Immigrants preying on Americans with false tales of abuse to stay in US, experts say
Renee Sun’s 21-year-old son always wondered why his girlfriend of three months regularly ended her tearful breakup speeches by pulling him close and whispering into his ear, “Text me.”
The brief but tempestuous relationship began when the two were students at University of Colorado-Boulder -- he an admittedly naïve engineering student and she a foreign scholar from Mongolia.
She approached him, asked him on a date, took yoga classes with him, and learned about his religion, according to Sun, who asked that her son not be named. In retrospect, Sun and her family believe he was being played.
“This was a setup that trapped a simple American young man for the benefit of gaining legal status for this woman's entire family, her mother, and her brother,” Sun said. “By finding a victim like my son, they can stay in this country and immediately enjoy all the social benefits.”
he reason for the parting double message seemed to become clear when Sun’s son was arrested and learned his erstwhile paramour had gone to campus police claiming he was stalking her.
Every time he texted her, he unknowingly provided digital evidence to prove her claim. That made her and her family members eligible for the only prize they were ever really after, according to Sun and immigration experts: A green card known to bureaucrats and applicants as the “U” visa, which would allow them to stay in the U.S. legally and ultimately gain citizenship.
Immigrants, whether legal or illegal, may apply for the U visa if they are victims of certain crimes, including stalking and domestic violence, and if they help law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution. The U visa, created as part of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, allows the alleged victims to remain in the U.S. while assisting law enforcement, and they can then become eligible to adjust to lawful permanent resident status.
Former Arapahoe County (Colo.) District Attorney Michael Steinberg, who now specializes in such cases, said, "anyone who enters the country illegally and can produce a restraining order or affidavit, even with no hard evidence of abuse, is likely to be approved for a work permit and permanent residency."
Steinberg, in a paper posted on his website, notes that accused individuals such as Sun's son are not allowed to offer Customs and Immigration Services evidence, even if it shows the petitioner has engaged in criminal behavior. The U visa provision even brings to a halt deportation proceedings that may have already been under way, Steinberg said.http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/08...perts-say.htmlJohn Sampson, a retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, who now operates CSI Consulting and Investigations, which specializes in helping U.S. citizens victimized by foreign national visa scams, was an expert witness in the Suns’ case.
"If he was harassing her, why didn't she block his number, get a new phone, tell his parents about him, or get a restraining order before a year's time? Why subject herself to a year's long harassment that turned into stalking?"
Sampson said claiming to be a victim of stalking, harassment or domestic violence to obtain a U visa is a common scenario. “Unfortunately, most of the courts and prosecutors are fully unaware of what is going on. They have no idea,” Sampson said.
The so-called “domestic violence” visas are even easier to obtain if the underlying relationship blooms into a marriage, Sampson warned.
Of the more than 450,000 immigrant visas issued on the basis of a marriage to a U.S. citizen each year, nearly 30 percent are fraudulent, Sampson said, citing US ICE statistics.
“It is these one-sided immigration marriage fraud schemes that cause the most damage to unsuspecting U.S. citizens and their families,” Sampson said. “They are abused emotionally, financially, psychologically and, often times, physically. And no one seems to be interested in stopping this heinous crime.”
All the foreign nationals have to do, Sampson said, is allege they are the victim of domestic violence or abuse, even on the same day of marriage, and then they become a permanent resident alien “in an instant.”
Obstacles that normally prevent a foreign national from obtaining a green card – or being deported – are waived for those claiming domestic violence because the foreign national is now the victim, said Sampson.
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