Anti-Israel activist admits she committed marriage fraud in order to secure US citizenship for a Gazan man and to help advance her pro-Palestinian political agenda.By World Israel News StaffA Los Angeles public school teacher said she married a man in Gaza through an online Utah ceremony as an act of support for Palestinian rights, drawing scrutiny from immigration experts and critics who said her comments could raise questions about whether the marriage was intended to confer US immigration benefits.Laura Pinho, a teacher at Canoga Park Senior High School, discussed the marriage during a June 16 CODEPINK webinar titled “Challenging Zionism in Our Schools,” according to reporting by the New York Post.CODEPINK’s event page identified Pinho as a “high school dance teacher and supervisor of an SJP club in Los Angeles.” The Canoga Park Senior High School staff directory lists Laura Pinho as a teacher.During the webinar, CODEPINK activist Marcy Winograd congratulated Pinho on her marriage and asked whether she wanted to share a personal story.Pinho responded by describing the marriage in political terms, saying she had been motivated by what she described as the denial of Palestinian rights.“Yeah, so basically it’s just… let me take it back a notch. Seeing what has happened to the Palestinian people and their complete erasure of their culture, their land, their rights, all of it, has led me to believe that any action we take, doesn’t matter what the action is, it’s in the right direction if it’s for Palestinian rights and freedoms. Period. End of story,” Pinho said.“Doesn’t matter. Because of the complete imbalance that exists in terms of rights and freedoms that they have,” she said.Pinho said her US citizenship and passport gave her power that Palestinians lack.“And so I think it was symbolic for me to offer. I have power as an American citizen. I have a passport that I was just born with, and how can I live in this world if I don’t make every effort to equalize the playing field on whatever way that I can, really, on whatever way that I can,” she said.“It’s unacceptable that these people have no rights to travel, no rights to land, no rights to anything, not even citizenship now. So, that was for me, a motivating thing, that the US policies towards Palestinians, but also just people of color is outrageous,” she added.The New York Post identified the man as Salem S.E. Abu Amra, a Gaza resident. A GoFundMe campaign organized by Pinho in March describes Abu Amra as living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and serving as the primary caregiver for a family of five.“This is Salem Abu Amra. His family lives in Deir Al-Balah, in the center of Gaza. He is the primary caregiver for his family of 5, who provides for his aging parents and makes sure his extended family has daily food, water, and shelter,” the fundraiser says.“Before the war, Salem was an accountant and ran several businesses in Gaza selling fresh produce, worked construction, owned a car, ran his household’s affairs, and studied English in hopes of traveling abroad someday to pursue his dreams of studying business,” it adds.The Post reported that Pinho and Abu Amra married on April 5 through Utah County, which permits online marriage applications and ceremonies. Utah County’s online marriage application system requires applicants to provide a valid email address, government-issued photo ID, a smartphone to scan ID and face, and a credit or debit card to pay fees.The county says a marriage license expires after 32 days and that there is no waiting period.It was not immediately clear whether any immigration petition has been filed based on the marriage.Pinho’s comments drew attention because US immigration law requires marriages used for immigration benefits to be bona fide. USCIS policy says it does not recognize marriages that fail to meet bona fide requirements as valid for immigration purposes.Federal law also makes it a crime to knowingly enter into a marriage for the purpose of evading immigration laws.Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney, former federal prosecutor and mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, told the Post that Pinho’s comments could expose her to legal risk.“She can be prosecuted criminally, brought up on federal conspiracy charges. Marriage fraud is one of the top five crimes you can perpetrate including terrorism and drugs. The fact that somebody would be foolish enough to say they actually did it makes it actionable for the federal government to investigate,” Wildes said.The Justice Department says marriage fraud can be charged under 8 U.S.C. 1325(c), which applies to individuals who knowingly enter into a marriage for the purpose of evading immigration laws.Pinho also used the webinar to discuss bringing Palestinian activism into school settings, including through dance and student organizing.Pinho said she taught students Dabke, a traditional Levantine folk dance, and used the lesson to discuss Palestinian history.“And so while I was instructing the students the actual steps of the dance, I would tell them the meaning, the significance of what the steps symbolized and what they meant to the dancers.”“And of course that prompted the question, well, why are they so connected to the land? Why do they stomp on it? Why are they so passionate about their land, land, land? And then I was able, because they asked the question to share the history of what has happened to their land and the students, the more they found out, the more questions they asked,” she said.The post US teacher marries Gaza man in order to push Palestinian agenda appeared first on World Israel News.