Mail Order Bride Newspaper Article /Star Telegram

[silverpanther 0]

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/14814686.htm

Mail-order brides on hold waiting for new formsBy LARA JAKES JORDAN

The Associated Press

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GRAPH: New application holds up weddingsWASHINGTON -- True love waits for no one -- except maybe the Homeland Security Department.

Red tape has put wedding bells on hold for about 10,000 U.S. citizens seeking visas for their foreign brides and grooms as the department creates new paperwork.

The form change was required as part of a law, enacted in March, to protect foreign mail-order brides from abusive American spouses. But Homeland Security missed its deadline three months ago, putting the visa applications of thousands of law-abiding lovers in limbo.

The department said Tuesday it would send out additional forms that should satisfy the new law.

The bureaucratic delay has trashed wedding plans for many couples.

"We were ready to get married this year, but I can't really make a date until we get the approval," said Bill Hall, 41, a construction foreman from Burlington, Vt. He applied two months ago for a visa for his fiancee, Debbie, to emigrate from Canada with her two sons.

He said his application, sent to Homeland Security in April, "never got approved. It's just sitting there."

The tale of 10,000 belated nuptials illustrates a bureaucratic response to what all agree is a well-intentioned law to protect women.

Advocates estimate that as many as 15,000 foreign women annually meet their American husbands through for-profit marriage brokers.

Spurred by stories of foreign women, largely from Eastern Europe and Asia, being abused or murdered by their U.S. husbands, Congress in December approved new protections for mail-order brides. They included amending the application form for so-called fiancee visas with two new questions: Whether the couple met through an international marriage broker, and had the U.S. citizen ever been accused of a violent crime or convicted of three or more alcohol- or drug-related crimes.

Homeland Security Department/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, www.uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm

[Vagina Journey 0]

So now billsgirl is a mailorder bride?

[aussiewench 9]

Well isnt that just typical. Not surprised at all that has happened as a result of the original article. Amazing what a heading will do to change the slant of a story.

[Vagina Journey 0]

Well isnt that just typical. Not surprised at all that has happened as a result of the original article. Amazing what a heading will do to change the slant of a story.

Ya i sent billsgirl a pm im sure they will be thrilled to see how the orignal article story line was changed...

[noBS 0]

That headline is degrading and offensive to all of us. This link provides contact information for The Star Telegram. I will be calling them today to register my comments

I urge ALL of you to contact the Editor and Publisher and register your comments on that headline. The whole mail-order bride bull sh it has gotten way out of hand thanks to IMBRA making all I-129F applicants presumptive criminals and their fiancees dim-witted, love-struck abuse victims in waiting.

Just because we all love someone not of our country doesn't make us deserving of this kind of dis-respect.

[Caladan 19]

A template to use:

Dear Editor,

The article "Mail-order brides on hold waiting for new forms" gives the mistaken and prejudiced impression that the processing delays caused by Homeland Security's non-compliance with IMBRA only affect men seeking to bring over so-called mail-order brides.

While IMBRA itself seeks to protect foreign fiancées from potentially abusive American spouses, the K-1 visa class currently delayed applies to a much larger group of engaged couples: men and women who met on vacation, or during college, or through friends, continued their relationships, which now culminate, like many relationships, in marriage. American women may sponsor foreign men; this is not a visa class simply for those who wish to secure timid brides from Eastern Europe. [Good place for your own personal example.]

To dismiss, as your headline does, all of these couples as 'mail-order brides' and to imply, as your headline does, that the delays therefore are necessary and appropriate does a disservice to both your readers and to the thousands of real couples pursuing marriage and immigration by legal means. In a time when immigration dominates American political discourse, I am disappointed that the Star-Telegram does not care to disseminate accurate information.

Sincerely,

[Your name here.]

I won't be writing as I have not yet filed a K-1, and I think it's stronger coming from someone who has. Fire away!

[aussiewench 9]

A template to use:

Dear Editor,

The article "Mail-order brides on hold waiting for new forms" gives the mistaken and prejudiced impression that the processing delays caused by Homeland Security's non-compliance with IMBRA only affect men seeking to bring over so-called mail-order brides.

While IMBRA itself seeks to protect foreign fiancées from potentially abusive American spouses, the K-1 visa class currently delayed applies to a much larger group of engaged couples: men and women who met on vacation, or during college, or through friends, continued their relationships, which now culminate, like many relationships, in marriage. American women may sponsor foreign men; this is not a visa class simply for those who wish to secure timid brides from Eastern Europe. [Good place for your own personal example.]

To dismiss, as your headline does, all of these couples as 'mail-order brides' and to imply, as your headline does, that the delays therefore are necessary and appropriate does a disservice to both your readers and to the thousands of real couples pursuing marriage and immigration by legal means. In a time when immigration dominates American political discourse, I am disappointed that the Star-Telegram does not care to disseminate accurate information.

Sincerely,

[Your name here.]

I won't be writing as I have not yet filed a K-1, and I think it's stronger coming from someone who has. Fire away!

I would like to see those already married and doing K-3 included in this as they too are just as affected as can be noted on the I-129F, that they also have to comply with the IMBRA and their petitions have also been held up at NBC.

[Caladan 19]

Ooh, good point.

[Pete 0]

Just emailed to Jim Witt, Senior VP, Executive Editor: jwitt@star-telegram.com

"Dear Mr. Witt,

I am writing to voice my disgust with the headline on the article at this link: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/14814686.htm

"Mail-order brides on hold waiting for new forms"

As a USA petitioner of a woman from another country, I can assure you the term "Mail Order Bride" is as derogatory and insulting as any racial epithet. Your headline adds insult to the injury already inflicted by USCIS and DHS inability to manage and execute the fiance visa process. Petitioners are put through a convoluted, emotionally wrenching process lasting 9 months-2 years.

Couples applying for fiancee visas expend thousands of dollars in application fees, travel expenses, and penalties for canceled plans as the visa application grinds its way through a broken system.

Did you know a good percentage of petitioners are women? Yes, their bride in another country is a man. Your headline further insults them!

For your publication to classify our "brides" as "Mail-Order" plays into old stereotypes perpetuated by people who have no idea what the truth is. A "Mail Order Bride" does not exist. Your editorial department owes visa applicants an apology for your insensitive headline."

While I am not nearly as well spoken as some of you, I think I made my point. I urge all of you to respond to Mr. Witt and explain the damage being done.

[Vagina Journey 0]

I sent a few emails

[hafiz 1]

[Qiao - 108 days 0]

Man that is total #######. I was talking with one of my coworkers about his experience and someone that overheard us began talking about our "mail order brides". I am typically slow to anger, but I have to admit I really got steamed. I don't know how people can be so ignorant sometimes....

Edited June 15, 2006 by qiao

[MrsWhizz 0]

Man, I'm on a nasty email frenzy today!

[jamesfreddyc 0]

Actually, the original push for the IMBRA includes using the language "Mail Order Bride" to describe the foreign beneficiary, which is a bit misleading since the beneficiary *could* be male.

From the horses mouth (Sen. Cantwell), "This legislation is modeled on a series of groundbreaking Washington state laws related to trafficking of persons and "mail order brides."

j

[Vagina Journey 0]

Man, I'm on a nasty email frenzy today!