Most Opposers of Gay and Lesbian marriage say they do so in order to preserve the "sanctity" of marriage. They feel like same sex marriage would somehow diminish this institution. What they don't realize, or maybe they do and just want to be bigots on the downlow, is that heterosexuals have diminished this institution in so many ways, it isn't funny. Let's discuss the latest.( or at least the latest known to me)
I have certainly heard of people getting married to get legal citizenship in The United States. What I didn't know, however, is that it has become a big business. People actually charge money to marry illegal immigrants so that they can become legal. Big money. Sometimes upwards of 25,000.
I never realized that this type of "business" was going on. Talk about naive. I have a handyman who has been doing odd jobs for me for a number of years, and in doing so, we have become friends and generally have various conversations during the course of whatever he happens to be fixing at the time. I'll call him Robert.
Robert came over to do some work for me yesterday, and he really looked sad. Almost despondent. Of course I asked him what was wrong. He feels comfortable talking to me, so he spills this story:
Robert has been in the United States for almost 9 years. He is not here legally( I didn't know that!). Apparently he has been trying to get legal citizenship and it just isn't working out. He says since 9-1-1, getting citizenship in the US has gotten difficult and now he is at the end of his rope. He has decided to get married. I know his girlfriend, and they have a cute little baby, so of course I was excited and happy for him. Imagine my surprise when Robert says he isn't marrying his girlfriend.
Robert is getting married to someone he doesn't know. He is paying someone money to marry him so that he can stay in the US. He then goes into detail about how this whole operation works.
First, he said ideally, illegal immigrants want to marry an American. He says for those who don't have much money, that really isn't an option because apparently Americans charge the most.
The next option is to marry someone from Cuba. He says that when people come to the US from Cuba, the road to citizenship for them is a lot easier, given the political situation between the US and Cuba. He says that Cuban immigrants can get legal status in as few as six months.
By the way, come to find out, Robert's girlfriend is already married to some stranger and has been for three years so that she can get citizenship, which apparently is about to happen. I asked Robert why he doesn't just marry her, since he already knows, loves, and has a child with her. He says Immigration is getting wise to couples where the woman marries a man, which is easier according to Robert, gets citizenship, and then divorces that man and marries her true love so that he can get citizenship.
Robert says during the course of these interviews conducted by Immigration, they ask very perswonal questions and have even beenknown to ask the couple what color underwear the other is wearing on that particular day. I guess they are trying to determine the level of intimacy, but I was like "Good Lord".
He told me that most Americans don't really know about this whole thing, and if I were to judge it by my own personal knowledge, I would have to say he is absolutely correct because I really and truly didn't know this was going on like it is.
For those of you who use online dating services, you better watch out. During the course of my research this morning on the subject, I found an
article where it was suggested that illegal immigrants find potential spouses on dating sites such as Eharmony.
I could go into more detail about what Robert told me, but I won't. I'm sure you get the picture by now. Am I the only one who didn't know the depths of this "business"?