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22 Hastings Women's L.J. 55 (2011)
Kicking the INA out of Bed: Abolishing the Consummation Requirement for Proxy Marriages

handle is hein.journals/haswo22 and id is 61 raw text is: Kicking the INA Out of Bed: Abolishing the Consummation Requirement for Proxy Marriages Kathryn Rae Edwards* Hotaru Ferschke, a Japanese citizen and widow of a United States Marine, cannot become a permanent resident of the United States because she had the wrong kind of wedding ceremony according to an outdated immigration law. She married her fianc6, an American soldier, in a proxy wedding ceremony, when he was deployed to serve in Iraq.' Mrs. Ferschke wants to raise her son with her in-laws in Tennessee as she and her late husband had planned, but the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services denied her application for permanent residency because her husband was killed before they could consummate their marriage-that is, before they slept together as husband and wife.2 The 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act requires post-marital consummation for proxy weddings, so a pre-marital sexual relationship is insufficient evidence of a valid and bona fide marriage. Because Mrs. Ferschke cannot consummate her marriage, immigration officials cannot consider Mrs. Ferschke the spouse of a citizen, and cannot grant her permanent resident status.4 Several United States Representatives and Senators have proposed private bills to grant Mrs. Ferschke the right to apply for permanent residency.s She waits in Japan, while her in-laws wait in Tennessee, to see * Executive Editor, Hastings Women's Law Journal 2010-2011; J.D. Candidate, 2011, University of California, Hastings College of the Law; B.A., 2001, University of California, Santa Barbara. The author would like to thank Hastings Professor Lois Weithom for her valuable advice. The author is also grateful to the members of Hastings Women 's Law Journal for their camaraderie and assistance. Finally, this Note about family would not have been possible without the support of the author's own, notably Ida Edwards, David Edwards, and Zachary Piper. 1. Kristin M. Hall, Proxy Wedding Means Marine's Widow, Baby Unwelcome, KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL, Sept. 17, 2009, http://m.knoxnews.com/news/2009/sep/17/ proxy-wedding-means-marines-widow-baby-unwelcome/. 2. Id. 3. Id. 4. Id. 5. Id. HASTINGS WOMEN'S LAW JOURNAL 55

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