A California dance teacher married a Gaza man over Zoom and then bragged about it on a CODEPINK webinar, openly admitting she did it to hand him American citizenship. If you needed proof that the marriage-visa pipeline is a joke, Laura Pinho just served it up herself—and dared the federal government to care.
Pinho, who teaches dance at Canoga Park Senior High School, appeared on a June 16 CODEPINK webinar called "Challenging Zionism In Our Schools" and announced that she had married Salem Abu Amra specifically to advance Palestinian rights. "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," she said.
That is a confession to federal marriage fraud. Marrying someone to obtain a green card carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the Department of Justice. Englewood, New Jersey Mayor Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney and former federal prosecutor, told the New York Post that Pinho "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."
The marriage took place April 5 in Utah, which allows weddings by Zoom so long as the couple secures a Utah County marriage license and provides valid ID and two witnesses—who also don't have to be physically present in the state. Records obtained by the Israeli nonprofit NGO Monitor confirmed the union. A month before the wedding, Pinho organized a GoFundMe for Abu Amra, claiming he was the primary caregiver for a family of five and spent his days "securing clean water and foraging for food."
While Pinho was playing citizenship benefactor, she had a domestic partner and five-year-old child at home. Derek J. Reid, 51, an improv coach who still lives at her address, told the Post they are separated and sleep in different rooms—and that he had no knowledge of her marriage to Abu Amra. Reid said their relationship dissolved partly over Israel: she left the church they attended together over its stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "She's been radicalized—I don't know anything about that… the crowd she runs with… I'm worried for her," Reid said.
The Post reported that Pinho has pushed antisemitic conspiracy theories for years, including a December Facebook post claiming Israel was created by "Satanic bankers" and praising Candace Owens for saying America is ruled by "Satanic pedophiles" who work for the Jewish State. She has also steered students into anti-Israel protests. The Gateway Pundit noted that Abu Amra once posted an image on Facebook honoring an Islamic Jihad terrorist. The Department of Homeland Security has said it is unclear whether Abu Amra has entered the United States.
Here is the real scandal: Pinho is not an outlier. She is a symptom. The marriage-visa system is wide open, Utah will marry two strangers over a video call, and the federal government has to catch you after the fact—and only if it bothers to look. A woman with a child and a live-in partner married a man in a war zone she met on Facebook, confessed to the fraud on a recorded webinar, and as of press time no charges have been filed. The loophole isn't a bug. It's a feature Washington has no interest in fixing.
The question isn't whether Laura Pinho broke the law. She told on herself. The question is whether anyone in the federal government will do a damn thing about it.
