It was already too late for New York businessman Bob Williams to recognise his fictitious marriage to a much younger, muscular, and attractive South American man. He had lost $50,000 and was on the verge of going crazy.
Williams was in for another shock when his marriage fell apart in a matter of months. His spouse reported violence to the police, which qualified him for protections provided to immigrants by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
The rule is hailed for aiding immigrant men and women who have experienced domestic violence, but detractors claim it also makes it much too simple for marriage fraudsters to get Green Cards, and thousands or hundreds of thousands of them allegedly defraud the system every year.
Williams, who is in his 50s, told DailyMail.com, “What they do, and it’s apparently widespread, is they seek out males they can fool into a relationship to rip you off and acquire papers.”
And yet, despite the fact that there is nowhere for us to go, politicians continue to talk about the benefits they provide for immigrants.
Due to the delicate nature of the situation and legal concerns, DailyMail.com has refrained from using Williams’ actual name and will not name the spouse.
Even nevertheless, his tale is reminiscent of many other Americans who have fallen victim to marriage fraud. These cases often include middle-aged men and women, a younger foreigner who wants to immigrate to the country, a brief courtship, and a hasty wedding.
According to Williams, he met his future wife on a dating website. Within months, they were engaged and planning to move the groom’s family to the United States. It was a “magical” beginning and unusually quick.
Despite receiving urgent pleas for money from distressed family members back home and overheard talks between his spouse and acquaintances in Spanish, a language Williams does not know, he ignored the warning flags. He claims that he continued to pay the bills.
Williams claims that “everything changed” as soon as US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) finished processing his husband’s work visa.
They began rowing obstinately. He moved out after learning that his spouse had a prior, lengthy connection with another man.
Then, the husband secured a restraining order and filed an official complaint of severe cruelty against Williams. He moved to another state on his own and completed the immigration procedure. Several years later, a contentious divorce was finalised.
When an immigrant marries an American, they normally have to live together for a number of years while also completing paperwork and attending interviews to prove their relationship is genuine. Eventually, they may apply for permanent residence in the U.S.
However, VAWA rules enable immigrant spouses to disqualify their American partner and finish the Green Card application process on their own by demonstrating that they were the victims of “violence or excessive cruelty.”
Domestic violence allegations are investigated, but detractors claim that immigration teams are overworked, that little proof is necessary, that single Green Card applications are often approved, and that the system is susceptible to fraud.
Williams has found it difficult to get beyond the stigmatisation of his name and the system’s apparent indifference to victims of marriage scams, in addition to the turbulent marital stress that caused him to lose 40 pounds and consider suicide.
It’s a hard lesson to learn in life, he remarked. It stinks to know that others are stumbling into it.
While the VAWA has helped many immigrants escape violent marriages, there have also been countless instances of Americans falling for a scam and afterwards feeling let down by their nation’s immigration system, such as Williams’.
In Facebook groups like the Marriage Fraud Victims Support Group and End Marriage Fraud for Immigration, many of these victims relate their experiences. The popular reality programme 90 Day Fiancé included a lot of duplicitous foreign partners.
Marriage fraud’s entire scope is unknown. According to a legal advocacy organisation called the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), 30% of all marriages between Americans and foreigners are for the purpose of getting a Green Card.
Out of the 304,334 Green Cards given to spouses of U.S. citizens in 2019—one of the most recent years for which statistics are available—that estimate would equal to around 90,000 fake marriages.
This figure includes all sorts of fraud, even when one of the partners is an American who cooperates with the con by helping a friend abroad or even accepting payment to persuade USCIS that the marriage is legitimate. The standard price is $25,000
In recent years, the average number of VAWA single Green Card applicants has been close to 3,000. A “significant proportion” of them are fake, according to David North, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank, although the exact percentage varies from 20 to 70%.
USCIS asserts that in addition to providing ‘anti-fraud training’ classes to aid employees in catching liars, it works hard to safeguard immigrants who suffer abuse at the hands of an American spouse.
According to a spokeswoman for USCIS, the agency will take necessary action if fraud signs are found when evaluating a VAWA petition.
Many people applaud the 1994 VAWA bill for addressing domestic abuse. It is often renewed, including in March during the Biden administration. With awards totaling $224.9 million, the Department of Justice this month strengthened VAWA anti-abuse initiatives.
Allison Randall, the interim head of the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women, said last month that although VAWA’s “rules and financing are not ideal,” many victims have benefited from it.
Marriage fraudsters are identified and brought to justice, but it has shown to be simpler to apprehend bigger criminal organisations than lone scammers.
Federal prosecutors said in April that they had dismantled a sizable immigrant marriage fraud ring that had amassed more than $8 million over the course of five years by setting up fictitious unions and submitting more than 400 false applications to USCIS.
The ring, which had its headquarters in southern California, was purportedly run by Marcialito Biol Benitez, often known as “Mars,” a Filipino who oversaw brokers who looked for Americans prepared to pay to be linked in fictitious marriages.
Court records reveal that when the marriages broke down, often because the American citizen was leaving, the gang members falsely accused them of domestic abuse and sought Green Cards under VAWA.
In order to pressure USCIS to take action against their separated spouses, numerous Americans, largely males, approached Los Angeles-based attorney Daniel Perlman with accounts similar to Williams’.
He suggested that VAWA legislation be “revisited” in order to “fix loopholes.”
Many specialists concur. In order to avoid becoming mired down in yet another protracted appeals process, immigration officers with backlogs rubber stamp dubious VAWA petitions, according to RJ Hauman of the think tank Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
Congress needs to take quick action to fix the VAWA fraud loophole and provide more money for more thorough investigations into these alleged crimes. To DailyMail.com, Hauman said.
Americans who have been duped into marriage scams are urged by USCIS to report their experiences.
U.S. citizens are “targets of individuals wanting easy entry” to U.S. employment and universities, according to Matt O’Brien, a former immigration judge and USCIS fraud detection director who now oversees investigations at IRLI. O’Brien advises Americans to be vigilant.
Put common sense to use! It probably wasn’t love at first sight if you’re a typical 40- to 50-year-old American who falls in love with a strikingly handsome 20-year-old foreigner while on vacation, he added.