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Direct Link to Press Release:
http://www.tahirih.org/legal//docs/PressReleaseGeorgiaIMBRADecision.pdf
 
Tahirih Justice Center Website:
http://www.tahirih.org/tahirih/about/index.html

Layli Miller-Muro, Executive Director
O: (703) 575-0070, ext. 547; C: (202) 246-1844

USA - Constitutionality of International Marriage Broker Regulation Act is Upheld

Falls Church, VA. March 27, 2007 - On Monday March 26th 2007, in an
important legal decision, Judge Clarence Cooper (from the United States
District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta) rejected an
international marriage broker's claim that the 2005 International Marriage
Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) is unconstitutional.  IMBRA is a new law
designed to provide greater protection for foreign women who marry men
through what are commonly known as "mail order bride" agencies.  Layli
Miller-Muro, the Executive Director of the Tahirih Justice Center noted,
"This decision sends an important message to the international marriage
broker ("IMB") industry, which has worked to resist and evade its
regulation, that it can no longer keep foreign women from poorer countries
ignorant of the violent histories of the men who use their services and the
legal rights available to women living in the United States."

The lawsuit defeated in Monday's decision was brought by a leading
international marriage broker, European Connections ("EC").  EC alleged that
the law's requirement that IMBs provide information to foreign women about
their legal rights and the criminal backgrounds of their prospective
American husbands infringed upon their constitutional rights.  In a detailed
40-page decision, Judge Clarence Cooper found that "The rates of domestic
violence against immigrant women are much higher than those of the U.S.
population" and that "IMBRA is highly likely to reduce domestic abuse - and
may actually save lives."  When considering EC's arguments that the
implementation of IMBRA would cost them money, the judge noted that "the
Court is confronted with the classic 'blood-versus-money' analysis, and the
safety of foreign women coming to the United States is clearly the more
vital interest."

The lawsuit was an attempt to resist the regulation of the IMB industry,
which derives its profits from pairing foreign women from poorer countries
with American men.  The requirements imposed by IMBRA seek to ensure that
women who speak limited English, have no social ties in the U.S., and are
unfamiliar with U.S. laws are given sufficient information to decide whether
to enter into a relationship and know where to find help if the relationship
turns abusive. IMBRA was passed in 2005 with wide bi-partisan support as a
part of the Violence Against Women Act, after over a decade of examination
by Congress of the special vulnerabilities of immigrant women to abuse and
recent attention to concerns about abuse through the IMB industry.

Another lawsuit, brought in Ohio by a consortium of IMBs, made similar
constitutional arguments and was dismissed in January 2007. The United
States Attorney's Office and the Tahirih Justice Center defended both cases.
The Tahirih Justice Center was represented on pro bono basis by the law
firms of Arnold & Porter (Washington, DC) and Jones Day (Atlanta, GA). Lead
attorney and partner at Arnold & Porter Randy Miller noted, "This is an
important victory that decisively protects a historic law designed to
protect extremely vulnerable foreign women coming to the United States from
developing countries to marry American men through these agencies."

For a detailed summary of IMBRA and frequently asked questions, please see
Tahirih's website at www.tahirih.org

Available for Interview
European Connections matched a young Siberian woman named Katerina with an
American man named Frank Sheridan who soon after her arrival in the U.S.
kept her a virtual prisoner in his home, taking away her identification
documents and cutting all the phone lines to the house.  During one violent
rage, he beat Katerina and dragged her around the house by her legs.  When
she told him she was leaving him and going back home to Russia, Frank
stabbed himself and then accused her of doing it to get her thrown in jail,
only agreeing to post bail if she promised to return to him and be a dutiful
wife.  Katerina fled instead to a domestic violence shelter where she
remained for nine months, and endured more than two years of harassment and
threats.  While investigating Frank for aggravated stalking, the police
discovered he was in Russia looking for a new bride.  Later, when a sheriff's
deputy came to Frank's house to arrest him for another stalking-related
crime, Frank opened fire, shooting the deputy in the face, chest, leg and
back. The deputy returned fire and, after 25 rounds of gunfire, Frank was
dead and Katerina's nightmare was finally over.

Katerina's saga unfortunately is not unusual.  The Court's decision on
Monday notes that many other "mail order brides" in the U.S. have suffered
similar abuse at the hands of their American husbands, and that the
"perpetrators of these crimes were often involved with multiple foreign
women and were seeking to become involved with other foreign women at or
around the time they committed the crimes."

Katerina is willing to talk to press about her experience and feelings about
the legal decision against European Connections.   Contact Layli for more
information.

Layli Miller-Muro
Executive Director
Tahirih Justice Center




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