REASON FOR IMBRA ???

[Taye500 0]

For anybody interested in the reason for IMBRA can watch American Justice at A&E at 0100 am EST today. There is a case about mail order bride.

[slim 1,514]

I watched that show... if it's the one about Anastasia from Kyrgyzstan, I don't know if IMBRA would have helped her.

She married a man and went to Washington State, was unhappy, and returned home. He flew there to convince her and her family that everything was OK. Obviously, it wasn't, and she returned with him anyway. Upon arrival back in Washington, he killed her.

IMBRA would've prevented him from bringing her to the US in the first place, but it wouldn't have stopped her from going back a second time. When women are willing (even pressured by their family) to marry men whom they don't even know from "rich" countries, there's always going to be a chance, IMBRA or no IMBRA, that they will be abused once here.

[gimygirl 0]

not on here in Jersey ...

[Karen_L 1]

I watched that show... if it's the one about Anastasia from Kyrgyzstan, I don't know if IMBRA would have helped her.

She married a man and went to Washington State, was unhappy, and returned home. He flew there to convince her and her family that everything was OK. Obviously, it wasn't, and she returned with him anyway. Upon arrival back in Washington, he killed her.

IMBRA would've prevented him from bringing her to the US in the first place, but it wouldn't have stopped her from going back a second time. When women are willing (even pressured by their family) to marry men whom they don't even know from "rich" countries, there's always going to be a chance, IMBRA or no IMBRA, that they will be abused once here.

I didn't see the show, but given your summary, it also seems like the IMBRA may not have kept her from coming here in the first place either -- did the husband have a prior criminal record? Even if he did, she still could have chosen to chance it and marry him anyways. Given the fact that she returned to him after living with him unhappily for a while, she probably would have chosen to get married anyway.

It's terrible what happened to her and stories like this probably are why they drafted the IMBRA, even though I remain unconvinced about what kind of positive impact the law will ultimately have, since I feel MANY foreign fiancees/fiances would choose to marry despite the gov't's warnings about the future spouse. I certainly hope I'm wrong though and all this extra waiting and headache so many VJers are facing isn't all for nothing!

-- Karen

Edited June 20, 2006 by Karen_L

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I watched that show... if it's the one about Anastasia from Kyrgyzstan, I don't know if IMBRA would have helped her.

She married a man and went to Washington State, was unhappy, and returned home. He flew there to convince her and her family that everything was OK. Obviously, it wasn't, and she returned with him anyway. Upon arrival back in Washington, he killed her.

IMBRA would've prevented him from bringing her to the US in the first place, but it wouldn't have stopped her from going back a second time. When women are willing (even pressured by their family) to marry men whom they don't even know from "rich" countries, there's always going to be a chance, IMBRA or no IMBRA, that they will be abused once here.

But should it be a problem for the U.S.? I'd be curious to know how many women who immigrated to America as foreign brides ended up being victims of abuse and consequently taken care of by the taxpayer (affidavit of support is important for obvious reasons). I'm not griping about taking care of them as a taxpayer (they are the victims), but I'd rather see we do a better job of screening the kind of men who are bringing foreign brides here, especially if all it means is that we take a look at his criminal record to see if he has a history of domestic violence. Heck, we should be doing that for anyone wanting to marry, foreign or domestic.

[Imbra2005 0]

Would IMBRA have saved Anastasia King's life? We cannot possibly know. But had IMBRA been in effect, she would have known that her husband, Idle King, had previously gotten a mail order bride, and that she had taken out multiple restraining orders against him due to his violent tendencies. Would Anastasia have acted on that information? Who knows. But because she was never told about his past K-1 petition and his abuse history, she didn't even have the chance to consider it.

Before he killed Anastasia, he began efforts to find a third mail order bride -- he wanted to get rid of Anastasia, he just didn't want to have to pay to divorce her.

[Chuckles 0]

I'd be curious to know how many women who immigrated to America as foreign brides ended up being victims of abuse and consequently taken care of by the taxpayer

I so badly want to give this a rest, but I can't resist...

Do you believe this number would be any different then non-foreign brides? I highly doubt it.

I've seen that show before, plus I lived in the area near where the crime was commited, so I saw it on the news quite often. At the time I had no knowledge of the K1 process and how that worked, so I was outraged like anyone else. I thought it was a matter of a few papers and wait a few weeks the way things were portrayed. Of course it is not.

What got me was how fake their marriage seemed all along. How was anyone fooled into thinking that was not a sham marriage? And in fairness, Anastasia was using her husband for access to the U of W for her medical training. You could tell she did not want to be close to him. That is not a trait of Kyrgystan women. Ask almaty2004.

I strongly believe IMBRA would not have helped Anastasia. Mr. King could have easily used yahoo personals, adult friend finder, or one of many other internet dating sites to find an American victim. There are also crimes of passion in America angainst Americans, how do you stop these? Not allow people to have passion?

[miker32us 6]

There is another famous case which is documented on CandleForLove. A chinese women and her daughter were brought to the US and after a few months the women caught her husband molesting her daughter. He was arrested and it turned out he was a convicted child molestor so he will be in jail for life. IMBRA was signed into law to protect a spouse brought to the US from an abusive USC, whether it be husband or an abusive wife.

I'd be curious to know how many women who immigrated to America as foreign brides ended up being victims of abuse and consequently taken care of by the taxpayer

I so badly want to give this a rest, but I can't resist...

Do you believe this number would be any different then non-foreign brides? I highly doubt it.

I've seen that show before, plus I lived in the area near where the crime was commited, so I saw it on the news quite often. At the time I had no knowledge of the K1 process and how that worked, so I was outraged like anyone else. I thought it was a matter of a few papers and wait a few weeks the way things were portrayed. Of course it is not.

What got me was how fake their marriage seemed all along. How was anyone fooled into thinking that was not a sham marriage? And in fairness, Anastasia was using her husband for access to the U of W for her medical training. You could tell she did not want to be close to him. That is not a trait of Kyrgystan women. Ask almaty2004.

I strongly believe IMBRA would not have helped Anastasia. Mr. King could have easily used yahoo personals, adult friend finder, or one of many other internet dating sites to find an American victim. There are also crimes of passion in America angainst Americans, how do you stop these? Not allow people to have passion?

[UmmSqueakster 54]

It looks like this case was one of those cited when IMBRA was signed into law

"These common sense safeguards will protect women like Anastasia King and Susanna Blackwell, whose lives could have been saved if these protections had been in place when they needed them," Larsen said.

"These women didn't know what was legal. They were not on an equal playing field when they got here," said Larsen spokeswoman Abbey Levenshus in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.

But something from that article makes me curious

The provision also would end "the wife lottery," Levenshus said.

"Until this law, it was perfectly OK to apply for as many foreign-fiancee visas as you wanted at one particular time. ... and whichever one is approved first is the winner," she said.

Now, American men can only apply for one foreign-fiancee visa at a time.

"We're not trying to stop you from having a second chance" if things don't work out, Levenshus said. "We just don't want you to have six chances at the same time."

She noted that King "already had another fiancee visa in the works when he murdered Anastasia."

Is that true??

[Chuckles 0]

There is another famous case which is documented on CandleForLove. A chinese women and her daughter were brought to the US and after a few months the women caught her husband molesting her daughter. He was arrested and it turned out he was a convicted child molestor so he will be in jail for life. IMBRA was signed into law to protect a spouse brought to the US from an abusive USC, whether it be husband or an abusive wife.

I'd be curious to know how many women who immigrated to America as foreign brides ended up being victims of abuse and consequently taken care of by the taxpayer

I so badly want to give this a rest, but I can't resist...

Do you believe this number would be any different then non-foreign brides? I highly doubt it.

I've seen that show before, plus I lived in the area near where the crime was commited, so I saw it on the news quite often. At the time I had no knowledge of the K1 process and how that worked, so I was outraged like anyone else. I thought it was a matter of a few papers and wait a few weeks the way things were portrayed. Of course it is not.

What got me was how fake their marriage seemed all along. How was anyone fooled into thinking that was not a sham marriage? And in fairness, Anastasia was using her husband for access to the U of W for her medical training. You could tell she did not want to be close to him. That is not a trait of Kyrgystan women. Ask almaty2004.

I strongly believe IMBRA would not have helped Anastasia. Mr. King could have easily used yahoo personals, adult friend finder, or one of many other internet dating sites to find an American victim. There are also crimes of passion in America angainst Americans, how do you stop these? Not allow people to have passion?

What is in place to protect American women and children from this man? Why aren't we making it a requirement for men to reveal their criminal history before they recieve a fellow Americans contact information? Wouldn't that save Americans?

[Imbra2005 0]

I'd be curious to know how many women who immigrated to America as foreign brides ended up being victims of abuse and consequently taken care of by the taxpayer (affidavit of support is important for obvious reasons). I'm not griping about taking care of them as a taxpayer (they are the victims), but I'd rather see we do a better job of screening the kind of men who are bringing foreign brides here, especially if all it means is that we take a look at his criminal record to see if he has a history of domestic violence. Heck, we should be doing that for anyone wanting to marry, foreign or domestic.

According to USCIS statistics, from the time that VAWA made it possible in 1996 for foreign spouses to leave their abuser and self-petition for their own immigration status through March 2005, approximately 38,000 I-360 applications were filed, 30,672 were approved, and approximately 7200 were denied.

[~*Dorothy*~ 2]

Interesting comments...some valid points are made here...have never seen the show...this law is a controversial one and stirs a lot of heated arguments...both pro and con...I am one of the lucky ones that was not affected by it and sometimes I wonder if I would truly go insane if further delays were to affect our application....I consider myself one of the lucky ones who got processed in under 5 months and my heart goes out to all the couples that are enduring much longer waiting time...IMBRA has been enacted to protect the beneficiary...and I think that taking under consideration the brief description of Anastasia King's case this law would have raised some valid questions about Mr. King's activities...Would it prevent the tragedy? That we will never know ...right now that the law is in full effect I hope that something good will come out of it...for now it is just a lot of delays and a lot of frustration...

[seldi 1]

What about American brides? There is no such law for americans marrying americans. What if married my ex boyfriend from college and he ended up murdering me because I broke up with him? I also would have never known he had a criminal record. You can't exactly do a google search on someone's background.

Maybe they should create this law for EVERYONE.

I don't think this is about protecting foreigners at all. This is just another way to make it even harder for people to come to the US.

[mrsushi66 0]

I hate the fact that I have to wait longer to be with Anna. She is in a stressful job that will eventually have an affect on her health, if it has not already. We truly enjoy one anothers company, we are crazy about one another. We miss each other terribly and I want to be with her so badly it hurts.

I am also for any pocess that helps safe guard the person who is coming from another country to be with someone they have come to love. I know the process if not full proof and I know that it might not save everyone but if it saves just one person I will not have waited in vein. Could the process be better yes, but I doubt any of the people writing the law have actually been through what each of us is going through or they would have figured out a way to improve the process without adding time to it.

I personally will set up a checking account as well as a saftey deposit box in Anna's name (and only her name) so that she will have access to enough money and her passport to leave me if things become unbearable for her. I don't want her to ever feel trapped or that she does not have any choices.

Paul/Anna

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I'd be curious to know how many women who immigrated to America as foreign brides ended up being victims of abuse and consequently taken care of by the taxpayer

I so badly want to give this a rest, but I can't resist...

Do you believe this number would be any different then non-foreign brides? I highly doubt it.

I've seen that show before, plus I lived in the area near where the crime was commited, so I saw it on the news quite often. At the time I had no knowledge of the K1 process and how that worked, so I was outraged like anyone else. I thought it was a matter of a few papers and wait a few weeks the way things were portrayed. Of course it is not.

What got me was how fake their marriage seemed all along. How was anyone fooled into thinking that was not a sham marriage? And in fairness, Anastasia was using her husband for access to the U of W for her medical training. You could tell she did not want to be close to him. That is not a trait of Kyrgystan women. Ask almaty2004.

I strongly believe IMBRA would not have helped Anastasia. Mr. King could have easily used yahoo personals, adult friend finder, or one of many other internet dating sites to find an American victim. There are also crimes of passion in America angainst Americans, how do you stop these? Not allow people to have passion?

I think the wrong argument was made. It's speculative whether or not IMBRA would have helped Anastasia. That really shouldn't be the focus. It would have made her better informed and that to me makes logical sense. Laws and regulations will never 'fix' the problem, but that doesn't negate the necessity to have them.

Look at this way. Suppose you wanted to start you're own domestic matchmaking service. You'd want clientele who will build a good reputation for you. You'd do your best to screen the type of people using your service as your business depends on that. However, with international agencies, there is no governing body that can regulate it. The less scrupulous agencies know that full well and exploit both sides (American and foreigner) for the sake of profit. IMBRA can't regulate those agencies, but it can affect the business practices by putting a stop to people with domestic violence histories from bringing over foreign women. The agencies will have to begin to start screening their applicants or face losing business when their visa success rate tanks.

Edited June 20, 2006 by StevenJinky