Within t90 days. This is just under two hours. Normally i dont see reading until the ranking democrat gets here, but theres a vote going on so this is the way im going to handle the meeting. Im going to call on the senator because he has an important meeting to go to so i want him to make his statement and ill make my statement and ill introduce the first panel and then we wont do anything after that. Proceed. Thank you for doing this. Its out of order and for those who are new i appreciate the courtesy extended to me. Im Ranking Member of the Defense Appropriations Committee and we have a closed door hearing recollectio hearing, but i wanted to be here because im the ranking democratic member on the immigration subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary committee. I did that for several reasons. I am the son of an immigrant. My mother came to this country at the age of 2. I am honored to be a first generation american. If you come to my office youll see my mothers naturalization certificate as a reminder of who i am and what america is. It was 116 years ago since her boat landed in baltimore and i have made this journey to washington to represent the great state of illinois. Im sure when my mothers ship landed there were people that said not more of those people and they came down the steps and became part of america and thats why im here today. Now weve seen in the last few weeks an absolute upheaval. You know what i found friday when i went back to chicago . I went to one of the largest law firms in our city. There was pro bono awards for the attorneys at that firm who have really gone above and beyond their professional call of duty to help the less fortunate and not get paid for it. Theyve done some amazing things. When i asked them what are you working on now, they said 50 attorneys were leaving for a meeting at church on sunday in chicago. They were hoping to find another 50 to join them. Do you know why theyre going . Theyre going to prepare guardianship papers for the families of those who fear deportation. Mothers and fathers are meeting with these volunteer lawyers to draw up papers so if theyre snatched away from work, put on a plane and deported, someone will take care of their children. Imagine the mind of that parent facing that prospect. Imagine how you would feel. That is what immigration is at this moment. The angxiety and stress and fea across america is palpable. I am sure that fiancee visa fraud is an important issue. For goodness sakes, isnt it time that this committee and this immigration subcommittee take up some of the fundamentals of immigration . Just a few years ago we passed a comprehensive bill. I thought it was a step forward. I agreed to an obscene amount of money for boarder protection. I choked on it, but i voted for it because i knew what the rest of the bill said and how important it was. Wouldnt it be good if we could return to that moment and bring that moment forward. Thank you. To the subject of today over the last several years this committee has heard testimony about the various ways that individuals scam our Immigration Laws using visa categories offered by our federal immigration system. Today we oversight one category of immigration fraud that often goes unreported and forgotten, marriage fraud. Recent reports have shown that the number of Foreign Nationals who defraud american citizens to enter our country and receive a green card is increasing very rap rapidly. In fact, petitions for the k1 fiancee visa have been increasing every year. The state department issued 44,000 in fiscal year 2016, a 27 increase since 2012. 89 of the k1 visa petitions are approved by citizenship and Immigration Services. Marriage provides one of the quickest paths to citizenship. Thats why abuse of the k1 visa category is concerning. It provides Foreign Nationals almost immediate access to the United States and the benefits of u. S. Citizenship. Petitions for k1 fiancees are quickly processed and approved in about eight to 12 months, compared to very much longer wait times and restrictions in other visa categories. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pursued more than 13,000 document and benefit Fraud Investigation reports from 2012 to 2015. That includes hundreds of arrests more marriage fraud, but the government cannot provided statistics of the exact numbers. This type of visa requires citizenship and Immigration Services and the state department to play a role that can be categorized as immigration marriage police. The government has to determine whether the intent to marry is genuine or just for immigration purposes. Today we will hear about their efforts to identify and prevent marriage fraud. Of course u. S. Citizens should be free to marry Foreign Nationals. Nobody questions that. But for fraudulent engagements and marriages harm u. S. Citizens who are manipulated and used for immigration benefits and Foreign Nationals who legitimately want to marry an american. This kind of fraud can also pose risks to our economy, Public Safety and National Security. There are many different ways that a con artist can commit marriage fraud. The most heart breaking is when a Foreign National dupz a u. S. Citizen into believing that theyre in fact in love. Upon entry, the Foreign National often drags out the engagement or abandons the u. S. Sponsor then becoming a visa overstay or the Foreign National will leave the marriage as soon as they obtain a green card. Today we will hear from victims of this type of marriage fraud. One man is a naturalized citizen and cardiologist in california who has lived in the u. S. For 20 years. He petitioned for a k1 visa for his fiancee who is a Pakistani National who he met while visiting his family. Instead of marrying him, his fiancee abandoned him fleeing the home around the time the 90 day visa expired. The next victim is ms. Lopez who met her exhusband while traveling in the United States. He was a Dutch National who proposed to her telling her he wanted to grow old with her. However shortly before their second anniversary he said they were getting a divorce and he married her only for the green card. She refused to continue sponsoring for a green card, he abused her and threatened to kill her. However, not all cases are one sided. Sometimes all parties, including the u. S. Citizen, knowingly enter into relationships with the intent of getting a visa and making a profit. For example, recently three individuals pled guilty to a large marriage fraud scheme in which they posed as attorneys and charged chinese nationals up to 50,000 to set up sham marriages. These shams led to 70 fraudulent marriages. In another case a woman in the bronx married ten men from 1999 to 2010 charging them 5,000 to 10,000 each. At one point she was married to eight of them at the same time. Among them was an alleged terrorist who was deported in 2006 for making threats against the United States one of the San Bernardino shooters came to the United States on a k1 visa. Not only are these cases full of fraud and deceit, theyre a serious threat to National Security. Visas are used by human traffickers to lure innocent women and innocent men into their underground industries. A 2016 Inspector General report found 274 subjects of isis Human Trafficking investigations has successfully petitioned to bring fiancees to the United States. More needs to be done to close the vulnerabilities in our system, identify nefarious individuals who fraudulently say i do and pursue actions against fiancees who overstay their welcome in disregard of the 90 day visa promigram requirements. Ive talked about our witnesses. I want to thank our witnesses for coming to testify, especially those who are here today to discuss details of their private personal experiences. I now call on the senator. Thanks very much. Im sorry to be late. I raced down to vote and got delayed on the way. You can probably figure out how. I want to thank you for holding this hearing and i want to particularly thank the doctor for being here. He is a californian from lakewood and i very much look forward to your testimony, doctor. Abuses of the fiancee visa are really startling. According to a january 4th, 2016, department of Homeland Security office of the Inspector General, the report states this and i quote, work and fiancee visas were the primary means by which known traffickers brought victims to the United States. Specifically the ig discovered 32 known human traffickers and let me just emphasize that these are people who are confirmed to be human traffickers who use the immigration system to bring victims to the country in the past 12 years. Out of these 32 known traffickers, the ig identified 17 instances where these known human traffickers use the fiancee visa or a work visa to bring victims to the United States. According to the ig, these victims were later then forced into involuntary servitude or prostitution. In order to coordinate the scheme, the traffickers would often confiscate the victims passport and subject them to involuntary servitude and force sex. Further the report states that 11 of the 18 suspects they reviewed had been arrested and or convicted for sex trafficking children. Another seven had been arrested and or convicted for labor trafficking or involuntary servitude. Lastly, the ig noted that an additional 274 individuals subject to Human Trafficking investigations successfully petitioned the department of Homeland Security to bring in 425 family members and mincefia, but the ig was not able to determine if these 425 individuals were also subject to prostitution and slavery. Meaning, there could be an additional 425 victims unknown to the government. Mr. Chairman, with your permission and hopefully without objection, id like to enter the igs january 4th, 2016 report into the record. Without objection it will be so introduced. Thank you. The numbers are startling. I hope the department is prepared to discuss the steps its taken to address these concerns raised by the ig. I also believe that this report is just another reason why the visas for victims of crimes, including Domestic Violence and rape and for the victims of Human Trafficking are vital to the integrity of our immigration system and quite frankly as instances like the igs report demonstrate our national is morally obligated to provide. I look forward to testimony from the witnesses and i thank you for holding this hearing. Thank you. Im going to introduce the witnesses. I mentioned ms. Lopez in my statement. She was married to a Dutch National who used her solely to get a green card after leaving her, ms. Lopez learned that her husband was very behind in Child Support of a previous marriage and had an extensive criminal history. She now works to help others in similar situations. Thank you for your humanitarian work. Grace ovain is from the asianpacific institute on gender violence. This organization is focused on gender violence in the Pacific Islands and works to improve the information that foreign fiancees receive about their perspective spouse and seeks to strength strength strengthen accountable for internationally Marriage Brokers that match perspective couples overseas. I also talked about mr. Husshus in my opening statement. Hes from pakistan and a cardiologist in california. His fiancee left him before the marriage and claimed that he abused her to seek an immigration visa. His story is another example of how innocent americans are being victimized in regard to k1 visa fraud. Im going to ask you to stand and id like to give you an oath at this point. If you would raise your right hand. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . Please be seated and well go in the order in which i introduce you. So would you start out, ms. Lop lopez. Thank you, mr. Chairman, madam Ranking Member and other members of the judiciary committee. I was tricked by the love of my life. In 1998 i met a dutch man doing business in the United States. We immediately hit it off and we started dating long distance. We was romantic, kind and generous. During one of our many visits he proposed and pledged his love saying he wanted to grow old with me. Neither of us had much money. I had just put myself through college and i was a freelance political reporter. He said his limited income was needed to expand a new import export business. He suggested we get married in a civil ceremony giving us time to save up for a full wedding. When my stepmother objected he assured everyone we would have a better wedding the next year. I borrowed money from my mother to furnish our new apartment and to get him a computer so he wouldnt feel so isolated in his new homeland. When his visa was approved he came to the states and we were married. I thought we were happy. I paid the bills and set up retirement accounts and started paying back my mother. My husband found work, yet kept putting off that promised wedding and honeymoon. I become disturbed as he broke promises and then out of the blue on the night before our second anniversary he coldly announced we were divorcing. I assumed we were having marriage problems and suggested counseling and he refused. Then he said our marriage was nothing but a practiceality to get a green card. I was stunned and filed for a separation. Within days his parents confirmed this. When he caught wind of my Legal Proceedings and i was withdrawing my sponsorship he became violent. He threatened to kill me if i ever contacted immigration officials. A couple of days later he came home while i was packing. He insisted that no one would believe me about his violence and admissions and a few minutes later i was looking down the barrel of a rifle and he started shooting blanks at me and laughi laughing. I grabbed my keys and fled the house. Pennsylvania police genre furef take action. They were more worried if i was paid to marry my husband than if my husband was trying to kill me. His behavior had changed so abruptly that i wondered if i ever really knew who he was so i started trying to find out. I tracked down an exwife in europe who hadnt received Child Support in years. He was making 148,000. During their divorce eric stole their car for insurance, refused to pay Child Support and intimidated her into running a drug operation. She was terrified of eric, but she was more afraid of dutch Child Services taking her toddler away. She escaped the country. I tracked down erics former Business Partner who confirmed this. Then i found erics former boss who suspected him of embezeling company funds. I discovered the loan on my car changed and he took out credit in my name. When i contacted immigration investigators they said they get cases like mine all the time, but we were married for two years so he was pretty much guaranteed citizenship. I was running out of options. I hired a retired fbi special agent as a private investigator. If the Department Homeland security wasnt going to do its job, we would do it for them. If eric was inadmissible to get a green card and involved in criminal activities, lied on immigration forms, tried to kill me, repeatedly threatened any and committed marriage fraud, the feds would have to do something and i was wrong. Immigration officials refused to take our sworn statements or accept our evidence. I was, however, able to get a reserved protected address for Domestic Violence victims. Ill never know the extent of the fraud or criminal activities that eric committed, but i did my best to warn our country. Once i found out, my life has forever changed. I am now in hiding. I am putting myself in danger by even coming to this committee today. Ive been financially cleaned out and with the help of the government ive been made a victim of a onesided sham marriage. Although its difficult to relive the trauma that ive been through, i want to speak up in the hopes of helping other people to prevent this from happening to them. Thank you very much. Thank you for that outstanding testimony and im sorry that you do, but we would thank you for what youve come forward to tell us, even under the dangers you say you might face. I hope you dont face it. Thank you. Thank you chairman and distinguished members of the committee. As the policy director on gender based violence im honored to be here to able to comment on the impact of the system on immigrant survivors of domestic and Sexual Violence and human tracking. It is a National Resource center on violence and Human Trafficking and other forms of gender based violence serving a National Network of advocates and Community Based programs that work with victims as well as other immigrant victims of violence. To end sexual and Domestic