Thread: Oregon Governor's Fiancee Admits to Sham Marriage

Oregon Governor's Fiancee Admits to Sham Marriage

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oct 9, 2014, 8:49 PM ET
By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press

Cylvia Hayes, fiancee of Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, cries as she speaks at a news conference in Portland, Ore. on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014. Hayes has admitted that she violated the law when she married an immigrant seeking to retain residency in the... View Full CaptionAP



Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber's fiancee admitted Thursday that she violated the law when she married an immigrant seeking to retain residency in the United States.

Cylvia Hayes said in a news conference that she believes she was paid around $5,000 for the 1997 marriage. She said she was "associating with the wrong people" while struggling to put herself through college.

"It was wrong then and it is wrong now and I am here today to accept the consequences, some of which will be life-changing," Hayes said.

Hayes said she was "ashamed and embarrassed," and did not tell the governor about the marriage until a reporter from the Willamette Week newspaper began asking questions this week. She appeared alone before a podium in a downtown Portland office building, saying she asked Kitzhaber not to join her because she can't look at him without crying.

When she told Kitzhaber about the marriage, "he was stunned and he was hurt," Hayes said, pausing to fight tears. "And I will be eternally grateful for the beautiful, loving way he has supported me in this."

Hayes apologized to Kitzhaber, her friends and family, and to Oregonians, saying she deeply regrets not being upfront about "a serious mistake." The couple confirmed in August that they're engaged.

Hayes was twice divorced and just shy of her 30th birthday when she married an 18-year-old Ethiopian man. She was a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and she said they were introduced by a mutual acquaintance.

Hayes said they never lived together, met only a handful of times and have not had any contact since the divorce was finalized in 2002.

"It was a marriage of convenience," Hayes said. "He needed help, and I needed financial support."

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), marriage fraud is a felony offense that can carry a prison sentence of up to five years and a possible fine of up to $250,000 for both foreign nationals and U.S. citizens. Those charged with marriage fraud may also be charged with other offenses such as visa fraud or making false statements, carrying additional prison sentences and/or financial penalties.

This spring, ICE launched an outreach campaign warning Americans about the consequences of marriage fraud. Officials say sham marriages pose a "significant security vulnerability."

Hayes said Thursday that she's hired a lawyer to help with potential legal consequences.

Hayes, 47, has openly discussed her hardscrabble childhood in Washington state and her struggle to support herself financially since high school.

Kitzhaber met Hayes when she ran unsuccessfully for the state Legislature in 2002. Kitzhaber, who was governor from 1995 until 2003, divorced his second wife, Sharon, shortly after leaving office. Kitzhaber made a political comeback in 2010.

Though they have yet to marry, Kitzhaber refers to Hayes as the "first lady," and she has embraced the role of political spouse while continuing her work as an energy consultant. She has been active in developing Kitzhaber's energy and environmental policy. A story in Willamette Week on Wednesday said that Hayes has used her title as first lady and her role in advising the governor to advance her private consulting business.

Kitzhaber, a Democrat, is seeking a fourth term next month. He's the front-runner against Republican state Rep. Dennis Richardson, who has seized on the series of stories about Hayes to argue that Kitzhaber should be replaced.

"It's clear from her past history that the first lady has had no qualms with breaking the law in order to make financial gains," said Meredith Glacken, a spokeswoman for Richardson. "This is a pattern that appears to have continued in her career as a consultant and that work's conflict of interest with her official role as the first lady."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireS...riage-26087842

Oregon First Lady Cylvia Hayes' Undisclosed Third Marriage Was to 18-Year-Old Immigrant

Hayes: "Governor did not know until yesterday."


Tags: John Kitzhaber, Cylvia Hayes



Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and First Lady Cylvia Hayes. - IMAGE: Adam Wickham

Oregon First Lady Cylvia Hayes regularly speaks about her hardscrabble background—a childhood in poverty, her struggle to get through school, and her two marriages before meeting Gov. John Kitzhaber, to whom she is now engaged. It’s a narrative that has been widely reported by media around the state.

On Wednesday, WW published a story about the private consulting work Hayes, 47, has performed while first lady. In the story, we reported Hayes had actually been married and divorced three times. That’s a small detail that might seem otherwise unremarkable.

But records reviewed by WW raise questions about the husband Hayes has never acknowledged.

In 1997, King County, Wash., marriage records show, Hayes married a teenage Ethiopian immigrant 11 years younger than she. It’s not clear why Hayes entered into the marriage and why she has kept it secret.

However, public records raise questions about whether the marriage was legitimate or whether it was a way to help the young man with his immigration status.

Obtaining residency or citizenship for an immigrant through marriage to a legal resident is often called a "green card marriage." It is a federal crime for both participants if it is determined that the marriage is a sham and executed solely for the purpose of obtaining immigration benefits. It’s illegal whether or not the U.S. citizen is paid to take part in the marriage.

Kitzhaber’s office referred all questions to Hayes. Hayes declined to answer questions about the marriage.
“I am planning on releasing a statement tomorrow, but I want to answer one question directly tonight,” Hayes told WW in an email Wednesday night. “The governor did not know about this third marriage until yesterday afternoon.”

Hayes’ third marriage was to Abraham B. Abraham, who is now 35 and living in the Washington, D.C., area. Abraham declined to respond to WW’s calls and and texts. He also declined to speak to a reporter who went to his home Wednesday night.

Hayes and Abraham married on July 19, 1997. The couple filed for divorce four years and three months later.

When she married Abraham, Hayes was three weeks shy of her 30th birthday. Court records show she had divorced her second husband three months earlier.

Abraham, who listed his birthplace as Ethiopia on the marriage certificate, had just finished his freshman year at a college in North Carolina. He was 18.

WW found no record of Hayes and Abraham having ever lived together during their marriage.

Abraham was enrolled in Greensboro College in North Carolina, according to the school’s registrar. The college’s records show his legal address during college was in Montlake Terrace, Wash., a Seattle suburb.

On the marriage certificate, Hayes listed her home as a different address, in Renton, Wash., also a suburb of Seattle. That summer, Hayes moved to Bend by herself. She told The Oregonian in 2011 that she was broke and lived in her car on Bureau of Land Management property. Records show in January 1999 Hayes got an Oregon driver’s license. There are no records showing Abraham ever lived in Oregon.

Court records show Hayes and Abraham listed December 1999 as their date of “separation.” They filed for divorce in October 2001. That was five months after Abraham graduated magna cum laude with a degree in mathematics.

In their divorce filing, Hayes and Abraham said they had no joint property or debts. The two divorced without engaging lawyers, and a King County, Wash., judge declared the divorce final in February 2002. Four months later, Hayes ran as a Democrat for the Oregon House of Representatives. She lost the race to then-Rep. Ben Westlund (R-Bend).

Several people who know Hayes expressed surprise to learn that she had been married three times. One was her second husband, Douglas McCarthy, who was divorced from Hayes in April 1997. McCarthy says he was unaware of Abraham. “I didn’t even know she got married again,” McCarthy, who lives in Olympia, Wash., tells WW. “That’s news to me.”

Immigration rules say a foreign national’s marriage to a U.S. citizen is one pathway to gaining citizenship. Federal law requires that the foreign national has been “living in marital union” for three years.

Tilman Hasche, a Portland immigration lawyer, says it is a federal crime for a U.S. citizen to enter into a marriage for the exclusive or overriding reason of obtaining immigration benefits. Immigration status can be a factor for a marriage. “It just can’t be the overriding and exclusive reason,” he said.

http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-3...immigrant.html