Legislation seeking to protect mail-order brides from potentially abusive husbands will be introduced in the state Legislature this session, Rep. Marilyn Lee announced yesterday. Bill seeks to protect
mail-order brides
By Matt Sedensky
Associated PressThe proposal would make Hawaii the second state in the nation to tackle the issue of international matchmaking services, said Stephanie Walton, a policy associate for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In March, Gov. Gary Locke of Washington signed a bill that requires international matchmaking organizations, including mail-order bride operations, to provide criminal and marital histories about their prospective spouses.
The Hawaii bill, which was announced at the conclusion of the three-day Globalization and Trafficking Conference at the Hawaii Convention Center, will fundamentally copy the Washington legislation.
That law was prompted by the September 2000 killing of 20-year-old Anastasia King, a mail-order bride from the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. Her husband, Indle King Jr., was convicted in February of first-degree murder and witness tampering.
In 1995, Susana Blackwell and two friends were fatally shot outside a Washington state courthouse after Blackwell, a mail-order bride, filed divorce papers. The gunman was Blackwell's husband.
Nanci Kreidman, executive director of the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse in Honolulu, said there have been instances in which mail-order brides have been abused or killed in Hawaii, but she could not offer details.
"I don't think we want to wait before there's a high-profile crime to address this," said Lee (D, Mililani-Waipio). "Part of the reason for introducing this is to bring community awareness to the issue."
John Adams, president of Phoenix-based A Foreign Affair, one of the largest mail-order bride companies, said in a telephone interview yesterday that he would support the Hawaii legislation if it copied the Washington state law, but he said it ignores the larger issue.
"If the woman is going to come over here, then she has the right to at least ask for information from the man," Adams said. "But I still think they need to address the larger issue, which is domestic violence in general. It transcends all nationalities, all income levels, all families."
Adams said only about 5 percent of foreign brides come to the country through agencies such as his.
"They're going after this tiny, tiny, tiny, minute sector of the population," he said.
Adams, who married a Russian woman he met through his own company, questioned why the Washington law did not include large Internet matchmaking services such as Match.com.
Lee said she would consider including such services in the Hawaii legislation.
Aside from the announcement of the mail-order bride bill, organizers of the conference have announced their intention to create a Hawaii Human Trafficking Task Force. Officials said the group would help law enforcement officials, identify legislative weaknesses and improve services to victims.
Like the mail-order bride legislation, it is modeled after efforts in Washington state. Officials said the task force would bring together social service, community and academic officials.
