A BOOK ON U.S. APPLICABLE LAW
Deacon San Nguyen
PRETENDED WIFE
Since Vietnam and America normalized their relationships between the two countries, the issue of sponsorship became the most privilege issue for the Vietnam refugees and immigrants. A great number of young men who belonged to the second generation came back Vietnam to find their loves. However, besides young ones, there were also waves of old men flying back to their country with the same purpose: finding new loves for the time they still remained in the world. Many respectful fathers, who were divorced or abandoned by their old wives, now, took advantages of this political movements, came back Vietnam to enjoy their lives regardless their health conditions that were going downhill.
A lot of men visited cosmetic surgery offices to make them look younger. They needed darker hair, brighter eyes, whiter tooth, and stronger muscles to show off to their future wives. In many cases, the grooms were 30 or 40 years older than the brides. Most of brides were at their 20 to 30, working at low level jobs or at rice fields in rural area. Sometimes, the ages of brides were equal to the grooms’ daughters or grand daughters. When being asked why they took young girls as their wives, most of old men replied that: “Love has no age!”
Nevertheless, most Vietnamese people still preferred old tradition and culture. That was why they blamed all marriages in which grooms were much older than brides. They called old grooms by bad names although in America, ages or health conditions never were obstacles in marriage and people can marry whoever they like. Strangely enough, at the same times, people seemed appreciated with marriages in which a man married a widow then sponsored both mother and children going oversea.
Indeed, this article does not focus on such kind of marriages but to mention about fake marriages because they are violations to the Law. The story I am going to tell you now is a story about a man who suffered terribly with a fake marriage. Before 1975, An, a high ranking official in South Vietnam, was so rich that he had two servants at home and a driver for his own. Then, his wife left him for somebody younger than him. Arriving in this country, An lived alone.
One day, An met Le who was a pretty lady, educated person, about three years younger than him. Le had a son who was living with her. An fell in love with Le and so did she. They loved each other deeply but not marry yet. An intended to marry her after her son graduated from high school. Now, they lived by their own but seeing each other every afternoon at An’s house. An was very happy. He thought that this was the first time he fell in love and imagined himself as a young man with full energy although he took lot of herb to keep him from sickness.
One day, suddenly, a bright idea came to him: “Dear, I have a new idea,” An said with Le, “I believe my idea can help us relaxed more than now. I have a very close friend in Vietnam. I already told him that I would marry you next year. However, I wanted him to find for me an old peasant woman, widow or single, to work in my house. If there is such a woman, I will sponsor her to America. When she arrives in this country, I will pay her $100.00 monthly and let her stay in a separate room. I will take care of her clothing and all her personal needs. Every year, I will give her $300.00 bonus. I only want her to word as a nanny for us: cooking, cleaning house, and washing clothes, etc… If she can do that, we will enjoy our lives better. After coming home from work, we do not need to do anything, just relaxing. We will live like king and queen. Like our old days in Vietnam before 1975, right?”
“It’s a good plan,” Le doubted, “but how? You are not her relative, how could you do that?”
“Don’t worry, dear,” he said, “It’s very easy! I already sought advice from INS. I will fly back to Vietnam and marry her. Then, after I come back here, I will sponsor her as my wife. To speed up the processing, I will pay bribes for an Immigrant Services in Vietnam. They will process all paperwork very fast. It takes about 7 or 8 months. Then, after two years, I will divorce her. After that, I will marry you legally. How about that?”
Thinking for a while, Le agreed: “Well, I need to see the peasant’s picture first to see if she is ugly or nice. If you don’t tell me the truth, I will kill you!”
Everything happened just like what An expected. A friend of his recommended an old peasant but still healthy, Minh. She was 5 year older than An. Minh was a widow, had two grown up sons and two grand kids. When knowing about that job, Minh was very happy. If she had that amount of salary and bonus, she would financially support her sons and grand sons. Of course, she agreed with all the terms that An suggested. A short time after that, a picture of Minh was sent to An who presented it to Le. Seeing that ugly peasant, Le said “O.K”. An then hurriedly flew back to his country to marry Minh.
Seven months later, with helps from Immigration Services in Vietnam, Minh arrived in U.S.A. Right at the time stepping down the plane and seeing Le, a pretty and rich lady, Minh bowed her head and said “thanks” to Le and An: “I humbly thank both of you, bosses. With such good things you have done for me, I will never forget. You had helped me to live in this free country and give me money to help my family. I will serve you with all my heart.”
Then, Minh worked for An like a nanny regardless her paper showed that she was An’s wife. Everyday, when Le visited An, she bowed to Le gravely and cooked for Le all menus she liked. Sometimes, An and Le drove Minh to supermarket to buy things. All three of them live happily for long. However, God did not allow them to enjoy that fake marriage anymore.
One day, Le was sick. She could not go to supermarket with An like she did before. An drove Minh to a Vietnamese supermarket and left her there for about an hour or so, then pick Minh up later. During waiting at the supermarket, Minh made friends with some women who worked there. They exchanged phone numbers and addresses.
Few more months later, Le and Minh had some disagreement on some things. Le shouted at Minh and called her by names. Being at his lover’s side, An scorned Minh with some bad words, too. The peasant woman felt very angry. She shared with her new friends about her situation: a pretended wife posed as a nanny. The friends of hers advised her that she needed to take the position as a legal wife not a nanny. They also told her to call 911 to arrest Le if Le dared to shouted at her or did anything harmful to her. Furthermore, if An threatened her to expel her back to Vietnam, Minh could tell him that she would come to INS to report the fake marriage. In that case, An would be in jail for long due to his committed an exploitation of a slave. In addition to all the accusations, Minh’s friend also recommended her to work at a manufactory company that could pay her at least $800.00 a month. The friends also advised her to request An to teach her how to drive and to buy for her a car so that she could drive herself to work. Following the advice, one day, unexpectedly, Minh challenged Le when Le just walked in the house. “Hey! Le,” Minh said, “Since today, you have no rights to come to this house anymore. I am the legal wife of An. I do not allow you to see my husband anymore. I give you an hour to remove all your belongings. If you do not comply with what I said, I will call police and report to them that you trespass my house illegally.”
Realizing the situation had changed, Le staggered to her car and left An without saying “good-bye” to An who hurriedly ran after her. When they reached to Le’s house, An tried to convinced her to come back, but Le angrily closed the door after scorning An terribly. “You are such a dirty old man,” Le shouted angrily, “You dared to have an affair with such an ugly peasant woman. Do not ever come here. I will call 911 to chase you out!” Knowing that he could not convince her anymore, An dragged himself back home and shouted to Minh: “How could you dare to do such thing? You must understand that I did help you and your family to live on. You must pay your gratitude to me instead of betraying me!”
Minh did not call An by the title “boss” anymore. “Do what you need to do,” she answered him firmly, “I will report to INS the scheme that you planned on myself. You will be sentenced at the maximum term of the Law: A criminal who created a fake marriage and smuggled a woman into U.S.A. to serve you as a slave. Be aware!”
Being scared with what Minh said, An visited me at my office and told me whatever Minh said to him. An wondered whether that was true or not. Surely, I confirmed with him that what Minh said was not false. As the Law of Immigration, number 237, paragraph 237, section 10-6, whoever pretended to be a spouse of a U.S. citizen in order to migrate into this country or to receive some benefits from that fake marriage would be expelled from this country, and whoever planned that fake marriage will be tried and will be in jail no more than 5 years, and a fine as $250,000.00. Moreover, after that man was released from jail, if his wife in Vietnam requested him to sponsor her to America, he would be charged as a criminal due to his lies with INS when he swore in citizenship. At that time, he already raised his hand and swore that he was a single man and told all the truth about his celibacy. Now, if INS found out that he lied to them, they might request the Court to revoke his citizenship, then, they would deport him back to Vietnam!
Hearing this, An cried out and lamented: “Oh! My life is ruined now! Had I not wished to live in a luxury life, I would not be in such terrible situation. My lover left me for good. The ugly peasant woman tortured me. I had to teach her how to drive, then buy a $3.000.00 car for her driving to work. I have to do all household chores by myself, cook my own meals, do my own laundries. The witch works until late at night. When coming home, she eats then goes to bed herself. I have no communication with her ever. Now, I have to wait another year so that I can divorce her.”
Before leaving, with a sad smile, An said: “Well, let me teach my lover a lesson. While we lived happily, she suddenly became jealous with such a dirty, ugly woman and spoiled our lives. Now, I tell you this, right after I divorce with this witch, I will come back Vietnam one more time and will marry a very nice, young girl so that my former lover will regret for what she had done for me.”
“Please remember,” I said to An, “God Almighty is very fair. If you want to marry another lady to revenge your fake wife, you may get some back-fires, too. Try to endure this situation for a time then get separate from that woman to free your soul. Do not remarry hastily. Take care of your health first. I am afraid that if you take too much herbs for your sexual desires, you may not live long.”
