I've seen too many love-struck US citizens burned in marriage scams. Here's how Trump must close our scariest immigration loophole | Retrui News | Retrui
I've seen too many love-struck US citizens burned in marriage scams. Here's how Trump must close our scariest immigration loophole
SOURCE:Daily Mail
Immigration lawyer Cody Brown says the system shields foreign nationals who exploit romance, trust, and legal loopholes to secure green cards, leaving their US spouses emotionally wrecked.
An immigration lawyer who represents Americans burned by sham marriages said the Trump administration is failing to deliver on one of its loudest promises: a crackdown on immigration abuse that harms US citizens.
Cody Brown, a Texas-based attorney who exclusively represents Americans harmed by immigration fraud, argues the system has drifted from its original purpose – protecting citizens.
He said it too often shields foreign nationals who exploit romance, trust and legal loopholes to secure green cards, leaving Americans emotionally wrecked, financially exposed and legally powerless.
'We're the only law firm in the country that represents US citizens in the immigration system, and we've seen firsthand how damaging these cases can be,' Brown told the Daily Mail.
Still, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insists it is already taking action, and immigrant advocates caution that some of Brown's proposals could create new injustices of their own.
In an exclusive interview, Brown described what he called a largely ignored 'immigration fraud crisis,' driven by phony marriages and intimate scams that rarely trigger consequences.
Love is often the hook: affection, promises of commitment, a rapid marriage – followed by immigration paperwork and collapse.
Sometimes the schemes are arranged, involving facilitators who pair US citizens with migrants desperate for legal status. Often the targets are vulnerable – divorced, lonely, elderly or financially insecure.
Texas lawyer Cody Brown says too many Americans are preyed upon by unscrupulous marriage scammers and organized fraud rings
A crackdown on immigration fraudsters in Minnesota has led to clashes between protestors and law enforcement
The payoff comes quickly. Then the relationship collapses. In many of Brown's cases, the foreign spouse vanishes almost overnight or turns on the American partner.
Often, he said, the foreign national files claims under the Violence Against Women Act, alleging abuse. The law allows immigrants alleging abuse to seek legal status independently, without requiring an arrest or conviction.
The US citizen is excluded from the process and can be left with legal bills, emotional trauma and sometimes a shocking financial burden.
'When you sponsor a foreign national, you are agreeing to financially support that person – and theoretically, that liability can last forever,' Brown said.
Brown says he too was nearly a victim of an immigration scam
Some foreign nationals exploit the rule deliberately, suing for 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' in support payments. He calls it 'immigration alimony,' and said Congress never intended it to be used this way.
Despite the deeply personal nature of these cases, Brown said there is virtually no system inside DHS to deal with them.
'There is no structure, no policy, no process to resolve these cases,' he said. 'If foreign nationals are coming here and harming the very people the system is supposed to protect, that's a problem.'
Brown said USCIS barely opens an investigation and that ICE has 'effectively abandoned marriage fraud enforcement.'
Marriage fraud, he insists, is not rare. It is the most attractive pathway for abuse and the 'single most fraud-prone category of immigration benefits.'
Marrying a US citizen offers fast-tracked residency, waivers, and a path to citizenship, he notes.
'The likelihood of someone deceiving a US citizen to get an immigration benefit is far more common than a foreign national committing a violent crime in the street,' he said.
Brown said his crusade was born out of a nightmare he lived himself.
In the 2010s, he was falsely accused of stalking an illegal alien he had never met. Police arrested him at gunpoint, and he was thrown in jail without knowing who had accused him or why.
A sham marriage is one of the easiest routes scammers can take to get US citizenship, says Brown. Pictured: A naturalization ceremony for new US citizens at Seattle
DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin says the administration is already cracking down on scams
Celebrities and politicians supported the Violence Against Women Act, which cracks down on domestic abuse
His accuser needed a translator and could not identify him in court. Video footage and phone data disproved the claims. He later learned she was seeking a U visa. Prosecutors dropped the case.
Yet DHS said it is not standing still. The department has tightened marriage fraud reviews, expanded interviews, reopened the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office, and launched targeted investigations.
'The office exists to offer support and services to victims of crimes with a nexus to immigration – including marriage fraud,' Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Mail.
She added that marriage fraud 'poses a national security threat, damages the integrity of the US immigration system, and endangers US citizens who enter into sham marriages.'
About 450,000 US citizens petition for foreign spouses each year. Roughly 10 percent are denied, but in targeted investigations, the rate has been higher.
In late 2025, USCIS, ICE, and the FBI launched Operation Twin Shield in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area amid a sprawling welfare fraud scandal. Officials uncovered fraud or national security concerns in 44 percent of marriage cases examined.
In Florida, ICE dismantled a marriage fraud ring involving current and former US Navy members paid roughly $40,000 each to marry foreign nationals, mostly from China.
Human stories continue to surface. In Jacksonville, Florida, a woman identified only as Shawnya said she was duped into marrying a man she believed was a Nigerian minister.
Instead, he used her money to move his original wife and child to the US. 'It's like I lost myself,' she tearfully told Action News Jax.
Brown said the Trump administration could act quickly to address these harms. He has proposed a policy framework called Direct Harm to US Citizens, or DHC.
It would require immigration officers to treat documented harm to Americans as a negative factor in discretionary decisions, from admissions to green cards to removals, he said.
Federal authorities busted open a California-based gang that arranged hundreds of fake marriages for Green Cards for non-citizens
Brown warned Congress about the immigration loopholes in June, but worries that DHS is not listening
More than 304,000 Green Cards were issued to spouses of U.S. citizens in 2019 — one of the most recent years for which data are available
The proposal would not mandate automatic deportations, but it would force officers to weigh the damage done to Americans, he said.
'Harm to US citizens is still treated as legally irrelevant in discretionary immigration decisions – and that is indefensible,' Brown said. 'DHC does not require new agents, new funding, or new bureaucracy – just the will to enforce the law.'
Yet critics, including immigrant rights advocates and legal scholars, caution that proposals like Brown's could backfire.
They warn that allowing immigration consequences to flow from allegations rather than convictions could expose immigrants, particularly women, to vindictive claims from angry partners after relationships break down.
Marriage breakdowns are often messy, emotional, and contested, and Immigration officers are not judges equipped to weigh intimate disputes, they say.
Supporters of current DHS policy stress that marriage fraud is already investigated through multi-agency operations and that expanding discretionary enforcement could blur lines between civil disputes and criminal fraud.
They note the department has reopened VOICE, strengthened interview protocols, and conducted high-profile operations that have led to arrests and removals.
The debate highlights a tension at the heart of immigration enforcement: protecting citizens from abuse while ensuring the system does not penalize immigrants unfairly.
Brown argues the authority exists – whether DHS has the nerve to use it is the question.
As President Donald Trump seeks to ramp up removals and demonstrate seriousness on immigration enforcement, the conversation over marriage fraud, discretionary powers, and systemic oversight is likely to intensify.