Saturday, January 12, 2019

Getting it Backward, as Usual

Associated Press, via ABC News:

Thousands of requests by men to bring in child and adolescent brides to live in the United States were approved over the past decade, according to government data obtained by The Associated Press. ... The data raises questions about whether the immigration system may be enabling forced marriage and about how U.S. laws may be compounding the problem despite efforts to limit child and forced marriage. ... "It indicates a problem. It indicates a loophole that we need to close," Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told the AP.

I don't see how it raises that "question" at all. In fact, quite the opposite.

So, in (for example) Pakistan, a 12-year-old girl is forced to marry a 50-year-old guy. Then he decides to move to the US and bring her with him.

Question: Where is that 12-year-old more likely to be able to get free -- get away from the guy, get a divorce, and live without fear of being e.g. burned to death? Back in Pakistan? Or here?

Not approving the guy to come to the US and bring her with him is "enabling forced marriage." Approving it is giving her a chance to escape forced marriage.

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