8. Intimacy Brokers: The Fragile Boundaries of Activism for Heterosexual and Same-Sex Binational Couples in France

Moral lines of credit: Forging race projects, citizenship, and nation on online U.S. spousal reunification forums

“…Therefore, other actors must participate. The catalyst for such participation is the deliberate "holes" (Faist 2014;43) in migration policy that the state expects "brokers" to fill through their interpretations (Odasso and Salcedo Robledo 2022;174). Scholarship has shown that immigration lawyers (D'Aoust 2022) and NGOs (Odasso 2021a) serve as crucial brokers, but I suggest that the petitioners are also brokers as they traverse state scrutiny.…”

“…1MomoNmeg follows up, "Agreed...you know the old saying---Asking ain't getting." Thus, early on, forum members learn that their citizenship status will only get one so far (Odasso 2022;Macklin 2022). Peers much further along or who have completed the process explain that couples must show that they are genuine and can explain away any red flags to "earn" the visa.…”

“…Members draw on the U.S. hegemonic family ideal to fill in the "holes" of U.S. immigration policies (Odasso and Robledo 2022). They speculate what the state is looking for in a "valid and subsisting relationship" or how it defines indicators of marriage fraud (i.e., "red flags") like "age differences," "vast cultural differences," "requests for money," and "length of courtship" based on other's previous experiences.…”

“…Class privilege and higher socio-economic status open up so many opportunities for citizens, especially those from the racial majority. So, it is understandable that some petitioners assume their high-status job and higher levels of education will negate intense moral scrutiny (Odasso 2022;Bloch 2021). But, such assumptions are a mistake because trying to demonstrate that one's partner will be a 'good neoliberal citizen' is a gendered and racialized negotiation.…”