Isle bill to protect
mail-order brides

Potential suitors would have
to share any criminal history

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By Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com

Hawaii residents who use international matchmaking services will need to provide more than a name and a photograph to their mail-order bride.

Legislature Directory Legislature Bills & Hawaii Revised Statutes

Under the latest version of state House Bill 135, SD1, they must also share any criminal conviction and marital history so prospective spouses can decide whether to avoid a potentially abusive situation.

"In the last decade, there have been seven high-profile cases of Russians and Filipinas who have been slain by men who brought them to this country as mail-order brides. Seattle has seen two such killings," said Velma Veloria, a state legislator from Washington who submitted written testimony yesterday before the Senate Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee.

The bill, introduced by the Legislative Women's Caucus, is patterned after a similar law in Washington.

Veloria and others who champion immigrant and women's rights told senators some foreign women who use international dating services to meet and marry American men are physically, psychologically and emotionally abused by their spouse once they are in the country.

With limited English skills and unfamiliarity of U.S. laws, they are unable to seek help, said Calleen Ching, an attorney at Na Loio, the Immigrant Rights and Public Interest Legal Center.

"My clients have reported to me that during this courting stage, their spouses have been on their best behavior. It is for this reason that after they are married, they were shocked, confused and frightened by their spouse's abusive treatment," Ching said in her written testimony before the panel.

"Many have told me that had they known their spouse's true nature, they would not have married them."

Rumi Murakami, projects manager for the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, in written testimony, said the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates between 4,000 and 6,000 Americans or permanent residents marry spouses through international matchmaking services.

It is estimated there are about 2,700 such organizations worldwide, with 500 in the United States and at least a dozen operating in Honolulu. Veloria said it is not unusual for a man to spend $10,000 in his quest for a foreign bride.

Allicyn Tasaka, executive director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, said many women who use these services come from the poorest regions of Asia, especially the Philippines.

Their American spouses expect sexual and domestic services will be provided by these women at home, she said.

The bill calls for a transcript of a Hawaii resident's criminal history, or a statement that none exists, be sent to the international matching organization the person is working with. It also requires notices be given to matchmaking recruits that criminal data is available about their potential spouses.

The Senate committee will vote on the bill on Tuesday. If approved, the measure goes to a House-Senate conference committee.