1000s of minors in US subjected to child marriage due to ‘loopholes’ in law – govt report

Thousands of requests to bring child brides to the US were approved by immigration services between 2007 and 2017, a new government reports shows. The “loophole” bears grave dangers for minors, especially girls, the paper warns.

The United States claims to be a strong opponent of child marriage around the world. But a fresh report – explicitly entitled “How the U.S. Immigration System Encourages Child Marriages” – paints a different picture. The document for the Senate Homeland Security Committee says that the American authorities themselves approved thousands of petitions and visas for spousal or fiancé immigration benefits for marriages involving minors.

According to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), US adults are eligible to petition for a visa for a minor spouse or fiancé, who lives abroad. A US child also has a right to petition for a spouse or fiancé living in a foreign state. Requests are first sent to the citizenship and immigration services (USCIS) who determine if the relationship is legitimate or not. Applicants are required to provide evidence which proves a “family relationship.” Approved requests are then sent to the State Department who decides if they will issue a visa.

While the exact number of approvals is unknown, the latest report shows that there were 8,686 applications filed involving minors, and nearly 5,000 of the requests eventually resulted in a green card being issued.

According to data collected by PBS’s Frontline program, some 200,000 minors were legally married in the United States between 2000 and 2015. Fraidy Reiss of Unchained at Last, a group which campaigns against coerced marriage, told AP that many girls “are subjected to a lifetime of domestic servitude and rape.”

[link to www.rt.com (secure)]

More legalised child trafficking for pedos that was allowed to happen.

That loophole better be closed soon.