Green Card Marriages
By I have to say that while, yes, marrying someone so they can get a green card probably should be technically illegal because it should be discouraged, that I have trouble seeing it as a real crime I should care much about. Moreover, I certainly don’t see why this should necessarily be the kind of information journalists are hunting down and publicizing, such as the case of the finance of Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, who did this when she needed money for college. She hadn’t even told Kitzhaber because she was so ashamed by it. And now, even outside the political implications of this, did Willamette Week destroy their relationship? I mean, it’s easy to talk about honesty in relationships, but everyone has shame and things they don’t want to talk about. So I don’t think anyone should be all that high and mighty about this thing. Now admittedly, it’s hardly the job of a journalist to care about how their story about a public figure will affect that person’s lives–although it’s equally hard to find the fault in journalists hiding the fact that FDR couldn’t walk. But it’s not like the woman was robbing people or heading a violent cocaine smuggling operation. She made a decision that helped her out, helped this Ethiopian immigrant out, and hurt no one. So who really cares. This seems far less a crime than lobbying for policies that kill thousands of people a year, standard fare in the political realm.