How an immigration loophole let thousands of men use child brides as 'passports' to America

Thousands of men were able to bring child brides to America in the past decade. Thousands of child brides brought their adults husbands as well. And it's all legal under U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy, government data obtained by The Associated Press shows.

From 2007 to 2017, USCIS approved 8,686 petitions for spousal or fiancee entry into America involving a minor, per data requested by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. "Girls were the younger party in 95 percent of the petitions approved by USCIS," the report says. Most girls approved were 17 years old, and most men were in their 20s, but age gaps were as wide as a 49-year-old man requesting admission for a 15-year-old girl.

These approvals are granted because USCIS policy first weighs "whether the marriage is legal in the home country and then whether the marriage would be legal in the state where the petitioner lives," AP writes. Since many states allow children to marry, men who request a child's admittance to America usually receive approval. Or, like Naila Amin, who shares a dual citizenship between Pakistan and the U.S., girls are forced to bring their husbands here. Amin was married in Pakistan at 13 and told to bring her 26-year-old husband here, saying she "was a passport to him."

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), who heads the committee, and then-Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Miss.) requested this data in 2017, saying "our immigration system may unintentionally shield the abuse of women and children." After seeing the data, Johnson told AP "it indicates a loophole that we need to close." Read more at The Associated Press.