TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1934
A SUPPLEMENT TO THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Pago 11
'EAUDULENT MARRIAGES:
Not always for 'all the right reasons
1
BySTACIETHO?.IAS
Love icn't always the motivating factor when a
couple decides to get married, some area immigra
tion ofiicials said. Convenience may take the place
of love, especially w hen it means the convenience of
lawful permanent residency status.
When a foreign person marries an American citi
zen, he or she can then become a permanent resi
dent and receive a "green card," which is required
for later application for permanent U.S. citizenship
The one best way to stay legally in the U.S. is to
marry a U.S. citizen," said Robert Esbrook, press
information officer for the Office of Immigration
and Naturalization in Chicago. However, marrying
strictly to gain permanent residency status consti
tutes fraud.
A couple will be investigated if they are suspected
of fraudulent marriage, said Dennis Holm, deputy
district director of the Office of Immigration and
Naturalization in Omaha. If the marriage is fraudu
lent, the foreign citizen is put under deportation
proceedings. Esbrook said no legal action usually is
taken against an American involved in a fraudulent
marriage.
Esbrook said the majority of the marriages be
tween a U.S. and foreign citizen are bona fide, but a
large number also are fraudulent. He said many
cases involve men who marry young women that
may not know the man's intentions or that the mar
riage is fraudulent. They maybe fooled into thinking
it is a marriage "for all the right reasons," Esbrook
said. Once the man gets his green card, he tells the
woman he's leaving.
In other cases, the foreign citizen may pay an
American citizen to get married, Esbrook said. But
most Americans don't do it for the money, he said.
They or their relatives may meet someone they want
to stay in the United States and they think the best
way would be to get that person married, Esbrook
said.
Esbrook said investigation of a marriage believed
to be fraudulent is done in several ways. The couple
may be called into the immigration office for an
interview. In Omaha, every couple must be inter
viewed before the foreign citizen can receive a green
card. However, because of the number of petitions
for green cards the Chicago office receives in a
month, only about 10 percent of the couples are
interviewed.
If the officer conducting the interview thinks the
marriage is fraudulent, an investigation is started.
Immigration officers may question the couple's
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neighbors and friends to determine if the marriage
is bona fide. They may go to the couple's apartment
to see if the couple is living together.
Stanley Krieger, an Omaha immigration lawyer,
said there are several conditions most likely to raise
the suspicion of immigration officers. An extreme
difference in age, if the couple lives apart after the
marriage or if the couple appears to be lying all
cause some suspicion, he said. Krieger said a peti
tioner may admit to fraud during an interview
because he gets scared.
Krieger said he represented a case once which
was approved although the couple was separated.
The couple was trying to work out marital difficul
ties. - .
Krieger, who works on about 20 marriage cases
every year, said he won't take every marriage case
offered him.
"If a client tells me it is a fraudulent marriage, I
won't represent them. If they don't flat out tell me, I
don't make moral judgments."
Krieger said the law is very favorable toward the
immigrant and it isn't easy for the immigration
office to prove a marriage is fraudulent. Immigra
tion officers operate on the theory, "if it looks and
acts like a marriage, it probably is one," he said.
Krieger presently hao five marriage cases pending
under investigation by the immigration office. He
said he has never handled a case in which the mar
riage was proven to be fraudulent.
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