IMBRA restraining order denied

[ccmkoho 0]

Not sure if this has been posted. This decision is from last Thursday.

http://usaimmigrationattorney.com/JudgeRos...rDenyingTRO.pdf

[pax 0]

Because this speech takes place between a client who is paying money to a broker who is in the business of disseminating information for the client, the Court perceives this also as a form of commercial speech. The statute compels provision of information regarding a product, the domestic client, being offered to a potential foreign spouse, not unlike product labeling laws that compel and regulate speech in other markets.

Plaintiffs’ Equal Protection claim asserts discrimination on the basis of non-suspect classifications. Therefore, there need only be a rational basis for the distinction excluding non-profit religious and traditional cultural marriage brokers and domestic dating services. The government asserts that men who pay for access to a foreign bride harbor a heightened sense of ownership that leads to potentially higher rates of abuse. While Plaintiffs have put forward some statistical evidence that tends to debunk this theory, it is not sufficient to support a conclusion that Plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim.

Bingo.

Edited May 30, 2006 by pax

[ccmkoho 0]

Because this speech takes place between a client who is paying money to a broker who is in the business of disseminating information for the client, the Court perceives this also as a form of commercial speech. The statute compels provision of information regarding a product, the domestic client, being offered to a potential foreign spouse, not unlike product labeling laws that compel and regulate speech in other markets.

Plaintiffs’ Equal Protection claim asserts discrimination on the basis of non-suspect classifications. Therefore, there need only be a rational basis for the distinction excluding non-profit religious and traditional cultural marriage brokers and domestic dating services. The government asserts that men who pay for access to a foreign bride harbor a heightened sense of ownership that leads to potentially higher rates of abuse. While Plaintiffs have put forward some statistical evidence that tends to debunk this theory, it is not sufficient to support a conclusion that Plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim.

Bingo.

"The government asserts that men who pay for access to a foreign bride harbor a heightened sense of ownership that leads to potentially higher rates of abuse."

Wow, what a bunch of #######! Where are the stats to back this claim?

[pax 0]

Female conditional residents are at risk for abuse due not only to their status as women in a culture in which violence against women is relatively common,(6) but also to their position as immigrants who marry citizens or legal permanent residents (LPR' s).(7) Studies vary widely in estimating the percentage (between 12-50%) of all married women who experience some form of domestic battery in their lives.(8) Whatever the rate in the general population, the percentage for immigrant women is probably higher.(9) Linguistic and cultural differences between spouses may hamper communication, tolerance, and understanding.(10) The immigrant wife may be economically(11) and psychologically(12) dependent upon her spouse, limiting her alternatives to the relationship and placing her at increased risk for domestic violence.(13) Stresses associated with migration itself, discrimination against racial minorities in this country, poverty, unemployment, and crowded living conditions heighten the chance that a husband will become abusive.(14) Forty-eight percent of Latinas in a Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Services study reported that domestic violence against them had increased since they immigrated to the United States.(15) Therefore, conditional resident status affects the lives of women who already face an enhanced risk of domestic violence from their partners.

http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/anderson/brides/pg1.html (reprinted from the Yale Law Journal)

Today, an American seeking to marry someone through an international marriage broker holds all of the cards. The American client has the benefit of a complete background check on his future wife, which is a requirement of the immigration process. In addition, the brokers provide clients extensive information about the women they offer, everything from their favorite movies and hobbies to whether they are sexually promiscuous.

Conversely, the foreign fiancée only gets whatever information her future spouse wants to share. These women have no way of confirming what they are told about previous marriages or relationships -- or the American client's criminal history.

Most of the foreign brides advertised by the international marriage brokers come from countries where women are oppressed, have few educational or professional opportunities, and where violence against women is condoned, if not encouraged. Because of the cultural differences, researchers say there is an inherent imbalance of power in these relationships between American men and foreign women.

Because these women often immigrate alone, they have no family or other support network and rely on their husbands for everything. Such dependency can make it difficult for a wife to report abuse without worrying that doing so is a surefire ticket to deportation. Researchers agree that isolation and dependency put these women at greater risk of domestic abuse.

http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=242451& (Maria Cantwell's Senate testimony)

According to "The Health Care Response to Domestic Violence" (anon. 1994), "Within the last year 7 percent of American women (3.9 million) who are married or are living with someone as a couple were physically abused, and 37 percent (20.7 million) were verbally or emotionally abused by their spouse or partner."

While no national figures exist on abuse of alien wives, there is every reason to believe that the incidence is higher in this population than for the nation as a whole. Authorities agree that abuse in these marriages can be expected based on the men's desire for a submissive wife and the women's desire for a better life. At some point, after the alien bride has had time to adjust to the new environment, to make new friends, and to become comfortable with the language, her new independence and his domination are bound to conflict. The problem, according to Mila Glodava (Glodava and Onizuka, 1994) and Uma Narayan (Narayan, 1995), is largely due to the men's unrealistic expectations. While many state a desire for a submissive wife, they find that such dependence becomes a burden. To provide some relief, the husband seeks ways (friends, activities) that will get the wife "out of the house" on occasion. The resulting independence then angers the husband who manifests the anger on the wife, who may have only been guilty of trying to please her husband.

http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/reps...ies/Mobappa.htm (USCIS's own study on the subject)

[ccmkoho 0]

Female conditional residents are at risk for abuse due not only to their status as women in a culture in which violence against women is relatively common,(6) but also to their position as immigrants who marry citizens or legal permanent residents (LPR' s).(7) Studies vary widely in estimating the percentage (between 12-50%) of all married women who experience some form of domestic battery in their lives.(8) Whatever the rate in the general population, the percentage for immigrant women is probably higher.(9) Linguistic and cultural differences between spouses may hamper communication, tolerance, and understanding.(10) The immigrant wife may be economically(11) and psychologically(12) dependent upon her spouse, limiting her alternatives to the relationship and placing her at increased risk for domestic violence.(13) Stresses associated with migration itself, discrimination against racial minorities in this country, poverty, unemployment, and crowded living conditions heighten the chance that a husband will become abusive.(14) Forty-eight percent of Latinas in a Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Services study reported that domestic violence against them had increased since they immigrated to the United States.(15) Therefore, conditional resident status affects the lives of women who already face an enhanced risk of domestic violence from their partners.

http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/anderson/brides/pg1.html (reprinted from the Yale Law Journal)

Today, an American seeking to marry someone through an international marriage broker holds all of the cards. The American client has the benefit of a complete background check on his future wife, which is a requirement of the immigration process. In addition, the brokers provide clients extensive information about the women they offer, everything from their favorite movies and hobbies to whether they are sexually promiscuous.

Conversely, the foreign fiancée only gets whatever information her future spouse wants to share. These women have no way of confirming what they are told about previous marriages or relationships -- or the American client's criminal history.

Most of the foreign brides advertised by the international marriage brokers come from countries where women are oppressed, have few educational or professional opportunities, and where violence against women is condoned, if not encouraged. Because of the cultural differences, researchers say there is an inherent imbalance of power in these relationships between American men and foreign women.

Because these women often immigrate alone, they have no family or other support network and rely on their husbands for everything. Such dependency can make it difficult for a wife to report abuse without worrying that doing so is a surefire ticket to deportation. Researchers agree that isolation and dependency put these women at greater risk of domestic abuse.

http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=242451& (Maria Cantwell's Senate testimony)

According to "The Health Care Response to Domestic Violence" (anon. 1994), "Within the last year 7 percent of American women (3.9 million) who are married or are living with someone as a couple were physically abused, and 37 percent (20.7 million) were verbally or emotionally abused by their spouse or partner."

While no national figures exist on abuse of alien wives, there is every reason to believe that the incidence is higher in this population than for the nation as a whole. Authorities agree that abuse in these marriages can be expected based on the men's desire for a submissive wife and the women's desire for a better life. At some point, after the alien bride has had time to adjust to the new environment, to make new friends, and to become comfortable with the language, her new independence and his domination are bound to conflict. The problem, according to Mila Glodava (Glodava and Onizuka, 1994) and Uma Narayan (Narayan, 1995), is largely due to the men's unrealistic expectations. While many state a desire for a submissive wife, they find that such dependence becomes a burden. To provide some relief, the husband seeks ways (friends, activities) that will get the wife "out of the house" on occasion. The resulting independence then angers the husband who manifests the anger on the wife, who may have only been guilty of trying to please her husband.

http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/reps...ies/Mobappa.htm (USCIS's own study on the subject)

Again no stats pertaining to "men who pay for access to a foreign bride harbor a heightened sense of ownership that leads to potentially higher rates of abuse." Show me some stats that tell me a foreign bride that met her spouse through an IMBRA is at more risk than a foreign bride who met someone through a chat room.

[pax 0]

The links I posted, and many more that popped up with a simple Google, all agreed that foreign brides are at a higher risk of abuse than American women who marry American men. While I'm sure that the vast majority of men on VJ are lovely, gentle, well-intentioned people, the horror stories do happen, and apparently with enough frequency that a law needed to be passed.

To entertain your position for a moment, imagine that an American woman decides to marry an American man she met online. Further imagine that, say, the man lives in Alaska and the woman lives in Florida, for an extreme geographical and cultural distance. She moves to Alaska with this man and shortly thereafter she finds herself abused.

She most likely has friends and family with whom she can communicate for free or quite cheaply. She can communicate her problem in clear English to health care or law enforcement workers without fear of losing legal status. Most importantly, she could flee to Canada (if she lived in Alaska, to get back to the States) on a moment's notice or to, say, Washington State on nothing but a driver's license and a birth certificate, or a passport if she has one. A foreign bride likely has none of these avenues available to her.

Edited May 30, 2006 by pax

[Imbra2005 0]

This is from Wikipedia and there are citations to all this stuff there. The other thing you have to remember is that these women arrive here not only isolated from their support networks (family and friends) but they are also unfamilliar with the language, laws, and customs of their new country. Many don't even realize that domestic abuse is a crime in the USA.

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."

In enacting IMBRA, the Congress of the United States was responding to concerns that because of the particular susceptibility of mail order brides to domestic abuse and that they are unfamilliar with the laws, language and customs of their new home, special legislation was needed to protect them. The United States Congress specifically considered several notable cases mentioned in the Congressional Record. Three of the most famous cases are:

In September, 2003 a 26-year-old Ukrainian engineer and mail order bride named Alla Barney bled to death on the floor of her car after her American 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.

Susanna Blackwell met her husband through an International Marriage Broker 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 much older husband, Indle King, out of a marriage broker'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.

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

please post here:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13584