Are You A Victim of A Green Card Marriage Scam?         Websites like http://www.romancescams.org and http://fraudaid.com/index.htm are instrumental in focusing on romance scams where the victims lose large sums of money. While most of the help that is offered victims is emotional support, they do warn potential victims of the pitfalls of engaging in get-rich-quick scams over the internet. Additionally, many sites direct the victims to legal advocates who can advise them on their rights and what to do to report the scammers and mitigate financial loss if possible.         Conversely, a large percentage of these websites do not focus on the victimization of individuals who are tricked into green-card-scam marriages. Unlike internet romance scams and other financial scams where the scammer's goal is to obtain money, green-card-card-marriage scam victims are largely ignored, even if the victims are women who have children with the scammers. Why is that?         While no specific reason will be established at this point for the lack of legal assistance to victims of green-card-marriage victims, there are points that correlate in many of the cases: The green card marriage scammer is represented by an immigration attorney from the time he/she meets with the victim; The victim is not represented by legal counsel (as the victim is generally unaware of the scam); The scammer has been apprised of his/her rights by legal counsel or by a not-for-profit immigration services; The victim has not been apprised of his/her rights and responsibilities with regard to sponsoring someone for permanent residence; The scammer has access to the victim's personal information; The victim has no access to the scammer's personal information, either in the United States or in the scammer's home country; The scammer can make criminal allegations against the victim to immigration officials without providing proof of same; The victim can only make criminal allegations based on proof; even then, “victims of marriage fraud are often confronted with congressional members, immigration investigators, advocacy groups and immigration attorneys that fail to help them” (Elena Maria Lopez, Journalist).         On the USAToday website, freelance journalist Elena Maria Lopez, herself a green-card-marriage victims makes a number of interesting points regarding green card marriage scams(http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-04-09-marriage-fraud_x.htm).  In the article she explains the inherent dangers that green-card-marriage scams poses to U.S. Department of Homeland Security efforts. Ms. Lopez has first-hand knowledge based on experience and research regarding the lack of governmental assistance given to green-card-marriage scam victims, the loopholes and outright legal violations that allows green-card-marriage scammers to circumvent immigration laws that prohibit green card marriages and the U.S. government's current and past lack own lack of concern that helped terrorists use green card marriages to gain legal entry into the United States to bomb the World Trade Center.         According to Janice Kephart, former counsel for the General Accounting Office's 9/11 Commission, "...between 20 to 30 percent of all immigration applications are suspected of fraud, warned the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress ... senior immigration officials admitted those numbers could actually be 50 to 75 percent, according to the former counsel for the 9/11 Commission."         Those number could actually be 50 to 75 percent...a disproportionately high percentage when one considers the thousands of individuals who apply for permanent residence through marriage each year. In the case of American women with whom the green-card-marriage scammers have had children, the amount of money that the American public has to fork over in taxes to support these children must be astronomical. And, of course, there is no way to quantify the emotional pain and degradation that the victims of these scams experience both from the scammer and his/her associates and from governmental authorities who have all but ignored the victims.         What can the victims of these scam marriages and concerned citizens do to forcibly awaken the United States government from what appears to be a immigration-attorney-induced stupor?         Here are a few suggestions: Expose the immigration attorneys of the green card scammer if known. Green card scammers greatest weapons are their attorneys. If immigration attorneys realized that they would face public outcry and loss of public goodwill resulting from their continued representation of green card scammers, they would be less likely to assist them in breaking the law; Write to you senator, congressperson, councilperson and any other legislative personnel to remind them that lax immigration policies are a contributing factor in the increase of terrorism and the increase of births to green-card-marriage scammers who have abandoned their children along with the victims of their scams; Contact grassroots organizations that demand immigration reform. Such organization include Numbers USA, Federation for American Immigration Reform and Voice of America Immigration Fraud Victims. These organizations are in the forefront of the immigration reform issue.  Voice of America Immigration Fraud Victims is especially helpful because it focuses on an aspect of green-card-marriage fraud that is debilitating to the reputations of the scammers' victims -- when the scammers secretly accuses U.S. sponsors of acts of violence, accusations that sponsors do not know exist and are therefore unable to defend themselves against such accusations.  Gather concerned citizens to march for government offices to demand an end to immigration policies laws that help green card marriage scammers and their attorneys circumvent immigration law; Compile stories from the spouses and children of green-card-marriage scammers; include the horrors the victims experience when attempting to report the crimes to governmental agencies.         We victims need the public's help to remind the U.S. government that its first loyalty should be to the United States law-abiding public -- not to attorneys whose religious customs subscribe to using subterfuges to deceive innocent U.S. citizens while helping law-breaking foreign clients violate U.S. law, nor to foreigners whose disrespect and disobedience of U.S. law should land them, not in the United States, but in a government-issued bracelet and a one-way plane ticket back to their country, never to return.         Please show your concern by signing the guest book and making a positive comment about our cause, especially if you have been victimized.  We want to do more than comfort you.  We want to empower you too.         Thank you. Marriage of Elena Maria Lopez to Dutch citizen.  Dutch citizen later told her that he married her to obtain a green card.  He threatened and attacked her to prevent her from contacting immigration authorities.  Elena Maria Lopez hold a Bachelor's Degree worked for several years as a financial writer and trainer. As a journalist, she's covered business and political topics ranging from immigration and homeland security to demographics and law. Her publication credits include USA Today, Business Week and The (Newark) Star-Ledger.