Federal Review Finds Immigrants Fraudulently Claim Domestic Abuse to Gain Citizenship
Article here. Excerpt:
'A federal program that grants immigrants a faster track to citizenship after filing a domestic abuse claim is vulnerable to fraud, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
In 2018, nearly 13,000 immigrants filed claims using a provision in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as a path to gain legal permanent residence in the United States. The program allows immigrant abuse victims to self-petition and removes the alleged abuser who sponsored them into the country from the process.
The report says fraud referrals involving VAWA self-petitions have more than quadrupled in the past five years.
"They're now using VAWA as a means by which to escape the two-year requirement to remain in the marital relationship without drawing any suspicion to themselves," said retired ICE Agent John Sampson, who told the News4 I-Team he was interviewed by GAO in conjunction with the report.'
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The opportunity for fraud
This post isn't meant to be about ppl trying to come into the US as such. America's a nation of immigrants, mostly legal, some not so much. However we have laws that seem to cry out to be abused by opportunists. VAWA is one of them.
Ultimately I don't blame the ppl using false claims of DV to get into the US faster. I blame the VAWA authors who with a wink knew full well what they were up to.