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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Child Marriage Prevention Act, which would take steps to reduce child marriage across the United States. Companion legislation was introduced in the House by U.S. Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI-04)
According to leading advocacy groups on this issue, data shows that between 2000 and 2021, more than 314,000 minors (i.e., under the age of 18) were married in the United States. Some of these marriages included girls as young as 10 and girls married to men decades older. In addition, between the years 2007 and 2017, more than 8,500 marriage-based visa petitions involving at least one minor were approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the majority of which involved U.S. citizen men who had married children overseas.
“Child marriage overwhelmingly affects underage girls who are married to adult men, often with dire consequences for their life outcomes,” said Durbin. “The bill builds on the work of countless survivors and advocates across the country to ban child marriage in the United States. We must enact this legislation at a federal level to protect the future of hundreds of thousands of young girls who have been stripped of their independence.”
“It’s unacceptable that hundreds of thousands of young girls are still forced into marriages they want no part of,” said Schatz. “Our bill will help finally end this practice in the United States by updating our immigration laws and encouraging states to ban child marriage for good.”
“Child marriage leaves girls vulnerable to abuse and exploitation,” said Gillibrand. “It is a predatory, manipulative practice that has no place in 21st century American society. The Child Marriage Prevention Act makes commonsense changes to help eliminate child marriage across the United States and protect our kids, and I look forward to getting it passed.”
“The practice of child marriage should not exist anywhere, especially not in the U.S. But in 34 states, including Wisconsin, child marriage is legal. Young girls are put on a harmful trajectory in life that keeps them from controlling their own futures when they enter, or are forced to enter, into these marriages. I am proud to partner with Senator Durbin to protect young people from this predatory and harmful practice. Our legislation takes a critical first step toward ending child marriage and protecting our children,” said Moore.
“Girls are only as safe as the laws designed to protect them,” said Casey Carter Swegman, Director of Public Policy at Tahirih Justice Center. “For years, the United States has condemned child marriage abroad while failing to address the ways our own laws leave children here and around the world vulnerable to exploitation under the guise of marriage. The Child Marriage Prevention Act is a critical step toward changing that. By supporting states to take action to end child marriage and closing legal loopholes that can be used to exploit children, this bill sends a clear message: child marriage is wrong no matter where it occurs and we must end it! We are incredibly grateful to Senator Durbin and Congresswoman Moore for their leadership and to the many survivor advocates that have inspired and informed this urgently needed legislation.”
Specifically, the Child Marriage Prevention Act would:
- Establish a National Commission to Combat Child Marriage to study, evaluate, and report on eliminating child marriage in the United States;
- Require a report by the Government Accountability Office examining the harmful impacts of child marriage across the United States;
- Incentivize states to ban child marriage (such as through increased Violence Against Women Act grant funding);
- Fund states-based task forces to examine and issue recommendations for eliminating child marriage in their individual states;
- Prohibit child marriage from occurring on federally funded land or buildings or property owned by the federal government (such as military bases); and
- Instruct the Attorney General to promulgate a model state statute that prohibits child marriage.
This bill would also close immigration loopholes that facilitate child marriage. The bill would newly require that both parties in a couple seeking a marriage-based visa be at least 18 years of age at the time of filing and for the U.S. petitioner to have been at least 18 years of age at the time of their marriage. In rare instances, a foreign beneficiary of a spousal visa who is 16 or 17 years of age may seek an exception for the age at time of filing requirement if they 1) establish a compelling, urgent humanitarian reason for approval arising from a specific threat of harm to them; and 2) the married couple intends to reside in a state where their marriage would have been lawful when it occurred. The exception is not available to fiancé visa applicants who must be 18 at time of filing in all instances.
In addition, this bill would amend how a proxy marriage (in which one of the two parties is not physically present for the ceremony) can be established for immigration purposes, replacing a problematic consummation requirement that incentivizes rape, with a requirement that parties to a marriage have previously met in person within two years of the date of the ceremony. Finally, the bill would require a report by the Government Accountability Office examining the extent to which noncitizens who were under the age of 18 at the time of marriage have immigrated to the U.S. through U.S. citizen and LPR-sponsored marriage-based visa provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The Child Marriage Prevention Act of 2026 is endorsed by Tahirih Justice Center, Too Young to Wed, Girls Not Brides, Womankind, Peaceful Families Project, Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, Sanctuary for Families, The Person Center, International Public Policy Institute, Daya, Inc, Global Hope 365, Naila Amin Foundation, Resiliency Foundation, SK Sultana LLC, and REVIVE Collective/RISE KY Coalition.
