There is nothing more obnoxious, in my opinion, than people who get married to secure citizenship for themselves. Even worse are the ones who go along with it, usually receiving some sort of hefty compensation in return for the "favor".

I knew someone who did this. There was a girl, we'll call her Wendy, from Korea who needed to get married so she could stay in the United States. Her Korean-American friend, we'll call him Lee, agreed to marry her for this purpose. Lee was a family friend of Wendy's, so Wendy's parents were more than happy to pay Lee for his time.

Lee received $5000 upfront from Wendy's parents. After she applied for and received citizenship, Wendy's father promised Lee an additional $5000. They had to stay married for something ridiculous, like two years, for this to all work out.

They moved in together; she had her own apartment already. They really couldn't stand each other. I don't know if Wendy had a boyfriend on the side, but Lee was dating a girl I knew and she was none too pleased, as expected. The problem was, Lee and Wendy clashed on everything. He hated living in her apartment; everything was hers and she didn't hesitate to let him know it. Her personality grated on every one of his nerves and I really do think the feeling was mutual. They grew more and more cold and angry toward one another as each day went by.

The biggest problem they were having was about Lee's girlfriend. Wendy didn't want the girlfriend around. Ever. She would monitor calls and hang up if Lee's girl called and not answer the door if she knocked. It got to a point where Lee had to sneak around and only have his girlfriend over when Wendy was at work. Lee said that part of the reason was that they were supposed to act as though they were in a real marriage, but that the reality was that Wendy was just evil.

Lee considered backing out of the deal. She had far more to lose than he did. Heck, he already got $5000, he could just walk away and go back to his life. She was the one facing deportation. People told him that he should turn her in. I agreed; she sounded like an awful person, not to mention the fact that she was trying to cheat the system. Shame on her.

I don't really know how everything turned out with them. I assume that Wendy got her citizenship and Lee got the rest of his money and they both moved on with their lives. It makes me angry that they got away with it, but I guess it's kinda hard to stop people from doing this sort of crap. And they wonder why America is in such shambles. People like Wendy make a mockery of our country and of the sanctity of marriage.