Woman Traps Man Into Fraudulent Marriage For Green Card
*Kevin is a computer programer from Florida who is still dealing with the ramifications of being taken advantage for a green card; one of those ramifications has been his own broken heart.
*Names have been changed to protect the identities of the subjects of this piece
Although it is still illegal to marry an immigrant just for the sake of getting them a green card many Americans take part in this full proof plan to get a friend, or even a stranger, security in this country. Green card marriages are golden tickets into our country. On most occasions these couples hardly know each other, and some don’t even live in the same homes as their legal spouses, however one thing is true for a good percentage of these “Fraud Marriages”: both sides are consenting; yet this isn’t the case for many of the members of a Facebook group entitled “Victims of Immigration Fraud”. There are over 400 members, all with the saddest stories you might ever encounter about being tricked into love. These stories often include cries of shame for wondering how they allowed their hearts to be tricked. Some of the victims were left with severe anger, and write long passionate post about radical immigration reform as often as they can. Some are troll like outsiders peering in asking why they would blame the system for their own ignorance in the first place. One of the members of this group is a man from Florida named *Kevin Steve. The love of his life turned into his greatest enemy when he realized he had been duped by a sweet girl hungry for the American dream.
In March 2015 *Kevin was an average guy looking to settle down. Scrolling through the faces of potential matches on the dating website Plenty of Fish. There he met his soon to be wife *Jasmine, a woman from Indonesia. At the time they started sending cute messages to each other, Jasmine was already illegally working in the US with only a tourist visa. Kevin recalls the remorse he felt for Jasmine in the beginning of their relationship: “I felt kinda sorry for her.. That she was stuck in this situation…” He wanted to help her find safety and stability, and most of all he loved her. After a few weeks of dating, Jasmine agreed to live with him. Kevin saw no suspicion in this, and said “I was the happiest person then. I couldn’t believe that she really decided to [come live with me] for the sake of love”. After living with Kevin for a few weeks, Jasmine soon became pregnant. This is when Kevin decided to marry Jasmine: “It was the right thing to do, to keep my family together”
They married on September 6, 2015 on St. Petersburg Beach in front of a small congregation. After being married they both applied for Jasmine’s marriage visa together. Their daughter, *Laila, was born in March 2016. Everything seemed perfect to Kevin then, being a man who has always wanted a family, but soon he would realize his mistake..
Kevin recalls back to when Jasmines behavior changed. “We had an interview on May 12, 2016 with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services for a 2-year temporary Green Card. The request was approved. Coincidentally, this is when Jasmine and I began to have serious marital issues…”
Jasmine started setting many traps to incriminate him. She made claims to their friends saying he was “Pushing and shoving her”, intentionally put wrong information on legal documents in Kevins name, and called the police to arrest Kevin for truly false accusations. One of these accusations being leaving an outdoor fire unattended, which can put you in prison for up to 5 years in Florida.
On July 8th Yasmin received her Social Security Card, and two days later Jasmine had Kevin arrested. After coming home from dinner with friends both Jasmine and Kevin laid down next to their daughter’s room for a nap. Later Kevin had been woken up by Jasmine, claiming the police were outside and they wanted to talk to him:
“I rushed outside in my underwear. I don’t know what’s going on. I asked the sheriff what’s going on now. And they started yelling at me saying ‘that’s what we’re trying to find out to’ I looked at her. I said ‘Honey what’s going on?’ She didn’t even look at me she just shook her head and said I don’t know, I don’t know. She walked away and that was the last time I saw her in my house ”
Jasmine did succeed in getting Kevin arrested under the accusation of physical abuse, and he was not allowed to be in his home under the Violence Against Women Act. Kevin lost contact with his daughter for 6 weeks. It is only more recently that Kevin truly suspected that all these things Jasmine has done were maliciously planned in order for her to get a green card.
Kevin is still fighting in court to get abuse charges dropped against him: however after Jasmine had failed to show up to any court meeting concerning the custody of their daughter he is getting more and more time with her. He is hoping to soon have full custody granted. He says often in our interviews “Whatever it takes for my little angel”
Kevin believes that all these occurrences were caused so that Jasmine could obtain a green card. He is now a big supporter of immigration reform. He has a particular issue the with Violence Against Women Act, and feels it must be amended for the protection of American citizens.
According to the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, or VAWA, if a spouse is arrested and convicted of a crime against the spouse they can now self petition with their applications treated as though they are applying with an American spouse as their sponsor. In an article written by David Seminara, published by CIS.org in 2008 it states that “More than 25% of all green cards issued in 2007 were to the spouses of American citizens. In 2006 and 2007 there were nearly twice as many green cards issued to the spouses of American citizens than were issued for all employment-based immigration categories combined.” In a study by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2006 they found that “Of the 450,000+ immigrant visas issued on the basis of a marriage to a US citizen each year, nearly 30% of them are fraudulent”.
One-Sided Immigration Marriage Fraud is a topic that doesn’t get enough airtime in the mainstream news. However the number of Americans affected by this only grows. Clearly marriage fraud is now a big problem for our country, and Kevin Steve is just one of the many victims.
