Who wants to marry a US citizen?
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Believe it or not, that’s a reality show currently being shopped around to various cable networks, according to this Reuters story:
Los Angeles company is touting a new reality game show called “Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen” that aims to create televised matrimony between legal citizens and immigrants who have temporary visas.
The show’s backers at Morusa Media hope to make a sort of love match between reality TV and a national obsession with immigration. But the producers make no promise that a marriage will occur or lead to U.S. citizenship.
Show creator Adrian Martinez said that Morusa Media has not yet found a network to produce or air the show, but he is currently in talks with one cable TV network and already has signed up contestants for six episodes.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Amanda wrote:
As a person married to somebody who is an immigrant in the middle of an inhospitable sociopolitical climate, I find it highly disturbing that someone would actually run to publicize someone’s immigration status on TV. A show like this will only cast more shadows over intercultural marriages, with the subtext being: “Well, you know why THEY get married anyway…”
Posted 03 Dec 2007 at 2:43 pm ¶
jd wrote:
Not to mention that if the couple got married and applied for a green card for the non-citizen spouse, CIS would almost certainly deny the application and bust them for immigration fraud.
Posted 03 Dec 2007 at 3:00 pm ¶
Cara wrote:
Thanks for saying it before I could get the chance, jd. As an American who brought her husband into the country on a fiance visa, and as someone who is going through the green card renewal process for said husband now, I can definitely say that immigration authorities would not be impressed. They kick people out of the country all the time for no good reason, the idea that they would let someone who has nationally publicized his or her deceitful intentions stay here is completely ludicrous.
Posted 03 Dec 2007 at 4:53 pm ¶
ohwell wrote:
It would have been funny. If INS allowed it that would be funnier lol.
Posted 03 Dec 2007 at 10:04 pm ¶
justin wrote:
It would not be a bad thing if they gave fifteen minutes to six people who actually got their refugee status declined for no good reason and I would not feel too cynical about it if they were in the power position.
They could pin ribbons on the contestants and then tell them that they can be patronising for another week.
Posted 04 Dec 2007 at 4:20 am ¶
Ailurophile wrote:
This just makes it harder for those who marry a non-American for love. Thanks one whole hell of a lot, Morusa.
Posted 04 Dec 2007 at 9:37 am ¶
Benjamin Gonzalez wrote:
There’s also the privilege of forgetting that most queer people can’t marry the one they love and together be considered citizens, much less humans.
Posted 04 Dec 2007 at 11:51 am ¶
Black Strawberry wrote:
As I child of a marrige of a Non-American and a American parent, I feel like vomiting. I feel like kicking Adrian Martinez a** I hope it flops and Adrian Martinez gets some KARMA.
Posted 04 Dec 2007 at 9:19 pm ¶
latinamericanprinces wrote:
while i agree with the vomiting reaction of most i am going to play devil’s advocate and put this out there:
if done right it can actually be positive in terms of awareness. let me use a recent reality show in The Netherlands which offered a kidney to transplant candidates. the donor: a dying woman. In the end it turned out to be a hoax. She wasn’t dying and there was no kidney. The contestants are in need of a kidney but knew it was a hoax and participated in order to raise awareness about the dire need for organ donors.
i still think the show was gross, but it did seem to raise awareness. could Marry an Immigrant have the same effect? i am afraid that it will help only if done just right and the chances of tv producers wanting ratings doing it right are slim.
let me repeat though that i am not a fan of guerrilla tactics, even for a good cause.
Posted 17 Dec 2007 at 12:33 pm ¶