Once again my brain missed that left turn in Albuquerque. What started as a survey of recent immigrants about whether they think there are Americans who would do their jobs if they left them, has turned a bit strange. You see my night job is at the minimum wage flying knife UN.
As I worked my way around the crew prodding them yet again about something that at the time was at best a distraction to them and an excuse for me to avoid actually working. By the time I got to the 5th person the topic of green-card marriages was brought up 5 times (not by me). Not to trivialize gay marriage, but the group conversation quickly turned to "would you enter a gay marriage for a green card?"
more below
I am not gay and don't feel I have the right to tell anyone they can't get married. My one semi-scientific argument for gay marriage (besides the recent pheremone discoveries) is that there is a higher than anyone would think number of babies who are born intersex. I don't think it's fair to tell someone they can't get married to anyone because they have a physical birth defect.
Ok - back to the gay green-card marriages. First of all when a bi-national couple try to get residency for the immigrant half of their unit, they are flung into the akward pretzel of a position of trying to prove that they are in fact really married. The one easy way to prove a marriage has been consumated is by having a kid together. Many couples jump through a bunch of weird hoops like trying to memorize details like their partners toothbrush color.
While I don't have any documented proof of this issue ever being presented to immigration, I'm sure if it hasn't happened yet, it will soon. What I am wondering is how they would differentiate between two men in love and two roomates looking to beat the system. Hell, I'd marry a guy for decent health insurance. I don't know what I'd do if I were looking to not get booted out of the country. Not surprisingly it took a couple of minutes for the machismo in the air to boil off before the guys started saying that yes they would (FAKE) marry a guy for a green card.
Most sets of roomates I know argue like old married couples anyway. How could anyone prove or disprove their marriage if they were to claim they had one? who knows. I bet this is one of the reasons the Gay-marriage amendment is being pushed at the same time as immigration reform though. I can't be the only one twisted enough to have thought of this...... Can I?