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38 U. Tol. L. Rev. 895 (2006-2007)
Marriages of Convenience: International Marriage Brokers, Mail-Order Brides, and Domestic Servitude

handle is hein.journals/utol38 and id is 909 raw text is: MARRIAGES OF CONVENIENCE: INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGE BROKERS, MAIL-ORDER BRIDES, AND DOMESTIC SERVITUDE Suzanne H. Jackson* I. INTRODUCTION O VER the last twenty-five years, as international marriage brokers (IMBs), informally known as mail-order bride companies, have become more numerous and visible, they have also become more controversial. When the marriages resulting from their efforts explode into violence and homicide, the tragedies seem depressingly predictable byproducts of sexist and racist marketing of the women as cheap, disposable commodities, exacerbated by the women's vulnerability due to social and language isolation, fragile immigration status, and low earning power. Recently-enacted federal legislation now requires IMBs to conduct simple background checks on U.S. clients (the men)' and disclose the results to the foreign recruits (the women). IMBs may not release a woman's contact information until she has reviewed the background check results and returned a signed document confirming her consent. Brokers have challenged these rules in two federal courts, claiming that the new law violates their constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection. Advocates arguing that the law's restrictions advance legitimate governmental interests have described congressional intent as the prevention of domestic violence against immigrant women. Viewed from a Thirteenth Amendment perspective, however, the legislation also combats a modem form of involuntary * Professor of Clinical Law, George Washington University Law School; B.A., Wellesley College; J.D., Harvard Law School. Thank you to the University of Toledo Law School for sponsoring this symposium; to Professors Rebecca Zietlow, Michael Les Benedict, Jim Pope, Lea VanderVelde, and Alexander Tsesis for helpful suggestions; and to Randall Miller, Esq., for providing information on past and pending federal court actions. 1. IMBs, as an industry, offer images of women for perusal by men. In eight years, I found only two agencies purporting to offer only men's images for women's perusal; one was satirical, the other disappeared within a month. See Suzanne H. Jackson, To Honor and Obey: Trafficking in Mail-Order Brides, 70 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 475, 495 (2002). See also Gary G. Bala, Welcome to the Year 2007 Issue, 4 INT'L VISA TRAVELER 1 (2007), http://www.usaimmigration attorney.com/images/NEWSLETTER2007.pdf (newsletter designed for American bachelor gentlemen who seek an international fiancee and bride); Press Release, Russian Brides Cyber Guide, Mail Order Brides Petition Against the Legislation that Should Protect Them (Aug. 22, 2003), http://www.womenrussia.com/press/22 08 2003.htm (promoting a petition signed by Russian mail order brides against proposed legislation to regulate international matchmaking agencies).

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