A new report by Tahirih, Time to Lead: The Federal Government’s Role in Ending Child Marriage in the United States highlights the critical role that the federal government must play in our fight to end child marriage here at home. It demonstrates how our current immigration laws put minors across the globe at risk of experiencing child marriage in this country. The glaring gap in our immigration laws that set no minimum age for a foreign beneficiary to a spouse or fiancée visa has allowed shocking cases to proceed, including those in which U.S. men in their 40s and 50s successfully petitioned for girls as young as 14 years old. This report outlines concrete steps that the federal government should take to address child marriage through the immigration system and incentivize states to strengthen their marriage age laws.
See AllTime to Lead: The Federal Government’s Role in Ending Child Marriage in the United States
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Anastasia
I came to the U.S. in the winter of 2006. Life back home in Mexico was tough for me and my family. I dreamt of going to college and graduating but with my family’s economic status, that dream was too costly and impossible.
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