http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 325363.htm

Posted on Sun, Dec. 04, 2005

Bill aims to help foreign brides

S.J. LAWMAKER SEEKS TO PREVENT ABUSE IN `MAIL-ORDER' MATCHES

By Edwin Garcia

Mercury News Sacramento Bureau


The 24-year-old aerobics instructor from the Ukraine looked forward to immigrating to the United States to marry a man from Sunnyvale she had met through an international matchmaking agency.

Months later she was hospitalized, her skull fractured. Police suspected her new husband. When they went to the couple's apartment one early winter morning in 2001 to question him, he drew a gun and was fatally shot by the officers.

It's impossible to know how many so-called mail-order brides are victims of domestic violence, but Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-San Jose, is concerned with what she describes as an alarming problem and wants to regulate the industry in California.

Her bill, which also would require coaching brides on how to get help if they become victims of abuse, is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday before the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions and Consumer Protection at the State Capitol.

``There have been a number of instances where women come expecting one type of a situation, looking forward to marriage, and greater future possibilities,'' Lieber said, ``and end up being subject to domestic violence, rape and other physical abuses.''

Her bill, AB 634, would force international marriage brokers based in California to be licensed by the Department of Consumer Affairs and their owners undergo criminal background checks. The proposed law would also order matchmaking agencies to teach brides (referred to as ``foreign recruits'' in the bill) how to call police, find domestic violence shelters and file restraining orders.

A similar federal bill is working its way through Congress.

``We think it's absolutely critical that there be greater protections for women coming to the United States and marrying men through international marriage brokers,'' said Layli Miller-Muro, executive director of the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit group in Virginia that promotes regulation of the matchmaking industry.

``The harsh reality,'' Miller-Muro said, ``is that many foreign women are marrying predatory abusers who use the international marriage brokers as a way to find their next victim.''

A 1999 study by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, the most recent federal research on the topic, found that between 4,000 and 6,000 women were coming to the United States through brokers -- a number that, boosted by a staggering number of online matchmaking sites, could be as high as 14,000 today, according to estimates by Tahirih.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office handles about a dozen mail-order bride cases a year, though often the victims refuse to cooperate with authorities, said Rolanda Pierre Dixon, a domestic violence prosecutor.

Mail-order brides are often from Russia and the Philippines.

The couples exchange pictures, e-mails and letters, speak regularly by telephone and spend a few days together overseas before she lands in the United States with a fiancee visa. The women are usually young, attractive and ambitious, and speak little or no English. The men are usually middle-age, have struck out finding a mate and want someone who tends to be submissive, according to domestic violence experts.

``These women are leaving these countries for a specific reason, and most of the time that reason is to improve their lot in life, which means moving up,'' Pierre Dixon said. ``They're thinking education, the land of the free, home of the brave, thinking of making money for their family they've left behind.''

So when the couple comes together at cross purposes, Pierre Dixon said, ``chances are it's going to be a disaster.''

Pierre Dixon said, while she appreciates the attention Lieber is giving the issues, her bill doesn't go far enough. ``I think the better start is to make these guys take a sociological test.''

About 70 international marriage brokers are based in California, mostly drawing business from the Web with names such as Beautiful Dream, Worldmates and Russian Women Catalog, according to a list provided by Lieber. Many more sites operate throughout the United States; some are known to charge as much as $7,000 for their services.

An attempt by the Mercury News to reach international matchmakers was fruitless; few publish telephone numbers and others did not return e-mails seeking comment.

While there exists the potential for abuse, many mail-order marriages thrive happily.

Olga Mintz, a San Jose real estate broker, married her husband 11 years ago after meeting him in Russia. She believes so strongly in the merits of matchmaking, she later started her own agency.

But she also knows foreign brides who have been abused and thinks Lieber's legislation is a good idea.

``When they come here,'' Mintz said, ``a lot of times the man is not what he said he was.''

San Francisco matchmaker Marsha Winter, who specializes in hooking up couples in the Bay Area, is ``absolutely'' in favor of laws that would protect foreign brides.

Then again, she thinks the whole idea of overseas matchmaking is ridiculous.

``We have so many people trying to find each other here,'' Winter said. ``Tell these guys we have tons of good women.''