Repeal IMBRA petition...

[MrsWhizz 0]

Just in case anyone's interested.

I may be being naive or maybe just seriously angry. Lord knows, I've contacted a journalist doing a piece on unfair immigration practices and the ACLU. But, I found this while investigating today.

http://www.petitiononline.com/imbra05/petition.html

Edited June 8, 2006 by MrsWhizz

[Jersey Girl 2]

Good grief. It's so poorly written, it must be the brainchild of the Marriage Broker's new lobbyist. MrsWhizz, you and I may be temporarily inconvenienced by IMBRA, but in essence I think we agree there needs to be less violence against women, which is the context in which IMBRA was passed. Surely you're not suggesting we sign the petition ... ?

[elizaxyz 0]

I'm angry at the delay and the poor way in which this law was implemented, but I'm on the fence as to whether I think IMBRA is a good law or not. On the one hand, I don't think it's a bad thing to give women who go through a marriage broker information that could potentially save their lives should a fiance turn out to be violent. On the other hand, plenty of American women get married to American men without having a background check done, and no one is clamoring to protect them from what their husbands may be hiding from them. And I'm not convinced that making a third party responsible for collecting information about criminal records is a great idea. But I won't be signing any petitions any time soon.

Edited June 8, 2006 by elizaxyz

[Imbra2005 0]

I'm angry at the delay and the poor way in which this law was implemented, but I'm on the fence as to whether I think IMBRA is a good law or not. On the one hand, I don't think it's a bad thing to give women who go through a marriage broker information that could potentially save their lives should a fiance turn out to be violent. On the other hand, plenty of American women get married to American men without having a background check done, and no one is clamoring to protect them from what their husbands may be hiding from them. And I'm not convinced that making a third party responsible for collecting information about criminal records is a great idea. But I won't be signing any petitions any time soon.

The difference between American women and those who come to the United States through IMBs is that many women who come to America do so unfamilliar with the language, laws, or customs of the United States. Unlike their American counterparts, these women frequently come from countries where the police are not to be trusted, where domestic violence isn't even a crime, etc. Now take them, and isolate them thousands of miles away from any family, friends or any other support network and you may begin to see why Congress and the President thought special protection was needed for them. As to background checks, it's a lot easier as a resident of New Jersey to get a background check on someone here then it is for a foreign woman living in a village in, say, Moldova or Krzygstan to do.

[MrsWhizz 0]

Good grief. It's so poorly written, it must be the brainchild of the Marriage Broker's new lobbyist. MrsWhizz, you and I may be temporarily inconvenienced by IMBRA, but in essence I think we agree there needs to be less violence against women, which is the context in which IMBRA was passed. Surely you're not suggesting we sign the petition ... ?

Pardon me.....sheesh...I'm not suggesting anyone signs or doesn't sign anything. I was just throwing it out there. I keep my opinions to myself. Hope you have a speedy journey Jersey!

[Imbra2005 0]

Oh, and I forgot one thing...also add in the fact that the woman's legal status in the United States is entirely dependent upon the very person who may be abusing her....

[PlatyPius 5]

Here is an interesting article, written by a "feminist", on the Fox News website.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180487,00.html

In part: "What view of the American man does the IMB®A 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."

Sian already knows everything that is in my background (ie: nothing, as far as criminal record), so I am not upset about that. I am upset that we (men, primarily) are being treated as guilty until proven innocent. I am upset that I have seen no women (except Sian) state that the law is unfair and puts an unnecessary burden on Americans looking for foreign spouses.

All I've seen is women giving each other high-fives that another law has been implemented to inconvenience men, who are "mostly abusers", and to force them to release all kinds of data about themselves to a third party.

If I were to become single and start dating American women, should I start carrying a briefcase on all dates that contains my complete criminal history, my financial documents, my grade school transcripts, and my medical records?

[A Man of Action 0]

REMEMBER:

IMBRA only applies to US Males and US Females Only - only US Citizens

Only US Citizens are to be investigated.

The remainder of the Planets Population are not affected.

Yes.

Sign The Petition!!!

http://www.petitiononline.com/imbra05/petition.html

Geeez!

[iceyspots 0]

can I sign again lol

[Chuckles 0]

I think the whole IMBRA thing basically was motivated by the murder of Anastasia King. It recieved high publicity and made alot of people sick, and rightfully so. But the anger is misplaced. It takes two to tango and it seemed obvious to everyone that Anastasia was looking for a 'sugar daddy' to support her through college. That in itself is not a crime, and happens many many times between American couples.

Now I think a case like this should be examined and our civil servants should find a way to stop it from happening again. Thats great, it is why they are there in the first place. A check of the USC for previous crimes could have prevented this, and this information is so easily accesible in the police databases around the nation. We require it of the benificerary after all. They could have seen that Mr. King was convicted of spousal abuse. Officials could have used this to deny the petition and/or make the benificiary aware of this conviction.

But what about those without a record, who just didn't get caught? Well you can't protect everyone all the time and this is something people, and especially lawmakers need to accept. Mr. King could have just as easily found a victim in the United States.

I do not know why it could not end there. Making dating sites collect and distribute criminal records is so useless and creates more 'criminals' because you know they are not all going to comply. It really does nothing the stop the problem and becomes something close to invasion of privacy and does not 'feel right' to me as an American.

[Cristy 4]

Why am I and other single American gentlemen being branded as "criminal abusers" under this law?

That has not been said by anyone, talk about taking things too far. Once the law is sorted I can't see it doing anything but helping. If it causes a delay or a denial then it will probably be rightly so.

[ccmkoho 0]

Oh, and I forgot one thing...also add in the fact that the woman's legal status in the United States is entirely dependent upon the very person who may be abusing her....

Imbra2005 where's your timeline? Why are you here on VJ?

[Chuckles 0]

Why am I and other single American gentlemen being branded as "criminal abusers" under this law?

That has not been said by anyone, talk about taking things too far. Once the law is sorted I can't see it doing anything but helping. If it causes a delay or a denial then it will probably be rightly so.

I think he is referring to perfectly innocent people who must surrender their personal information to a 'personals' website. There is more to the law then just how the Immigration services deal with applications.

As far as a background check for the USC... big deal. They do that now, this will just be done with another agency. I hope in the end it helps a few people.

[Imbra2005 0]

IMBRA was motivated by far far more than just Anastasia King:

ALABAMA

Thomas Robert Lane was charged with the murder of his estranged Filipina wife, Teresa Lane. Teresa’s body was discovered in a bathtub filled with running water. Authorities found evidence that Lane drowned his wife by pinning her under the water with his foot. A forensic physician determined that Teresa was also subjected to blunt force trauma. During the couple’s separation, Lane had been trying to arrange to marry yet another woman from the Philippines.

CALIFORNIA

Marilyn Carroll married Steffan Carroll in the Philippines in 1988. One year later, he traveled to Thailand to marry another young woman, Preeya. Before marrying his second wife, Carroll assured her that it was legal in California to have two wives. The bigamous marriage ended when Marilyn called the police to report that Carroll had sexually assaulted her – restraining her with thumbcuffs and other devices during the attack. Carroll was charged with bigamy and false imprisonment.

GEORGIA

Shortly after Katerina Sheridan, a young woman from Siberia, married Frank Sheridan, he kept her a virtual prisoner, forbidding her to keep her own set of house keys, and taking away her visa, passport, and birth certificate. Later, he also took away her cell phone and cut all the phone lines in the house. He flew into violent rages, on one occasion beating Katerina and dragging her around the house by her legs. After several such incidents, Katerina told him that she wanted to go back to Russia. In retaliation, Sheridan stabbed himself and then accused her of doing it to get her thrown in jail. Later, Katerina managed to make it to a women’s shelter, but Sheridan stalked her relentlessly and tried to get her detained and deported. When police went to arrest Frank for aggravated stalking, they discovered he was in Russia looking for a new bride. Months later, when an officer went to arrest Sheridan for another stalking-related crime, he shot the officer. The deputy returned fire and killed Sheridan.

HAWAII

The mutilated body of a young Filipina woman, Helen Mendoza Krug, was found in a garbage dumpster behind her high-rise apartment building. The murder was committed in front of her 2-year-old son by her husband, Robert Krug, whom she had met through an IMB. Krug was sentenced to life in prison.

KENTUCKY

“Dina” corresponded with her husband “Paul,” an anesthesiologist, for several months before she agreed to marry him when he visited her and her family in Ethiopia. When she came to the United States, however, Paul took Dina’s money and passport, brought her to a motel (the first of five), and kept her drugged and imprisoned for weeks while he subjected her to horrific physical, sexual, and mental abuse. Paul also threatened Dina that she, not Paul, would be arrested and jailed if she reported him to the police. Only when Paul left to attend a conference for a few days did she regain enough consciousness and strength to drag herself to the motel office for help. Paul killed himself before he could be prosecuted. Dina received protection under US trafficking laws.

MINNESOTA

Soon after “Medina,” a Ukrainian college professor, married “Thomas,” a well-respected doctor, Thomas turned controlling and violent. Among other outbursts, he threatened Medina with a knife; kicked her in the chest; and even attempted to push her out of a moving car. Thomas also slept with an ax in his drawer and threatened to have her deported if she ever called the police. Medina left Thomas after he broke her son’s finger. Today, Medina continues to live in constant fear of Thomas, who stalks and harasses her. Despite knowing about Medina’s abuse, the IMB facilitated a new match between Thomas and another Ukrainian woman who also later fled because of abuse. Medina was Thomas’ third wife; he had also abused at least one of his prior wives.

NEW JERSEY

A 26 year-old Ukrainian engineer named Alla bled to death on the floor of her car after her husband Lester Barney, 58, slashed her throat in front of the couple’s 4-year-old son, Daniel. Barney fled with Daniel from the scene, the parking lot of the boy’s daycare center, but after an Amber Alert was triggered he turned Daniel over to a friend and was himself taken into custody by police. Alla had been granted a restraining order against Barney a few months before and had been given temporary custody of Daniel.

NEW YORK

Andrew Gole, a former policeman from Long Island, was convicted of murdering Martha Isabel Moncada on a trip back to her home country, Honduras, after she told him she did not want to return with him to the United States. Martha had tried to leave the abusive Gole before, but had feared losing custody of their newborn son to him. Gole strangled and dismembered Martha in their hotel room in front of their baby and Martha’s disabled son from her first marriage, then dumped her remains along the roadside. Police arrested Gole as he tried to flee the country after abandoning the older boy at a gas station.

PENNSYLVANIA

Though she was trained as an accountant, Norman McDonald compelled his Ukrainian wife to take several waitress jobs and rely on him for transportation so he would have long stretches of time alone with her daughter, who was only 3 when the couple married. With his wife securely out of the house, McDonald showed the toddler pornographic videos of what he wanted to do to her and then raped her. Two years after the abuse started, his wife discovered what McDonald was doing and immediately contacted the police. Authorities found more than 10,000 images of child pornography in McDonald’s computer and hundreds of video clips that depicted him having sex with his stepdaughter. McDonald’s 28-year-old daughter from a previous marriage testified that her father had also abused her as a child.

TEXAS

Jack Reeves, a retired U.S. Army officer, was convicted of killing his fourth wife, Emelita Reeves, a 26-year-old from the Philippines whom he met through an IMB called “Cherry Blossoms.” Emelita had confided to family and friends that Reeves physically and sexually abused her, and told friends she planned to leave him a day before she disappeared. Two of Reeves’ previous wives also died under suspicious circumstances (drowning and suicide). During the investigation into Emelita’s death, the State re-opened the investigation into Reeves’ second wife’s death, and obtained a further conviction against him. The State did not have enough evidence to re-open the investigation into the third wife’s murder because Reeves had cremated her body. Reeves was also suspected in the mysterious disappearance of a Russian woman with whom he had lived in 1991.

VIRGINIA/MARYLAND

A young Ukrainian medical student named “Nina” married “John,” a U.S. military officer residing in Virginia whom she met through a Maryland-based IMB with a “satisfaction guaranteed” policy. Throughout their one-year marriage, John repeatedly physically and emotionally abused Nina, shaking her violently and insisting that she repeat the commands he gave her. He choked, raped, and beat her on several occasions, ripped a tooth out of her mouth, and threatened her with a knife. When Nina informed the president of the IMB about the abuse, the president said that Nina’s experience was normal and that many girls had the same problem. The president said domestic violence is “just the American culture,” and abuse is “very hard to prove.”

WASHINGTON

Susanna Blackwell met her husband through an IMB called “Asian Encounters” and left the Philippines to settle with him in Washington state in 1994. Blackwell physically abused Susanna, including one incident in which he choked her the day after their wedding. Susanna reported the abuse to the police and obtained a protection order against him. While awaiting divorce/annulment proceedings in a Seattle courtroom many months later, the pregnant Susanna and two of her friends were shot to death. Blackwell was convicted of murdering all three women.

Anastasia King, a young woman from Kyrgyzstan, was found strangled to death and buried in a shallow grave in Washington state in December 2000. At the age of 18, Anastasia was selected by her husband, Indle King, out of an IMB’s catalogue of prospective brides. Two years later, wanting another bride and allegedly unwilling to pay for a divorce, King ordered a tenant in their Washington home to kill Anastasia. Weighing nearly 300 pounds, King pinned Anastasia down while the tenant strangled her with a necktie. Both were convicted of murder. King’s previous wife, whom he had also met through an IMB, had a domestic violence protection order issued against him and left him because he was abusive.

And then there was this court case featured in Newsweek and USA Today:

On November 18, 2004, a federal jury in Baltimore, Maryland awarded Ukrainian mail order bride Nataliya Fox $433,500 ($341,000 of which were punitive damages) against international marriage broker Encounters International and its owner, Natasha Spivack. Spivack arranged Nataliya's marriage to an American man with a history of violently abusing women and who, after being matched with Nataliya, savagely abused her over the course of their marriage. The jury unanimously found the marriage broker guilty of fraud, unfair and deceptive trade practices, willful and wanton negligence, unauthorized appropriation of Ms. Fox's name and likeness, and defamation. The jury found the mail order bride company liable for failing to tell Nataliya about a federal law that allows foreign nationals to escape abusive marriages without fear of automatic deportation, and for actively misleading her about her legal options. The jury also found EI liable for misrepresenting that it screened male clients when it did not; and publicizing Nataliya’s marriage to Mr. Fox as an EI “success” story, without her permission, even after she fled to a domestic violence shelter. On April 14, 2006 a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the jury's verdict in full, noting that Spivack's conduct involved "moral turpitude.

[pax 0]

But hey, what's a few abused, raped, tortured, and/or murdered women compared to the gutwrenching, heartbreaking inconvenience of filling out an extra form?