May 09, 2007, 12:27 PM
Increasing numbers of immigrants marrying Cuban migrants
Either by chance or by design, a growing number of Venezuelans —
more than 2,000 since 2002 — are marrying Cuban refugees on the
fast track for green cards, and drawing scrutiny from U.S.
immigration officials.
By Alfonso Chardy, Associated Press
May 07, 2007
MIAMI — Either by chance or by design, a growing number of
Venezuelans — more than 2,000 since 2002 — are marrying Cuban
refugees on the fast track for green cards, and drawing scrutiny
from U.S. immigration officials.
The escalation coincides with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's
increasing ties to Cuba's Fidel Castro, which have prompted
thousands of Venezuelans to flee and then overstay their visas
in the United States. In South Florida, attorneys say marriages
between Cuban refugees and Venezuelan immigrants top the list of
non-Cubans marrying Cubans, followed by Colombians and Mexicans.
For undocumented immigrants, marrying a Cuban with a green card
can be their ticket to staying in the United States — and even a
better deal than marrying a U.S. citizen. Non-Cubans married to
U.S. citizens for less than two years obtain conditional
residence, but those who marry Cubans with green cards can get
permanent residency after a year.
Only a few hundred non-Cuban immigrants of various nationalities
received green cards under the Cuban Adjustment Act between 1996
and 2001, but last year alone, more than 4,000 did across the
country. Nationally, Colombians, whose country has been swept up
in civil strife for decades, led Venezuelans by a slim margin,
followed by Peruvians and Argentines, according to the Office of
Immigration Statistics.
"The sheer number of Colombians and Venezuelans now in South
Florida makes it logical for them to encounter and marry
Cubans," said immigration attorney Wilfredo Allen.
Jorge Rivera, a Miami immigration attorney, said non-Cuban
green-card applications under the Cuban Adjustment Act are
drawing increased attention from authorities, who suspect fraud
in some cases.
"Some people have come in for sharp questioning when they apply
under the Cuban Adjustment Act as non-Cuban spouses of Cuban
refugees," Rivera said.
Two years ago, authorities denied green cards to several
Cuban-Venezuelan couples after accusing them of "arranging"
marriages so Venezuelans in deportation proceedings could obtain
green cards, said an aide to attorney Eduardo Soto, who is now
handling some of those cases.
Emilio Gonzalez, head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, said he is committed to stamping out immigration
fraud.
"For much too long, the issues of asylum fraud, marriage fraud
and naturalization fraud were being written off as no big deal,"
Gonzalez said in a recent speech in Miami. "Let me tell you
something: It's a big deal, and we're going to tackle the fraud
issues aggressively."
As Chavez's government continues to move toward Cuban-style
socialism, Venezuelan community leaders have begun to press
Congress and the Bush administration for measures that would
provide Venezuelan immigrants with a way to stay. But so far,
their pleas have not caught Washington's attention.
Meanwhile, the number of Venezuelans marrying Cubans continues
to rise.
Venezuelan Jorge Costa married Cuban Diley Nunez, and they
applied together for residence in 2005 and got it within a year.
"It was very fast," Costa said. "A great benefit for
non-Cubans."
Costa, 38, and Nunez, 35, knew about each other for years
because Costa has relatives in Cuba. His father settled in
Venezuela after Castro seized power in 1959.
"My wife and I find ourselves talking about the situations in
our countries and how we are together now because of that," said
Costa, a cable-television company employee in Miami.
Rolando Ruiz, of Fort Lauderdale, got his residence a year after
arriving on a raft from Cuba in 2005, before he married Monica
Rodriguez of Venezuela last Nov. 19 — her birthday. She is still
waiting for a background check to clear her for her green card.
Before she met Ruiz, Rodriguez, 25, was trying to figure out the
quickest way to get a green card because her student visa was
about to expire. She met Ruiz, 29, during a trip with mutual
friends to Orlando's theme parks in December 2005.
"During the Orlando trip, we became good friends, and then we
began to know each other better, and we began to go out, and
then he proposed marriage to me and I said yes," she recalled.
Rodriguez said she was not aware of Ruiz's immigration status as
a Cuban refugee when they began dating. She said she learned of
the Cuban Adjustment Act's benefits when they consulted Allen,
who said the couple came to see him shortly before they were
married.
Not all Cuban-Venezuelan marriages end well.
Yeminna Barreto divorced her Cuban husband and has filed for a
green card as a battered spouse under a provision in immigration
law that allows foreign nationals married to Cubans or U.S.
citizens to seek residence if they are domestic-violence
victims.
"He lied to me," Barreto said. "He conned me into marrying him,
bringing my children from Venezuela, and then he could do
nothing for me and we became illegal."
Barreto said immigration authorities denied their green-card
applications when they discovered that he had a criminal past.
© 2007, The Miami Herald.
Either by chance or by design, a growing number of Venezuelans —
more than 2,000 since 2002 — are marrying Cuban refugees on the
fast track for green cards, and drawing scrutiny from U.S.
immigration officials.
By Alfonso Chardy, Associated Press
May 07, 2007
MIAMI — Either by chance or by design, a growing number of
Venezuelans — more than 2,000 since 2002 — are marrying Cuban
refugees on the fast track for green cards, and drawing scrutiny
from U.S. immigration officials.
The escalation coincides with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's
increasing ties to Cuba's Fidel Castro, which have prompted
thousands of Venezuelans to flee and then overstay their visas
in the United States. In South Florida, attorneys say marriages
between Cuban refugees and Venezuelan immigrants top the list of
non-Cubans marrying Cubans, followed by Colombians and Mexicans.
For undocumented immigrants, marrying a Cuban with a green card
can be their ticket to staying in the United States — and even a
better deal than marrying a U.S. citizen. Non-Cubans married to
U.S. citizens for less than two years obtain conditional
residence, but those who marry Cubans with green cards can get
permanent residency after a year.
Only a few hundred non-Cuban immigrants of various nationalities
received green cards under the Cuban Adjustment Act between 1996
and 2001, but last year alone, more than 4,000 did across the
country. Nationally, Colombians, whose country has been swept up
in civil strife for decades, led Venezuelans by a slim margin,
followed by Peruvians and Argentines, according to the Office of
Immigration Statistics.
"The sheer number of Colombians and Venezuelans now in South
Florida makes it logical for them to encounter and marry
Cubans," said immigration attorney Wilfredo Allen.
Jorge Rivera, a Miami immigration attorney, said non-Cuban
green-card applications under the Cuban Adjustment Act are
drawing increased attention from authorities, who suspect fraud
in some cases.
"Some people have come in for sharp questioning when they apply
under the Cuban Adjustment Act as non-Cuban spouses of Cuban
refugees," Rivera said.
Two years ago, authorities denied green cards to several
Cuban-Venezuelan couples after accusing them of "arranging"
marriages so Venezuelans in deportation proceedings could obtain
green cards, said an aide to attorney Eduardo Soto, who is now
handling some of those cases.
Emilio Gonzalez, head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, said he is committed to stamping out immigration
fraud.
"For much too long, the issues of asylum fraud, marriage fraud
and naturalization fraud were being written off as no big deal,"
Gonzalez said in a recent speech in Miami. "Let me tell you
something: It's a big deal, and we're going to tackle the fraud
issues aggressively."
As Chavez's government continues to move toward Cuban-style
socialism, Venezuelan community leaders have begun to press
Congress and the Bush administration for measures that would
provide Venezuelan immigrants with a way to stay. But so far,
their pleas have not caught Washington's attention.
Meanwhile, the number of Venezuelans marrying Cubans continues
to rise.
Venezuelan Jorge Costa married Cuban Diley Nunez, and they
applied together for residence in 2005 and got it within a year.
"It was very fast," Costa said. "A great benefit for
non-Cubans."
Costa, 38, and Nunez, 35, knew about each other for years
because Costa has relatives in Cuba. His father settled in
Venezuela after Castro seized power in 1959.
"My wife and I find ourselves talking about the situations in
our countries and how we are together now because of that," said
Costa, a cable-television company employee in Miami.
Rolando Ruiz, of Fort Lauderdale, got his residence a year after
arriving on a raft from Cuba in 2005, before he married Monica
Rodriguez of Venezuela last Nov. 19 — her birthday. She is still
waiting for a background check to clear her for her green card.
Before she met Ruiz, Rodriguez, 25, was trying to figure out the
quickest way to get a green card because her student visa was
about to expire. She met Ruiz, 29, during a trip with mutual
friends to Orlando's theme parks in December 2005.
"During the Orlando trip, we became good friends, and then we
began to know each other better, and we began to go out, and
then he proposed marriage to me and I said yes," she recalled.
Rodriguez said she was not aware of Ruiz's immigration status as
a Cuban refugee when they began dating. She said she learned of
the Cuban Adjustment Act's benefits when they consulted Allen,
who said the couple came to see him shortly before they were
married.
Not all Cuban-Venezuelan marriages end well.
Yeminna Barreto divorced her Cuban husband and has filed for a
green card as a battered spouse under a provision in immigration
law that allows foreign nationals married to Cubans or U.S.
citizens to seek residence if they are domestic-violence
victims.
"He lied to me," Barreto said. "He conned me into marrying him,
bringing my children from Venezuela, and then he could do
nothing for me and we became illegal."
Barreto said immigration authorities denied their green-card
applications when they discovered that he had a criminal past.
© 2007, The Miami Herald.