This Congressional report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction.

U.S. law and U.S. Department of State policy aim to prevent and reduce the risks of child marriages occurring around the world, yet major loopholes in U.S. law have allowed thousands of minors to be subjected to child marriages. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA"), a U.S. child may petition for a visa for a spouse or fiancé living in another country, and a U.S. adult may petition for a visa for a minor spouse or fiancé living abroad.

Obtaining a visa for a spouse or fiancé involves the approval of two federal government agencies. A petition is first made to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS"). If a petition is filed by or on behalf of a minor, USCIS does not require parental or judicial consent. Once USCIS approves a petition, the decision to actually issue a visa is made by the State Department. The State Department returns or rejects few spousal or fiancé immigrant visa petitions after they are approved by USCIS. USCIS reported to the Committee: "Between [Fiscal Year ("FY")] FY 2007 and FY 2017, approximately 2.6 percent of fiancé and spousal petitions [were] returned to USCIS. Of that total, approximately 37 percent [were] revoked."

Over the last eleven years (FY2007 to FY2017), USCIS approved 3,595,447 petitions for spousal or fiancé entry in to the United States. Of those, 8,686 involved a minor. Two minors whose petitions were approved were 13 years old; 38 were 14 years old; 269 were 15 years old; 1,768 were 16 years old; and the remaining 6,609 were 17 years old. Girls were the younger party in 95 percent of the petitions approved by USCIS.

This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.