, immigrant is never contacted about the case, why, citizen of the US is presumed to tell the truth.

Application for green card is denied due to withdrawal of petition.
Soon after immigrant gets a notice to appear in immigration court in regards to removal proceedings. He goes in front of the court, judge looks at the papers. You think the judge really cares if the marriage was bona fide? Heck no! All he says is: "Ms. Jane Doe, you are a citizen of Ukrainie. You're not a resident of the US. You don't have any petition pending. I think it's time for you to go home".

The status he/she had untill the marriage is automatically cancelled (student visa, working visa, whatever kind of vise he might have had before).

There is a solution: for citizen to file a second petition on behalf of the same immigrant. Which happens a lot, because a lot of people reconcile after all! BUT! That resident already has "marriage fraud" case on his file, and immigration authorities scrutinize this second petition very carefully, and it's a fat chance it's approved.

Also, if the immigrant decides to file self-petition based on VAWA, he can't, because one of the requirements for I-360 is "marriage entered in good faith".

Again, no one is questioning immigrant about his true intentions, no one is asking for evidence, no one cares if the marriage was "bona fide'. There is no court for an immigrant to clear himself of "marriage fraud'.

How this kind of injustice could have happened in this country?

Women are weak, mentally and physically, they don’t have the intelligence that a male has, they need to keep their place in life as the helper of the man, and man cannot raise children because it’s the woman’s job that’s why it’s only a woman that has a parental instinct and not the man. It’s not ok that women hits you, but take it like a man and don’t be a woosy. A man fights the war, not a woman. Abandon ship, woman and children first. It doesn’t matter if that widowed man is the sole provider of those kids, a man stays behind.
Did I get your attention? Just some thought, I don’t believe it but most of society does. The truth is that we are different yet the same in many ways, a man and a woman, but we need to have respect to what and who we are and know that wither you believe we are here by evolution or religion we are always going to be different yet the same. Put a little respect in how we judge each-other and how we make laws. The fact is that we need each-other. Another fact, I’m a great dad, and when my wife left the first time it was only him and I, and I did a great job but I knew he needed his mother because it was possible. We didn’t get our Constitutional rights by being a weak-hearted country, we fought for it, now respect it and each other or the longest living democratic country in the world will eventually become communist (run totally by government) and the only free you’ll hear about is the government’s cheese.
Society makes our government think the way they do and that’s why they believe a woman needs to be protected so much that they don’t have the strong mind to leave an abusive relationship. Maybe if there was respect on the sides of both genders people like us wouldn’t be going through all of this bull crap that is called the Violence Against Woman’s Act, and not the Violence against People’s Act and the loopholes that comes with it.
If a woman had the mental strength to leave an abusive relationship than we wouldn’t need VAWA. If a man were not so stupid to know not to use his physical strength on a woman and just walk away than we wouldn’t need VAWA. Society made an idiotic gender hating VAWAct. Until then, just fix the loopholes.
FilesX4@yahoo.com

Rachek,

How sweet. "Just because you get divorced, why should you call immigration?" Uh, because it's not the fact that they got divorced. It's because in many cases, the marriage ends within DAYS of the foreign national (ALIEN) getting their green card. It's because the alien alleges what they know to be false allegations of domestic violence against their citizen spouse so they can get out of the sham marriage they got into in the first place so they can get their green card. It ends any questionns by immigration authorities. They get away with their crime and the VICTIM is branded the "criminal". If you don't see the injustice in that, there is a serious problem.

"Be a man". Oh, I love it. "Suck it up". "You should have known that the woman who lied to you was lying to you". "Because you are "stupid American", you deserve what you got". That's what you're saying, in effect.

It's the same as saying to a woman, "When rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it". Both attitudes are wrong. Yours as well as the one that some men have. And in both situations, it IS a rape. But you say "be a man". And if you are violated? Abused? Used? Should someone tell you to "suck it up"? And would that be ok?

Despite claims you've made that no one should tolerate or forgive false allegations of domestic violence, you haven't said no one should tolerate or forgive fraud marriages. And THAT tells me all I need to know about you. You approve of them. Nothing you have written contradicts that belief. You have tried to justify fraud marriages by saying that almost half of all marriages end in divorce. As I said, it's not the fact that it ended in divorce. but rather the fact that the alien spouse never loved the American to begin with and USED them, ABUSED them, VIOLATED them, simply to get what they selfishly wanted, which is a green card.

In otherwords, "Be a man" means what? "So what if the woman broke your heart? So what if she defrauded you? So what if she used you and abused you to get what she selfishly wanted, BE A MAN."

Your failure to come out against fraud marriages, and your attempt to somehow justify them, tells me you support fraud marriages. Let me clue you into something. Despite what you may think or believe, entering into a fraudulent marriage is a federal felony (8 USC 1325(a) ) puishible by up to five years in prison. Just because the US Attorney's Office doesn't prosecute all marriage frauds doesn't make them any less a felony. It's a CRIME. But I guess you won't accept that because, it appears, that in your world, any way one can get here and get a green card is OK, even if it is by fraud. It's also a deportable act. And, if caught, one is barred for life from ever getting a green card. And that's why American citizens report cases where they think they've been defrauded.

It's not the simple act of getting a divorce that makes one think they've been defrauded. It's the fact that the foreign born spouse lied when they said they loved the American. It's the fact that they abused the American. And it's all because they want to get something they believe they have a God given right to have, permanent residence in this country. Well, sorry to say, the law says otherwise.

If you are somehow thinking that a fraud marriage is somehow the American citizen's fault, or that they share some responsibility, then allow me to make an analogy.

A woman dresses provacatively, wears a very short skirt, no underwear, a low cut blouse without a bra, and three inch heels and walks dressed like that down a public street in a rough neighborhood. She is attacked and raped. Do you believe she somehow bears responsibility for being raped?

After you've walked a mile in their shoes, you might understand. But I don't think you will ever understand, because you will never walk so much as an inch, much less a mile, in their shoes. I say this because everything you've written, based upon my 27 years of experience with Immigration enforcement, is that you support using fraud to get permanent residence. You've all but come right out and said it. You do not agree with those who report suspected fraud to immigration. Why is that? Wouldn't you want any person who committed a crime to be held accountable for their actions? Or don't you think that immigration fraud should be a crime?

If you want, I'd love to debate you on the issue. So, allow me to end my email in a similar fashion as to how you ended yours.

Be a responsible adult.

Let's put our cards on the table and have an adult discussion about immigration fraud. What do you say?

OOSH

John Sampson,
Thanks for helping to set the record straight. I didn't expect a reply from Rachek. I guess she realized she won't win this argument against someone with your experience.


Rachek,
If you are reading this....
Your last post seems to be arguing the merits of allowing an immigrant to stay in the US just because he/she married a US citizen. You don't seem to think time should be a factor. If you have strong feelings on the subject, and wish to do something about it, by all means do so. Become an immigrant advocate, start a website, lobby Congress, your choices are limitless. But don't expect us to accept that our immigrant spouses falsely accused us of abuse so that they could remain in this country.
Your last post also has some holes in it, which I could explain again, but I have done so in my previous posts. If you wish for me to elaborate, let me know.