The 2000 murder of a foreign-born Mountlake Terrace woman spurred the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday to approve legislation lawmakers say will increase the safety of mail-order brides.
The House approved major provisions of the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, which prevents men “from playing the fiance lottery and applying for multiple fiance visas simultaneously, and then marrying whichever woman’s visa gets approved first,” said U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash.
A similar measure is moving forward in the Senate.
Larsen and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., first introduced the bills two years ago, following the much-publicized trial of Indle King Jr., who was convicted of killing his wife, Anastasia King.
Indle King found Anastasia King in Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet Union. She was 20 at the time of her death.
The measure would:
* Allow U.S. men to apply for only two visas for women in a lifetime, and only one at a time.
* Create an informational brochure that would be given to foreign-born brides by U.S. consulates. The brochure would provide information on the legal rights and resources available to immigrant victims of domestic abuse and other crimes, the illegality of knowingly entering a marriage solely to obtain an immigration benefit, and U.S. legal obligations regarding child support.
* Require visa petitioners to answer questions about certain criminal convictions on the application form, which would then be shared with the foreign fiance.
* Authorize U.S. consulates to share with foreign fiances any criminal background information obtained by the government through checks it already runs on visa petitioners.
“We are one step closer to providing more protection for international women who come here and find themselves facing the dangers of domestic violence,” Cantwell said. “It is my hope that more women will soon have better information that may help keep them from entering into abusive relationships”
Larsen worked with the House Judiciary Committee to include several provisions of the act in another bill, the Violence Against Women Act. That act was included in the measure passed Wednesday.
“Including provisions of the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act in must-pass legislation puts those measures on the fast track to becoming law” Larsen said.
“Today, the House of Representatives voted to protect women like Anastasia King who died tragically after coming to the U.S. through the unsafe, unregulated international marriage broker industry,” Larsen said.
Each year 8,000 to 12,000 U.S. men find foreign wives through for-profit international marriage brokers, Larsen’s office said.
King’s case and the 1995 shooting death of Susanna Blackwell, her unborn baby and two of her friends in the King County Courthouse were examples that Larsen and Cantwell used to educate other lawmakers, Larsen spokeswoman Abbey Levenshus said.
In the Senate, the marriage-broker act was approved earlier this month by the Senate Judiciary Committee and is expected to be approved by the full Senate soon, Cantwell spokeswoman Charla Neuman said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
