The ever-widening investigation of the San Bernardino terrorist massacre has revealed at least two dubious marriages that experts say expose huge loopholes in the immigration system and continue to put national security at risk.
Federal authorities have charged Enrique Marquez with marriage fraud for his allegedly sham union with Mariya Chernykh, a Russian woman whose sister married the brother of terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook after first gaining residence through an earlier marriage. And of course, Farook’s own wife, Tashfeen Malik, who was killed along with him in a shootout with police following their Dec. 2 attack, married her way into the U.S. under suspicious circumstances.
“This one family offers a study into how easy it is to get into this country through marriage,” said Jessica Vaughan, of the Center for Immigration Policy. “If anyone can take advantage of it, then terrorists can certainly take advantage of it. It is a major security vulnerability.”
Malik was a terrorist who apparently took advantage of lax screening to immigrate on a K-1 visa. The so-called “fiancé visa” gave her 90 days to marry her American citizen husband to ensure a green card. But while Mariya and Tatiana Chernykh have not been accused of any terror-related crimes, the ease with which they gained legal status and their proximity to the terrorists who killed 14 and wounded 21 in the worst attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 has critics concerned.
