Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2006 Through 2009
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT, FISCAL YEARS 2006 THROUGH 2009 -- (House of Representatives - September 28, 2005)
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my support for the Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act, and specifically title IV, the VAWA reauthorization.
I want to thank and recognize the gentleman from Wisconsin and the gentleman from Michigan for their efforts drafting this bill and for including legislative provisions from my bill, the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act.
This bill would protect the thousands of so-called ``mail-order brides'' who come to the U.S. each year through international marriage brokers. And although it is not a practice I particularly endorse, it is a practice that is largely unregulated.
In December 2000, this issue hit close to home when Anastasia King, a mail-order bride in Washington State, was murdered and buried in a shallow grave by her husband. It was later discovered that her husband had abused a former wife whom he had also met through a marriage broker.
Each year hundreds of Internet bride services recruit thousands of women, mostly from Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and other economically depressed parts of the globe, to marry their American clients. These marriage broker Web sites play off old stereotypes of foreign women as subservient wives.
A 1999 report by the INS estimated that there were at least 200 marriage broker companies operating in the United States and that each year as many as 4,000 to 6,000 individuals in U.S., almost all male, found foreign spouses through for-profit international marriage brokers.
My International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, and this DOJ authorization bill, will give these foreign women knowledge to protect themselves. They will know if their American fiance has a history of violence, and they will know their rights should they find themselves in an abusive relationship.
This bill will also stop what I call the ``wife lottery,'' where men apply for several fiancee visas at the same time and marry the woman whose visa is approved first.
This legislation is a giant step towards protecting women who use the services of marriage brokers. I want to thank the chairman and ranking member for including it in this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
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