My name is Alexandra. I am an attorney from Peru, a feminist and a woman who is happily married to an American man. I met my husband online in 2001 on a large dating site after two years of talking online, telephoning and numerous personal visits.
Attacking "traditional values" by making the act of sending a "love letter" a crime with the United States IMBRA Law
I consider myself a feminist. I want to make it VERY clear that there is a big difference between feminism and radical feminism. I am proud to be a woman and I celebrate my femininity.
However, there are politicians and some radical organizations that have a lot of influence and money (mostly from your tax dollars) who have an agenda to sabatoge your deams, hopes and desires if you are a man from the United States seeking love and happiness with a woman like me who is from a foreign country.
Some of these politicians and organizations are involved in good causes too. Unfortunately, part of their game is to use these good causes as leverage, to take advantage of the good nature in people and to push through one-sided, self-serving extremist agendas.
You see, when you can take a problem, generate a reaction, and propose the solution, its easy to raise money for their non-governmental organizations (NGO). To raise money, they must attract media attention, and rally the masses in support of the "cause."
The real agenda is revealed here in a July 3, 2004 Press Release by an extremist organization (someone spent $80 to publish it) who feels threatened by International Matchmaking Organizations.
Click here to read the actual Press Release and learn how these extremist organizations have planned and organized the "spin" to gain support and momentum for this new law that makes love a "crime".
They specifically target individuals and dating services that promote "family and traditional values" by knowingly fabricating a connection that links the horrific issue of human trafficking to international matchmaking services (IMO's) even though no such connection has ever been proved.
They are angry that more and more American men are seeking foreign women, many with traditional values, and they want to put an end to it.
Here are some of exerpts from their July 3, 2004 PR news release:
"The American male population is now overly exposed to the message that it is acceptable to desire and actually marry women "unspoiled" by American materialism and most troubling, "uninfected" by American feminism."
"To gain bipartisan support for the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, we endorse the strategies of (1) using "womens' protection" as the main theme of the law; and (2) claiming that American-based marriage brokers are part of global human trafficking rings, however unfounded."
PR News Wire Press Release
No connection!
Dianne Post, Director of Systems Advocacy at the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence said she was unable to list one example of an American based IMO that was even accused of trafficking in women.
So where did this human-trafficking connection come from? Amazing isn't it?
Obviously, these extreme groups have no idea that in my home country of Peru, violence against women is a much bigger problem than in the United States.
It is possilble that Peru is one of the most dangerous places to a woman in Latin America for domestic violence and sexual assaults.
Read this July 24, 2006 article called "Peru confronts escalating violence against women" from Reuters News.
"According to the United Nations, Peru is one of the most dangerous places for women in Latin America, a region that had the world's highest number of sexual assaults last year."
As a Peruvian woman who has spent 28 years of her life in the country of Peru, I ask how could anyone support a law that says it protects women from domestic violence but guarantees a woman will suffer from it by forcing them to remain in such a hostile environment.
I believe that American men are far less dangerous to a foreign woman as a whole than the men of many foreign women's native countries.
Well, here is how they opened the "back door" to let the government interfer with your love life with the passage of a law called IMBRA 2005...and they utilized the oldest trick in the book called:
"Problem — Reaction — Solution."
Step - 1
Introduce or create a problem to get your agenda through.
Problem - American men pose a clear and present danger to foreign women and United States based International matchmaking organizations are directly linked to the horrifying problem of human-trafficking (no matter "how unfound")
We must drive all of these dating and matchmaking services out of business to "protect" foreign women from American men and from "human-trafficking."
Step - 2
Cause reaction and outrage among base supporters and the media to put the heat on politicians.
They sensationalized three high-profile murder cases that occurred over a 10-year period that involved American husbands who murdered their foreign wives to gain sympathy for the "cause."
During that same 10-year period, they ignore the 14,000 women American residents who have been killed by their intimiate partner. An American women resident is murdered by her intimate partner every 7 hours.
They manipulated government reports and statistics about human trafficking and domestic abuse to create a connection (no matter "how unfound") betweeen International Matchmaking Organizations (IMO's) based in the United States and human trafficking.
They used biased and extremist organizations to conduct the "non-biased" research to misrepresent ties and statistics that support the "cause" for IMBRA and spoon feed it over-and-over to the public. You see, if the public hears it enough times, especially on television, they believe it.
They partnered with Lifetime Television, Television for Women, a TV station that produces and airs programming primarily with plots and themes of domestic abuse and the victimization of women.
Lifetime produced a movie series called "Human Trafficking" starring Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland whose goal involved:
"Strategic linking of marriage brokers with human trafficking rings aids in gaining bipartisan support for a law intent on eliminating international matchmaking companies and websites. The Human Trafficking Lifetime movie series is an ideal venue for promoting this campaign."
A discussion forum user by the name of "amybro" posted this comment in response to another user named "sceptic" on Lifetime TV's (22.7 MB PDF file) message boards discussing their TV mini-series "Human Trafficking" This was taken from post #76:
"Im glad you are getting it and everyone else on this board is finally understanding. The Tahirih Justice Center and other groups are using the emotional propaganda generated by this miniseries to finally get the Marriage Broker Regulation Act passed. The international matchmaking websites must be eliminated by any means possible, even with a law that violates the civil rights of American men and offends foreign women by making them out to be incapable of thinking for themselves. Too bad sceptic; it will pass and we will maintain the feminist paradigm of what constitutes relationships between men and women in this country. "
The outcome was to create the illusion to the public that United States IMO's are linked to human-trafficking and prostitution rings (even though they are not) by expanding the definition of human-trafficking to include men seeking foreign women "mail order brides." and including this propaganda on their downloadable "house party" kits for people to gather and discuss the cause.
They changed the term International Matchmaking Organizations (IMO's) to "International Marriage Brokers"(IMB's) to give them a "criminal" and "negative" connotation.
They rallied the support of Amnesty International, the media and other activist organizations to spread the "cause" to tell these people over-and-over what a terrible problem there is with these IMO's and how they can stop it.
They attached a "Draconian" law with very little congressional support called the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA 2005) to a good and much needed law with lots of support called the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
What politician or individual would be crazy enough to vote against the protection of women from domestic violence and human-trafficking?
Step - 3
Introduce the "hidden" agenda (IMBRA legislation) as the solution and encourage people to rally behind the solution.
Encourage supporters to sign petitions and apply pressure to politicians to pass the Violence Against Women Act along with IMBRA legislation and to "regulate" (drive out of business) these evil IMO's that threaten extreme feminism and to make writing "love letters" to people in a foreign country a crime.
Unfortunately, IMBRA's mainstream supporters truly believe that the proposed solution will protect women from human trafficking and domestic violence even though big corporate dating (match.com, yahoo personals, etc.) with more "mail order brides" than all IMB's combined was "lobbied" out of the law so any abuser, rapist and criminal will avoid IMO's and increase big corporate dating's profits.
The real truth is that the IMBRA law does not "protect" foreign women. It actually encourages violence against women and was passed using fabricated statistics, Senators lying under oath, and a huge propaganda campaign.
Enter the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act
They have succeeded in imposing their radical beliefs upon us in a free American society by rallying support for a manufactured problem and getting their national IMBRA legislation passed.
They did what ever it took a knowlingly used distorted and fabricated statistics that now requires putting a warning label on a man from the United States if they desire to meet foreign women through an international dating service.
They made the false claim under oath at a congressional hearing that most United States based IMO's are part of a global human trafficking ring and the men who use such services are dangerous! Download the "house party kit" and look at Page-3 were it states:
"Who are Human Traffickers?
Human traffickers are men (not women) who lure "mail-order-brides" into their homes, only to physically, mentally and sexually abuse them."
— Lifetime TV Human Trafficking "House Party" Guide
Remember no such connection has ever been made ever between IMO's and the trafficking of humans. This is pure propaganda.
Foreign women must be protected from men like you!
On July 14, 2004 Senator Maria Cantwell-D from Washington State claimed under oath that:
"International marriage brokers (agencies) were the "Nexis" for trafficking of women into the United States."
— WA State Senator Maria Cantwell - D tesitmony before a Congressional hearing on Human Trafficking.
She knowingly lied under oath and presented false and misleading testimony in spite of the fact that she was aware of an earlier US Immigration Service study showing no such correlation.
Isn't lying under oath a crime?
The trafficking of humans is a world-wide crisis that needs attention so why is all the attention of this law focused on an area where no such evidence ties IMO's to human trafficking? Only 6% of all marriages between a United States Citizen and a foreign national each year are from a couple meeting through an IMO.
They spread their propaganda campaign through Lifetime Television by airing a TV Commerical Campaign on Human Trafficking to rally support.
They conducted a poll among Limetime's viewers (primarily women) to associate "mail order bride" services in the United States with the trafficking of women despite the fact there is has been no such connection.
The Reality.
Their recently passed law does not protect anyone because it exempts large corporate dating such as Match.com, E-harmony, etc. whose services have hundreds of thousands of foreign members. These companies were "lobbied" out of the law!
The cheerleaders of the IMBRA law claim that IMO's attract sexual predators and dangerous men and that foreign women are in danger.
I couldn't disagree more as I have seen hundreds of people find happiness and true love online. I've also seen many female predators trying to scam a good, honest man.
Their claim can apply to almost any situation in life such as going to a bar, meeting someone on a domestic dating site, meeting someone at your place of work, your neighborhood or anywhere.
The world is a dangerous place and there are no guarantees no matter where you go or what you do. Living and experiencing life is a risk.
If the IMBRA truly protected women without a "hidden" agenda, Latin Love Search would support it 100%. We believe that domestic violence and human trafficking are real problems that need to be addressed but IMBRA is obviously not the solution.
Just because I am not in support of IMBRA does not make me opposed to protecting people from domestic violence and sexual abuse and the horrors of human trafficking. IMBRA is not the answer to the real problem.
The real agenda of IMBRA is to regulate an American man's choices and to "make American men less desireable to foreign women" and to and to save radical feminism from women with "traditional values."
Immigration.
The immigration process already has deep personal information disclosures and there are existing Anti-trafficking and domestic violence laws in place to protect foreign spouses.
I should know as I had to go through the immigration process personally before this law passed. My husband and I waited nearly one year for my K-1 visa and it was a nightmare to gather all of the information. There are also existing Pre-IMRA laws to protect foreign spouses who enter the United States against domestic violence. IMBRA was not needed.
Now with IMBRA, an American who discloses their personal background information to a foreign matchmaking service assumes great risks of identity theft and public embarrassment if the information winds up on the internet for the world to see.
Not to mention the many women who know the IMBRA loophole mostly from Russia (Homeland Security now gives them step-by-step instructions in a pamphlet as to how to do it) to wrongly accuse their new American husband of "domestic abuse" instatly landing him in jail and to automatically open the door for her to U.S. Citizenship. She can petition to bring her entire family to the United States. Now men have no protections against false accusations. Guilty until proven innocent, again!
And the primary extremist organization that promoted IMBRA has lawyers on staff ready to pounce at any opportunity they get.
The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act 2005 was signed into law by President Bush in January 2006.
For several years, the legislation on its own failed to pass due to its "Draconian" nature and constitutional questionability. They finally found an opportunity at the end of 2005 to "attach" what their "dud" legislation onto a good law called the Violence Against Women Act.
Now you know how they got it passed.
Of course, no one read the new version of the IMBRA law and it was attached "cleverly" to the Violence Against Women Act and strategically voted on by Congress during their last session before the 2005 Christmas holiday recess.
It was approved by the Congress without debate or anyone even reading it by a "voice vote."
Congress was presented with manipulated facts and statistics mostly provided directly by the extremist groups themselves, to sensationalize and justify the support of the IMBRA.
This is illegal and should be investigated!
We all agree that its a tragedy anytime someone is hurt, abused or killed and we are all for the protection of people from these acts of evil. Unfortunately, the IMBRA law does not protect anyone and hurts good people.
The problem of domestic violence is not isolated to only United States citizens with foreign spouses.
Just watch or read the news and you'll see many tragic domestic "shock" cases within the United States where mothers murder their own children, wives muder their husbands, and husbands murder their wives.
This law would not have protected Laci & Conner Peterson from Scott Peterson nor would it have protected Matthew Winkler, an old-style Tennessee preacher who was killed by his devoted wife, Mary Winkler --all U.S. citizens in a domestic marrages.
The law requires international dating services that charge fees for dating services (now labeled as International Marriage Brokers to give them a negative connotation) to collect private, personal and criminal background information from its United States members regardless of where the service is located in the world.
The goal of this legislation was to drive intenational matchmaking services out of business and force men to seek their soulmate domestically.
"These provisions will also drive up costs to the point of putting most brokers out of business. In addition, this law effectively places "warning labels" on American men thus decreasing demand for them among foreign women over time."
Exerpt from PR News Wire, July 2004
Latin Love Search and the IMBRA Law
Fortunately, you have found Latin Love Search where good, honest and faithful people like you ARE in demand!
Latin Love Search is a Free Dating Site that does not charge fees for dating or matchmaking services.
Our Latin dating site is not considered to be an International Marriage Broker. We certainly do not "broker" marriages between our members or sell "brides" to the highest bidder. All members obtain the same services for the same price.
Latin Love Search promotes life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Although we are excluded from this law, we feel it is very unfair and that its motivations and intentions are very different from its stated purpose. We feel it took the real issue at stake one step forward to go two steps backward.
There are several legal cases and constitutional challenges to repeal the IMBRA law and we are confident it will be repealed in the future.
If international matchmaking between U.S. citizens and foreign nationals are not the "principal business" of the matchmaking service AND the service charges similar fees and offer silmilar services to all of its members, they are exempt from IMBRA information gathering. (match.com is owned by Ticketmaster, yahoo personals is a search engine company, etc.)
Free dating sites such as Latin Love Search are also exempt from IMBRA information gathering from its U.S. members and this is the reason:
According to the IMBRA law as taken from the United States Federal Registry, the term "International Marriage Broker" means:
| International Marriage Broker | Latin Love Search |
| a corporation, partnership, business, individual, or other legal entity, | | |
whether or not organized under any law of the United States, | | |
that charges fees for providing dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between US citizens, nationals and residents and foreign national clients
| | |
by providing personal contact information | | |
or otherwise facilitating communication between individuals | | |
| | Must collect IMBRA information before initial contact is allowed | Exempt from IMBRA information gathering |
Exceptions -
The term "International Marriage Broker" does not apply to:
| International Marriage Broker | Latin Love Search |
| an entity that provides dating services | | |
if its principal business is not to provide international dating services between United States citizens or United States residents and foreign nationals | | |
and it charges comparable rates and offers comparable services to all individuals it serves regardless of the individual's gender or country of citizenship.
| | |
| | Must collect IMBRA information before initial contact is allowed | Exempt from IMBRA information gathering |
If Latin Love Search were a pay-per-membership service (charged fees) we would still be exempt from IMBRA information gathering since we offer comparable services for comparable fees to all individuals we serve regardless of an individual's gender or country of citizenship.
We are one of the largest domestic Colombian dating sites and one of the largest Peruvian dating sites with thousands of men and women members from those countries.
If an IMO service is considered to be an "International Marriage Broker" (charges fees for dating services) they must collect your private information including:
- How many times you have been married and why?
- How many children you have and where they live?
- Any charge or arrest you have ever had regardless if you were convicted or not, etc..
The law requires the release of your information to all of the foreign members after the matchmaking service translates your info into the native languages and obtains authorization from each and every foreign member—BEFORE you are allowed to have any initial contact, a simple "Hello."
Failure for an "International Marriage Broker" to do this may result in prison sentences (5-years per incident) and severe fines ($25,000 per incident) to them.
This is worse than illegal drug offenses for the matchmaking service and its owners. Can you believe the U.S. has a law that punishes dating sites more severely than drug dealers?
Of course prisoners can write "love letters" and even get married while they are still in prison but not the average, good natured United States man.
At least a prisoner was presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Not you!
They have truly made international love a "crime."
In the meantime, many large and popular pay-for-membership dating sites were able to use political lobbyists to make themselves exempt from these regulations so IMBRA allows any criminal, sexual preditor or abusive person to join any of the exempt sites and meet anyone they choose.
How does this new law really protect anyone?
If the true intent of this law was to protect women from domestic violence, we feel that disclosure of an individual's private information should be done during the immigration stage of a relationship when a couple has made the choice to take their relationship to a serious and committed level when they apply for a fiance visa.
This would protect everyone regardless of how a couple met.
It is absurd to make a dating site collect this type of personal information from its U.S. members before any type of relationship has even had a chance to materialize.
Not being able to say "Hello" on an internet dating site unless you've disclosed everything about your private life first is insane.
We are all for the protection of men and women from domestic violence but we feel this law fails to protect anyone while creating tremendous barriers and risk of embarrassment and/or identity theft for good and honest people seeking life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Just Google "International Marriage Broker Regulation Act 2005" and you can see just how threatened these groups feel about Western men seeking marriage with foreign women and their agenda and plans to destroy "traditional values" or anyone who promotes them.
Do the research yourself and you will see how IMBRA was manipulated and "criminally" made into law with distorted facts and statistics.
If you disagree with the IMBRA law, I encourage you to sign an online petition calling to repeal the International Marriage Brokers Regulation Act.
Also write letters to the politicians and organizations who supported its passage.
The state of Washington passed similar unconstitutional legistlation back in 2003 to regulate matchmaking agencies within their state and the state of California is now trying to gain support to pass their own version.
Maybe they are worried IMBRA won't stand up to a constitutional challenge and they are trying to create an "insurance policy" in case the nationwide IMBRA law gets repealed.
Perhaps the motivation of this agenda by these groups and the deterioration of traditional values are one of the reasons 50% of all domestic marriages in the United States fail and end in divorce.
Here's a link to "spin" article in the July 2006 Harpers Magazine. The author is most famous for his writings about the dangers of cruise ships. He uses our website, Latin Love Search as an example of a site promoting "traditional values" as though it were a crime.
"Today, it is estimated that well over 100,000 women around the world are listed on the Internet as available for marriage to Western men. (AFA alone lists nearly 30,000.) Wherever the women come from, such websites as A Special Lady, Chance for Love, and Latin Love Search tout their traditional values, their submissiveness, their willingness to put husband and family ahead of themselves. Google the seemingly innocuous search term “single women,” and five out of the first ten results will be websites offering to connect Western men with would-be wives from around the world. Unlikely as it might sound, at the outset of the twenty-first century, marriage brokering is growing increasingly less fringe, not more so."
Expert from Harpers.org, July 2006
If the statistics in the Harpers article are correct, that means 10% of all the women listed on the internet looking for Western men are free members on Latin Love Search!
If you want to meet them, put away your credit card because you can become a free member too!
How does Latin Love Search work?
Latin Love Search is 100% Free Dating Service with ladies and men from South and Central America, Caribe, Mexico, Europe, the U.S. and all over the world.
We are quickly becoming famous for being one of the best Latin Dating sites on the web. We are the largest domestic Peruvian dating site and we're becoming the largest Colombian domestic dating site.
We introduce single women and men, mostly from Latin countries that are seeking love, romance, and marriage with Latin, American, European, Australian, and Canadian men and women.
