Protecting immigrant spouses

Earlier this month the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on federal agencies' compliance with the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005 (IMBRA). The purpose of IMBRA is to protect noncitizen fiance(e)s and spouses (beneficiaries) from domestic violence and abuse by citizens who have petitioned for their immigration, including persons who met through an international marriage broker. Among IMBRA's requirements are that beneficiaries are informed of a petitioner's criminal history or a history of filing multiple petitions.

IMBRA is part of the Violence Against Women and Dept. of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005, P.L. 109-162 (pdf, 177pp), sections 831 thru 834, 119 Stat. 3066 ff. Section 833(f) therein required GAO to study IMBRA's impact on the visa process for noncitizen fiance(e)s. The agencies involved are the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Dept. of State (DOS), and Dept. of Justice (DOJ) In this study, GAO addressed the extent of USCIS, DOS, and DOJ's implementation of IMBRA's requirements, and the extent to which USCIS and DOS have collected and maintained required data.

INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGE BROKER REGULATION ACT of 2005: Agencies Have Implemented Some, but Not All of the Act's Requirements, GAO-08-862 (pdf, 39pp/860kB), August 8, 2008

States and nation fail women's health

The National Woman's Law Center (NWLC) and Oregon Health & Science University Center for Women's Health (OHSU) jointly released a nation and state-by-state report card on the "current state of women's health status and health policies."

First, for the bulk of indicators of the status of women's health, the nation as a whole and the individual states are falling further behind in their quest to reach national goals for women's health.

The Report Card examines status and policy indicators in four categories:

1. Women's Access to Health Care Services
2. Addressing Wellness and Prevention
3. Key Health Conditions, Diseases and Causes of Death for Women
4. Living in a Healthy Community

Hawaii, though ranked 7 in comparison to other states, received an overall grade of Unsatisfactory. Lowest Hawaii marks were in Addressing Wellness and Prevention, failing with a low 37th place in "Screenings". Only the top three states (Vermont, Minnesota, Massachusetts, respectively) received other than Unsatisfactory with a score of Satisfactory Minus.

In its summary, the report states:

• The nation still receives an overall grade of unsatisfactory.
• No state received an overall grade of satisfactory.

Making the Grade on Women's Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card
(October 2007, HTML interactive)

Hawaii's Report Card (HTML)
National Report (HTML)
Key Findings (HTML)