Insane Immigration
http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml
Akha Activist, Wife of United States Citizen, and Mother of Four Denied US Visa
An Akha woman activist who opposed the US War on Drugs in Thailand that saw many of her people brutally murdered and is married to Oregon activist Matthew McDaniel of the Akha Heritage Foundation has been refused entry into the US. They have four children. Together the six of them are on the run in South East asia. Her spousal visa was applied for in Jan of 2005, they have been married more than five years. Their four children have US passports and are residents of Oregon as American Citizens. But without their mother they will not come to the US.
After a silence of seven months US Immigration finally said there was not enough evidence of marriage. However, the Akha woman was married in a traditional village ceremony, and witnesses at that ceremony filed a notarized statement to their marriage. A woman with a Thai passport will loose her right to land if she marries to a foreigner, so few marry officially in Thailand. The Akha do not register their marriages with the Thai government.
US Immigration is claiming they are not retaliating against anyone. They said that since there isn't sufficient proof of marriage, kids are not enough, that they must remarry somewhere and file again for a spousal visa and pay a new fee and wait all over again.
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Gimme a break.... The US govt at its finest guys