‘Sham marriages’ an issue in area | Bristol Press

Article from the Bristol Press:

Sen. Rob Sampson called out what he says is an “ongoing, organized” effort to bring in non-citizens through alleged “sham marriages,” which he said are happening in towns across Connecticut, including Southington.

Sampson, a Republican who represents Southington along with Wolcott, Prospect and Waterbury, put out a joint statement with Sen. Stephen Harding and Sen. Eric Bethel regarding recent reports of “fraudulent marriages” in which women are potentially “being forced into marriages against their will” to help non-citizens obtain immigration benefits.

“Clearly this is an ongoing, organized effort to bring non-citizens to marry Americans at town halls and city halls across Connecticut,” he said. “More than a year ago, we Senate Republicans noted how these ‘sham marriages’ raise a host of troubling red flags.”

Sampson, Harding and Bethel questioned whether brides were being “forced into marriage against their will.”

“It certainly appears that way,” they said. “This involves non-citizens and vulnerable young women. This also impacts Connecticut property taxpayers.”

Sampson and the other legislators said they will introduce “common sense legislation” to “address any loopholes in the law that is enabling this to happen.”

“We must look at creating penalties for people that engage in this activity for fraudulent purposes,” they said. “We must look at empowering local governments to be able to set their own parameters to verify that what’s going on is above board.”

Sampson and the other legislators said many local officials “feel like their hands are tied” right now.

“If they see something that looks like fraud or abuse, they must be empowered to say something about it,” they said.

Town Council Chair Paul Chaplinsky said he believes every marriage request needs to have a better vetting process.

“Every marriage request needs a better vetting process,” he said. “There’s literally marriage license fraud happening at town halls across the state, with little the town clerks can do. Bills such as SB1024 and SB1038, which begin to address this crisis, introduced by Sampson, have fallen on deaf ears with the Democrat majority. Our state Democrat legislators need to start supporting meaningful reform.”

Sampson has sponsored Senate Bill 1024, “An Act Imposing Fines Against Persons Who Participate In Marriage Fraud,” which if passed could result in those who participate in fraudulent marriages to be penalized between $2,000 and $10,000 per violation.

According to the bill summary on the Connecticut General Assembly website, the purpose of the bill is to “to prevent knowing and willful immigration and marriage fraud.”

If the bill were to be passed, it would amend chapter 815e of the general statutes to provide that “Any person who participates in a marriage and any person who is authorized to perform a marriage in Connecticut while knowing such marriage is for purposes of evading any provision of United States immigration law shall be fined not less than $2,000 and not more than $10,000 per violation.”

According to the Connecticut General Assembly website, this bill was referred to the Joint Committee on Judiciary on Jan. 22. No further action is listed.

Sampson also sponsored Senate Bill 1038, “An Act Prohibiting Municipalities From Imposing Restrictions On Or Taking Adverse Action Against Any Person Who Reports A Suspected Fraudulent Marriage To United States Citizenship And Immigration Services.”

According to the bill summary, the purpose of this bill is to “prohibit municipalities from restricting any person from reporting a suspected fraudulent marriage to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. It would also prohibit municipalities from “taking adverse action against any such person for making any such report.”

According to the Connecticut General Assembly website, this bill was referred to the Joint Committee on Planning and Development on Jan. 22. No further action is listed.

CT Insider recently published an article which listed Southington among the communities where this fraudulent activity was taking place. According to that article, two women told police they felt threatened to go through with arranged unions.