Immigration officials let 8,000 child brides into the US

[dukkha]

he U.S. government approved more than 5,000 immigration requests for visas or green cards from foreign adults who asked to bring child spouses, or boys and girls under the age of 18, to the country from 2007 to 2017, according to the results of a Senate committee investigation.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which considers these types of requests for admission prior to the State Department's final approval of them, granted exactly 5,556 approvals to adults over a 10-year period, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee wrote in a report issued Friday.

Another 2,926 applications in which the minor asked to be admitted with his or her adult spouse were also approved. Approximately 200 minors filed petitions seeking to come to the U.S. with an underage spouse.

The majority of cases were older men seeking to emigrate with underage girls. Some of the most extreme examples consisted of a 71-year-old man who had married a 17-year-old woman in Guatemala and a 48-year-old who had married a 14-year-old in Jamaica.

In 149 cases, the adult spouse was over the age of 40. In 28 cases, the adult was over the age of 50.

The new finding does not indicate that the Department of Homeland Security violated any laws.

they said any changes to the standard by which they and the State Department consider applicants lies with Congress.

"Ultimately, it is up to Congress to bring more certainty and legal clarity to this process for both petitioners and USCIS officers," Bars said.

CIS officials considered these types of requests by looking at whether the marriage would be legal in the state the couple planned to live in.

States have varying marriage ages. Some, including Maryland, New York, and Virginia, allow children under the age of 16 years old to wed with court permission.

The approximately 8,000 approved requests were among 3.5 million that were received in that decade span. Only 2.6 percent of requests are rejected by the State Department.
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