Carey Roberts
VAWA subsidizes Green Card scams
By Carey Roberts
The Violence Against Women Act underwrites Green Card lottery schemes, lures foreign women into prostitution, and tars innocent American men as abusers — all at taxpayer expense. Here's how it works.
Green Card Girls — women who inveigle unsuspecting single men to bring them to the United States — are a well-known fixture in the international dating scene. An internet search on the term turns up chat room discussions, how-to books, X-rated videos, and more.
Green Card Girls may frequent entertainment clubs, operate out of translation agencies, or simply run an advertisement. In December 2007, immigration officials arrested Russian-born Yuliya Kalinina who placed an online solicitation stating, "Green Card Marriage — Will pay $300/month."
The price of admission of enrolling in the Green Card lottery is a willingness to engage in a series of amorous flings. Gill, a teenage girl from China, explains it this way: "I know a few girls will kill to date a rich man, and of course they shall be more than willing to offer themselves in a sexual way."
Prostitution comes next. A few years ago Shonda Werry interviewed female students at elite Russian universities and found many regarded prostitution as "their ticket to a better life," according to a Times Higher Education article. And last July Hungarian-born Agnes Jeges, 35, was arrested in Van Nuys, California for her role in a prostitution-for-Green-Card deal.
Once she latches on to her Prince Charming, the Green Card Girl can look forward to life in the Land of Milk and Honey. Even if the relationship goes sour, no problem, she can dump the guy and accuse him of domestic violence.
Then she dashes to the local abuse shelter. Thanks to the Violence Against Women Act, she now qualifies for emergency housing and can bypass the usual two-year waiting period to land her coveted Green Card. And she's entitled to free legal help.
All this is common knowledge. Do a Google search on "green card" and VAWA and you'll turn up nearly 10,000 hits.
Immigration authorities are aware of the scam. One official explains the shake-down this way: "Beautiful young women...entice a poor, unsuspecting 40-50-year old into marrying them, and then methodically proceed to ruin his life: calling 911 to report a wife-beating...going to a domestic abuse shelter."
One such man is Michael Wnuk, an engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Diagnosed with cancer, he met one vivacious Lidiia Kolisnichenko of Poland who promised she could help — but first he would have to marry her.
Days after the wedding, her mood darkened. Her husband had never hit or harmed her, but that was beside the point.
Lidiia then staged a confrontation scene, ripping a phone from his hand, hysterically running from the house, and frantically imploring the neighbors for help. Now she had "witnesses" to her charge. Then she took a B-line to the local shelter, which welcomed her with open arms.
Over the ensuring months Wnuk spent thousands to clear his good name. "I am financially ruined and emotionally devastated," the engineering professor laments.
Lidiia Kolisnichenko is just one of thousands of Green Card Girls who each year flee to abuse shelters to become "certified" victims of violence. According to a recent survey by Eleanor Lyon and Shannon Lane at the University of Connecticut, 15% of residents at abuse shelters are there to get help for their immigration problems.
That means a lawyer who is willing to tell the woman that merely raising your voice is the same as full-fledged physical violence. According to the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, "possessiveness" or needing to "walk on eggshells" are all signs of extreme cruelty. The attorney then coaches her how to complete the application for a restraining order.
I'm sure a few of these cases are legitimate and the ladies need our help. But many of these shelters are flim-flam operations. When the director at the Community Fellowship for Battered Women in northern California admits that persons are admitted simply because "they tell a good story," you know something fishy is going on.
So how do our billion-dollar-a-year federal domestic violence programs come into the picture?
First, they funnel money to immigrant aide organizations like ASISTA that openly advertise a Green Card can be had merely for the asking.
Second, they order the Citizenship and Immigration Service to give special deference to any woman who claims abuse — no proof needed. These petitions are rubber-stamped at an office in Vermont where the CIS adjudicator has little chance of verifying the petitioner's story.
Third, they channel millions to abuse shelters around the country who help perjurers file false accusations of abuse so they can ruin men's lives and qualify for government aid.
This is done in the name of protecting women and eradicating domestic violence.
© Carey Roberts
February 24, 2009
The Violence Against Women Act underwrites Green Card lottery schemes, lures foreign women into prostitution, and tars innocent American men as abusers — all at taxpayer expense. Here's how it works.
Green Card Girls — women who inveigle unsuspecting single men to bring them to the United States — are a well-known fixture in the international dating scene. An internet search on the term turns up chat room discussions, how-to books, X-rated videos, and more.
Green Card Girls may frequent entertainment clubs, operate out of translation agencies, or simply run an advertisement. In December 2007, immigration officials arrested Russian-born Yuliya Kalinina who placed an online solicitation stating, "Green Card Marriage — Will pay $300/month."
The price of admission of enrolling in the Green Card lottery is a willingness to engage in a series of amorous flings. Gill, a teenage girl from China, explains it this way: "I know a few girls will kill to date a rich man, and of course they shall be more than willing to offer themselves in a sexual way."
Prostitution comes next. A few years ago Shonda Werry interviewed female students at elite Russian universities and found many regarded prostitution as "their ticket to a better life," according to a Times Higher Education article. And last July Hungarian-born Agnes Jeges, 35, was arrested in Van Nuys, California for her role in a prostitution-for-Green-Card deal.
Once she latches on to her Prince Charming, the Green Card Girl can look forward to life in the Land of Milk and Honey. Even if the relationship goes sour, no problem, she can dump the guy and accuse him of domestic violence.
Then she dashes to the local abuse shelter. Thanks to the Violence Against Women Act, she now qualifies for emergency housing and can bypass the usual two-year waiting period to land her coveted Green Card. And she's entitled to free legal help.
All this is common knowledge. Do a Google search on "green card" and VAWA and you'll turn up nearly 10,000 hits.
Immigration authorities are aware of the scam. One official explains the shake-down this way: "Beautiful young women...entice a poor, unsuspecting 40-50-year old into marrying them, and then methodically proceed to ruin his life: calling 911 to report a wife-beating...going to a domestic abuse shelter."
One such man is Michael Wnuk, an engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Diagnosed with cancer, he met one vivacious Lidiia Kolisnichenko of Poland who promised she could help — but first he would have to marry her.
Days after the wedding, her mood darkened. Her husband had never hit or harmed her, but that was beside the point.
Lidiia then staged a confrontation scene, ripping a phone from his hand, hysterically running from the house, and frantically imploring the neighbors for help. Now she had "witnesses" to her charge. Then she took a B-line to the local shelter, which welcomed her with open arms.
Over the ensuring months Wnuk spent thousands to clear his good name. "I am financially ruined and emotionally devastated," the engineering professor laments.
Lidiia Kolisnichenko is just one of thousands of Green Card Girls who each year flee to abuse shelters to become "certified" victims of violence. According to a recent survey by Eleanor Lyon and Shannon Lane at the University of Connecticut, 15% of residents at abuse shelters are there to get help for their immigration problems.
That means a lawyer who is willing to tell the woman that merely raising your voice is the same as full-fledged physical violence. According to the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, "possessiveness" or needing to "walk on eggshells" are all signs of extreme cruelty. The attorney then coaches her how to complete the application for a restraining order.
I'm sure a few of these cases are legitimate and the ladies need our help. But many of these shelters are flim-flam operations. When the director at the Community Fellowship for Battered Women in northern California admits that persons are admitted simply because "they tell a good story," you know something fishy is going on.
So how do our billion-dollar-a-year federal domestic violence programs come into the picture?
First, they funnel money to immigrant aide organizations like ASISTA that openly advertise a Green Card can be had merely for the asking.
Second, they order the Citizenship and Immigration Service to give special deference to any woman who claims abuse — no proof needed. These petitions are rubber-stamped at an office in Vermont where the CIS adjudicator has little chance of verifying the petitioner's story.
Third, they channel millions to abuse shelters around the country who help perjurers file false accusations of abuse so they can ruin men's lives and qualify for government aid.
This is done in the name of protecting women and eradicating domestic violence.
© Carey Roberts
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