Mattingly
03-04-2007, 09:26 AM
It's happened to other people, but I never thought it would happen to baseball players. However, whenever you have people eager to make a great living off their excellent skills, especially in a country that's loaded with quality baseball players that haven't made that much money, it's just one of the sad parts of life, I guess.
Here's an article I came across:
Rene Oriental's worst nightmare:
His visa was permanently
canceled and he's banned from
setting foot on American soil.
Dominican players caught in marriage-for-visa scam (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2786126)
The small island country of the Dominican Republic is littered with makeshift ballparks, bursting with young boys who have big league dreams.
Rene Oriental was once one of these young kids with big dreams. The 22-year-old grew up playing on a dusty field in the small town of Monte Cristi, where dirt roads abound and electricity runs sporadically. He appeared to be on his way to the big leagues when he signed a $100,000 contract with the Kansas City Royals in 2001. But two years ago, Oriental made a decision that ended up crushing his major league dreams.
A man came to his house with a proposition. Oriental was offered just under $4,000 to marry a stranger and take her to the United States on his baseball work visa. As Oriental recalls, "they tell me that that's fair ... everything is fair for the American Consulate. I believe in that person. I trust in that person."
Former Tampa Bay Devil Rays minor league player Salvador Paredes shares a similar story. After agreeing to accept $4,500 from a man claiming to be a lawyer, he was taken to a nearby town and says he was introduced to his soon-to-be bride just minutes before he exchanged vows with her.
As the players began preparing to travel to the United States for spring training, they headed to the consulate with their new wives to get their work visas in order. But players told ESPN that officials became suspicious after noticing that so many minor leaguers had been married in recent days, and the same witness had been present at many of the shotgun weddings. Oriental, Paredes and numerous other minor league ballplayers were summoned back to the consulate and faced with their worst nightmare -- their visas were permanently canceled and they were banned from setting foot on American soil
Here's an article I came across:
Rene Oriental's worst nightmare:
His visa was permanently
canceled and he's banned from
setting foot on American soil.
Dominican players caught in marriage-for-visa scam (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2786126)
The small island country of the Dominican Republic is littered with makeshift ballparks, bursting with young boys who have big league dreams.
Rene Oriental was once one of these young kids with big dreams. The 22-year-old grew up playing on a dusty field in the small town of Monte Cristi, where dirt roads abound and electricity runs sporadically. He appeared to be on his way to the big leagues when he signed a $100,000 contract with the Kansas City Royals in 2001. But two years ago, Oriental made a decision that ended up crushing his major league dreams.
A man came to his house with a proposition. Oriental was offered just under $4,000 to marry a stranger and take her to the United States on his baseball work visa. As Oriental recalls, "they tell me that that's fair ... everything is fair for the American Consulate. I believe in that person. I trust in that person."
Former Tampa Bay Devil Rays minor league player Salvador Paredes shares a similar story. After agreeing to accept $4,500 from a man claiming to be a lawyer, he was taken to a nearby town and says he was introduced to his soon-to-be bride just minutes before he exchanged vows with her.
As the players began preparing to travel to the United States for spring training, they headed to the consulate with their new wives to get their work visas in order. But players told ESPN that officials became suspicious after noticing that so many minor leaguers had been married in recent days, and the same witness had been present at many of the shotgun weddings. Oriental, Paredes and numerous other minor league ballplayers were summoned back to the consulate and faced with their worst nightmare -- their visas were permanently canceled and they were banned from setting foot on American soil