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NEW DANGERS FOR BATTERED IMMIGRANTS: The Untold Effects of the Demise of 245(i) Compiled on behalf of the National Network on Behalf of Battered Immigrant Women Prepared by: Leslye Orloff Jessica Cundari Erika Esterbrook with the assistance of Alec Christoff, Lucia Duncan, and Wayne Krause SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF NOW LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 3083 THE BATTERED IMMIGRANT WOMEN'S PROTECTION ACT OF 1999 On
behalf of NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and the
National Network on Behalf of Battered Immigrant Women
present this testimony in support of the Battered Immigrant
Women's Protection Act of 1999 which will go far toward
furthering the original purpose of VAWA's immigration
provisions -- freeing battered immigrant women abused by
citizen and lawful permanent resident spouses or parents to
report the abuse to police, seek help and prosecute their
abuser's for the multiple crimes they commit against family
members. We have learned much over the past 6 years about
instances in which the original legislation works
effectively and when it does not. H.R. 3083 is designed to
correct unforseen problems in the legislation and erosions
in access to VAWA that have prevented many of the needy
domestic violence victims VAWA sought to protect from
seeking help. Helping battered immigrant women escape abuse
and bring their abusers to justice will reduce domestic
violence in our communities and will ensure that the citizen
children of immigrant parents have the same opportunity to
live lives free of domestic violence that VAWA sought to
provide to all domestic violence victims. STATEMENT OF NOW LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 3083 THE BATTERED IMMIGRANT WOMEN'S PROTECTION ACT OF 1999 SUBMITTED TO THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY'S SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION AND CLAIMS Legislative Hearing on H.R. 3083 The Battered Immigrant Women's Protection Act of 1999 July 20, 2000 Leslye E. Orloff, Esq. Director Immigrant Women Program NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund 1522 K Street N.W. Suite 550 Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 326-0040 STATEMENT OF NOW LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 3083 THE BATTERED IMMIGRANT WOMEN'S PROTECTION ACT OF 1999 Introduction Mr. Chairman, Members of the
Subcommittee, my name is Leslye Orloff and I am the Director
of the Immigrant Women Program at NOW Legal Defense and
Education Fund. NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund is a
leading national, nonprofit civil rights organization with a
30 year history of defining and defending women's rights. We
provide a broad range of legal and educational services
aimed at eliminating sex-based discrimination and securing
equal rights for all women focusing on issues of domestic
violence, child care, employment, immigration, reproductive
rights, and economic justice. NOW Legal Defense and
Education Fund's Immigrant Women Program co-chairs the
National Network on Behalf of Battered Immigrant Women(1)
, a
broad-based national coalition of more than four hundred
member organizations and individuals that work to improve
protections for and provide services to immigrant victims of
domestic violence. We appreciate the opportunity to submit
this testimony in support of H.R. 3083, the Battered
Immigrant Women's Protection Act of 1999, legislation that
will enhance protections for one of the most marginalized
groups in the United States: immigrant victims of domestic
violence. Before
I begin, I want to thank Chairman Smith and the Members of
the Subcommittee for inviting me to testify today. I am
especially grateful to Congresswomen Schakowsky,
Jackson-Lee, and Morella for sponsoring H.R. 3083 and for
spearheading this bipartisan effort to protect battered
immigrant women and children. A special thanks to Ranking
Member Sheila Jackson Lee for her leadership and to
Congressman McCollum for his commitment to these issues.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge Senators Abraham and
Kennedy for sponsoring Title V of S. 2787 the Violence
Against Women Act, the Senate counterpart to H.R. 3083,
which is also devoted to ending violence against immigrant
women and children. Domestic
Violence, Power, and Control Against Immigrants Domestic
violence is a societal problem of epidemic proportions.
Experts estimate that two to four million American women are
battered every year,(2)
and
that between 3.3 and 10 million children witness violence in
their homes.(3)
As
information about the extent and impact of domestic violence
emerges, it has been identified as a criminal justice issue,
a public health crisis, and a costly drain on economic
productivity.(4)
Domestic
violence crosses ethnic, racial, age, national origin,
religious, gender, geographical and socioeconomic lines.(5)
However,
immigrants have been particularly vulnerable to becoming
victims of domestic violence. Research has found that
34-49.8% of immigrant women experience domestic violence
over the course of their lifetimes.(6)
Immigrant
married women experience higher levels of domestic violence
(59.5%)(7)
and
research has found that over 50% of immigrant women surveyed
were still living with their abusers.(8)
Victims
of domestic violence are particularly vulnerable because
they face even greater obstacles in their efforts to escape
violent relationships.(9)
Language,
culture and immigration status often block victims from
access to information about legal remedies, and complicate
their efforts to obtain the relief needed to end the
violence.(10)
As is
the case with all victims of domestic violence, battered
immigrants experience physical violence, coercion, threats,
intimidation, isolation, destruction of important documents
or possessions, and emotional, sexual or economic abuse.(11)
Cases
of battered immigrants are ultimately complicated by their
abuser's use of immigration status as a tool of control.
Immigration-related abuse is a critical way in which
batterers of immigrant women exert power and control to
dominate and isolate their abused family members. Research
indicates that immigration-related abuse most often
co-exists with or appears to be a predictor of physical
and/or sexual violence.(12)
The
1994 VAWA Immigration Provisions Congressional Intent In
1994, Congress enacted the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
in an effort to deter and punish violence crimes against
women.(13)
Acknowledging
the complexity of hardships facing battered immigrants, VAWA
contained immigration provisions that would protect battered
immigrants.(14)
Prior
to this enactment, the citizen or lawful permanent resident
spouse had full control over the legal status of their
immigrant spouse. Because abusers often use immigration
status as a form of control, many battered immigrants who
could have been granted legal immigration status if their
abusive spouse chose to file a visa application with the
Immigration and Naturalization Service were left without
legal immigration status in the U.S. Research has found that
in abusive relationships, 72.3% of citizen and legal
permanent resident spouses never filed immigration papers
for their immigrant wives.(15) This
fear of deportation paralyzed immigrant victims and
prevented them from calling the police for help, from
cooperating with prosecutors bringing criminal cases against
their abusers and from seeking protection orders.(17)
Consequently,
Congress enacted the self-petitioning provisions in Subtitle
D of the Act Ato permit self-petitioning for battered
immigrant women to prevent the citizen or legal resident
spouse from using the petitioning process as a means to
control or abuse an alien spouse.@(18)B By allowing
for self-petitioning and by assuring that all the other
provisions of the Act applied to battered immigrants,
Congress envisioned several overall benefits: removing the
abuser's control over the victim's immigration status,(19)
encouraging
reporting of the abuse without the risk of deportation,(20)and
facilitating prosecution of abusers, by making law
enforcement officials more receptive to complaints of
domestic violence and thereby eliminating a class of abusers
immune from criminal prosecution.(21) Legal
Impediments That Trap Battered Immigrants in Violent
Relationships NOW
Legal Defense and Education Fund's Immigrant Women Program
and the National Network on Behalf of Battered Immigrant
Women receive over 2,000 calls a year from advocates and
attorneys trying to help women and children who have been
victims of domestic violence. Although over 5200 battered
immigrants have received help under VAWA, we are finding
that several categories of immigrants battered by citizen
and lawful permanent resident spouses and parents cannot
attain VAWA protections either because of omissions in the
original legislation or because of implementation problems.(22)
The following are some examples of the access problems
advocates report: _
Vanna
is a Cambodian wife of a member of the U.S. military who is
currently stationed abroad in a country that is not her
homeland. During her abusive marriage she has lived with her
citizen husband in the U.S. and in various countries in
which he has been stationed. Her relationship has been
plagued with sexual abuse with her husband forcing Vanna to
engage in sexual behaviors that made her feel demeaned and
humiliated. His physical and sexual abuse has included
threats to kill Vanna in which he told her that he could
make her death look like an accident. Her husband also
restricts the amount of food she is allowed to eat and where
she was allowed to go. He threatens her with withdrawing the
immigration papers he filed for her and telling her that she
would be deported back to Cambodia where she would probably
be killed. She feels trapped and isolated on the military
base. Vanna wants to return to the U.S., but she does not
qualify for VAWA self-petitioning because she lives abroad.
H.R. 3083 would help Vanna by allowing abused spouses and
children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to
file for VAWA protection whether or not they were residing
in the United States. _
Sara
is the 21- year old Panamanian daughter of an abusive lawful
permanent resident. She has been sexually abused by her
father since she was in junior high school. Her father
brought her mother and Sara into the U.S. without visas when
she was twelve years old. Her father has never filed a
family-based petition for his wife nor Sara. By the time she
finally found the courage to disclose the sexual abuse to
her mother, who had also been abused by her father Sara was
already 21 and it was too late for Sara to receive
protection under VAWA. She is afraid to report the incest to
authorities because she has no immigration status and fears
being deported to her home country where she knows no one.
As a result her father goes unpunished and Sara struggles to
overcome the effects of the abuse. H.R. 3083 would allow
Sara to file for relief under VAWA. _
Lupe
was born in El Salvador. She came to the U.S. at age five
and grew up in the United States where she met and married
her lawful permanent resident spouse. Shortly after the
marriage her husband began closely monitoring her every
move. When Lupe was pregnant with their first child Lupe
fled to her parents house. Her husband followed her and
ordered her to get into his car. When she refused he dragged
her by the hair into the passenger's seat. Her pregnant
belly got stuck between the seats and she could not move.
When her mother and brother tried to help, he threw her
mother to the ground and sped off with Lupe. He drove her to
his apartment and locked her inside. After the baby was
born, he began raping Lupe and threatening that if she
didn't comply, she would never see the baby again. When she
found him abusing the baby, locking him in a closet to
punish him for crying, and crushing his favorite toys
underfoot, Lupe fled back to her parents' house. After a
restraining order was issued, he again abducted her and
threatened to drown her. Following this incident Lupe
retained an attorney and filed a self-petition that has been
approved. Lupe fears having to return to El Salvador to
obtain her lawful permanent residency. Her husband continues
to stalk her and has many family members there. Lupe does
not speak Spanish and her protection order, which granted
her custody, cannot be enforced if she leaves the United
States. Leaving the country to obtain permanent residency is
too dangerous for her. H.R. 3083 would allow Lupe to safely
apply for adjustment of status in the United States. H.R.
3083: Restoring Access, Addressing Omissions, and Correcting
Unintended Effects and Implementation Problems of VAWA 1994 H.R.
3083 continues Congress's commitment to the plight of
battered immigrants and the work that began with the passage
of VAWA 1994 to help battered immigrant women secure lawful
immigration status and legal protection so they may flee
violent homes, cooperate in the criminal prosecution of
their abusers, and take control of their lives without
fearing deportation. The specific purposes behind H.R. 3083
are tri-fold. First, the bill restores access to VAWA relief
that was weakened by subsequent legislation. Second, H.R.
3083 offers access to lawful permanent residence status to
victims who were inadvertently omitted under VAWA 1994.
Finally, the bill corrects unintended effects and
implementation problems of VAWA 1994 that were not
anticipated when the bill was enacted. Some of the
highlights of H.R. 3083's provisions include: Restoring
Access to VAWA Adjustment
of Status:
Changes to immigration laws that occurred after VAWA became
law in 1994 now force many battered immigrant women and
children with approved VAWA self-petitions to choose between
remaining without access to lawful permanent residency
status and being required to leave the United States to
obtain their lawful permanent residency. This is true
despite the fact that the INS has already determined that
they will suffer extreme hardship if returned to their home
country. Further, the law makes no exceptions for battered
immigrants who have proven that returning home will
jeopardize their safety, undermine the treatment they rely
on to overcome the abuse or interfere with custody decrees
crafted to protect children from the harmful effects of
domestic violence. H.R. 3083 allows battered immigrants with
approved self-petitions to adjust their status to lawful
permanent resident while remaining safely in the United
States. Addressing
Omissions in VAWA 1994 Children
Who Age-Out:
The fact that domestic violence often spreads from the
battered spouse as the target of the violence to abuse of
the children has been well documented.(23)
Battered immigrant women fleeing abusive relationships must
be able to protect to their children. VAWA allows battered
immigrants to include their undocumented children who are
under 21 years old at the time of filing. Currently, even if
a child is under 21 when the self-petition is filed, they
must remain under 21 until they can obtain lawful permanent
residency status based on the approved VAWA self-petition.
Since the waiting time between filing of the self-petition
and obtaining lawful permanent residency can range from 6
months to almost 5 years, many children who were to be
offered protection by including them in their mother's
petition Aage out@ by turning 21. The effect of this gap in
the legislation is to force battered immigrants with older
children to remain with their abusers as the only hope that
her older children will benefit from a petition that their
abusive spouse can file for the child even if the child
turns 21. In order to assure that children over 21 have
access to VAWA provisions, H.R. 3083 allows derivative
children who are under 21 when the self-petition is filed,
to continue to be included in their parent's petition until
they can obtain their permanent residence status. Deleting
the Residence in the U.S. Requirement: Battered immigrants married to either citizens or permanent
residents living outside the U.S. have no access to VAWA
immigration relief. Current VAWA provisions state that an
applicant must reside within the territory of the U.S. to
file a self-petition. There is not a residency requirement
in regular family-based visa petitions. A citizen or legal
permanent resident spouse living abroad can file a visa
petition on behalf of their immigrant spouse at the American
Consulate. Battered immigrants need the same access to
immigration benefits they would have if their spouse was not
abusive. H.R. 3083 allows abused spouses and children of
citizens and permanent residents to file for VAWA protection
without regard to where they currently reside, this removes
an incentive for abused immigrant spouses and children to
remain with their abusers. Because of the transient nature
of the military (military members move twice as often as the
civilian workforce), military spouses are particularly
affected by this provision. This is important because the
frequency of abuse in military families is proportionally
much greater and more severe than in civilian families.(24)
Effect
of Changes in the Abuser's Immigration Status: Conviction of a domestic violence crime is a removable
offense. One unintended effect is that the battered
immigrant's pending VAWA self-petition becomes void when her
husband is deported. This creates a perverse incentive for
the battered immigrant either to tolerate the abuse rather
than report it or to refuse to cooperate in his prosecution.
H.R. 3083 allows battered immigrants to file a VAWA
self-petition that would remain valid even if the batterer
is deported due to domestic violence. Unintended
Effects and VAWA Implementation Problems Deleting
Extreme Hardship:
VAWA self-petitioning applicants would normally be
beneficiaries of regular family-based petitions, but for the
actions of the abusive spouse or parent. To win approval of
a family-based visa petition the parties must prove that
they have a valid marriage or parent/child relationship. In
addition to this proof, VAWA self-petitioners must prove
that they have been victims of battery or extreme cruelty at
the hands of their citizen or resident spouse or parent and
that they are persons of good moral character. Once the
self-petitioner has proved all of these facts, they must
additionally prove that their deportation would cause
extreme hardship to themselves or their children. Extreme
hardship is a difficult evidentiary test that battered
immigrants who file applications with INS without the
assistance of an attorney find almost impossible to meet.
The extreme hardship requirement has resulted in INS denials
of self-petitions of many unrepresented battered immigrants
are of good moral character, who present compelling evidence
of abuse and whom INS believes are in good faith valid
marriages. This result is contrary to VAWA's goal of
providing relief to battered immigrants; with the end result
of abusers continuing to go unprosecuted. INS' reviewed VAWA
cases and found that in no instance did they find credible
evidence of marriage fraud and credible evidence of domestic
violence in the same case.(25)
VAWA's
evidentiary requirements are ,even without extreme hardship,
much higher than the proof requirements in all other family
based visa cases. H.R. 3083 deletes the extreme hardship
requirement recognizing that it poses a difficult,
unnecessary hurdle that deprives many needy victims of
VAWA's protections and allows their abusers to go free. Public
Charge:
In legislation crafted by Chairman Smith, Congress provided
battered immigrants who were eligible under VAWA or who were
the beneficiaries of petitions filed by their spouses or
parents, access to the public benefits safety net. Under
current immigration laws, however, immigrants who use those
benefits may be deemed public charges and denied lawful
permanent residency. H.R. 3083 creates an exception to the
public charge ground of inadmissibility for battered
immigrants who need access to benefits in order to flee
their abusers and survive economically. Discretionary
Process to Reinstate a Revocation: As the protections offered battered immigrants through VAWA become
more well known in immigrant communities, the National
Network on Behalf of Battered Immigrant Women has been
receiving increased reports of abusers seeking to revoke
approved family-based visa petition and have their spouses
placed in removal proceedings. H.R. 3083 would prevent an
approved petition from being revoked and would allow INS to
reinstate a revoked family-based visa petition when INS
received credible evidence that the citizen or lawful
permanent resident spouse or parent has perpetrated battery
or extreme cruelty. Further, the H.R. 3083 provisions will
require that once the INS or the immigration judge
determines that the spouse or parent is an abuser, they must
act to undo any harm that has occurred as a result of the
abusers withdrawal or revocation of the petition or his
report that initiated removal proceedings. For example, if
an abuser revoked a petition and convinced INS to place his
abused immigrant wife in removal proceedings, INS would be
explicitly authorized to close those proceedings and to
allow the victim to self-petition under VAWA. Access
to Legal Services:
Battered immigrants are far more successful in their
applications for VAWA self-petitions when they are
represented by lawyers who have received domestic violence
training. Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funded programs
provide the vast majority of legal services to battered
women in the country. Recognizing this fact, in 1997
Congress amended legal services appropriations legislation
to allow lawyers working for LSC-funded programs to
represent battered immigrant women, a variety of domestic
violence related matters, without regard to their
immigration status in so long as those services are funded
with non-LCS dollars. The legislation, however, used the INS
definition of family relationships (spouses and children)
rather than each states' own domestic violence definition.
This had the effect of cutting off access to legal services
for many battered immigrants who would be protected if the
state definition had been used B including immigrant women
battered by their citizen boyfriends. H.R. 3038 will make an
important technical correction to fix this problem. Recommendations and Conclusion On
behalf of NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and the
National Network on Behalf of Battered Immigrant Women,
thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony in
support of the Battered Immigrant Women's Protection Act of
1999. The Act will go far toward furthering the original
purpose of VAWA's immigration provisions -- freeing battered
immigrant women abused by citizen and lawful permanent
resident spouses or parents to report the abuse to police,
to seek help and to prosecute their abusers for the multiple
crimes they commit against family members. We have learned
much over the six years, since VAWA's enactment, about
instances in which the original legislation works
effectively and when it does not. H.R. 3083 is designed to
correct unforseen problems in the legislation and erosions
in access to VAWA that have prevented many of the needy
domestic violence victims VAWA sought to protect from
seeking help. Helping battered immigrant women escape abuse
and bring their abusers to justice will reduce domestic
violence in our communities and will ensure that the citizen
children of immigrant parents have the same opportunity to
live lives free of domestic violence that VAWA sought to
provide to all domestic violence victims. AYUDA,
Inc. 1736
Columbia Road, N.W. Washington,
D.C. 20009 INTRODUCTION The
stories recounted in this volume document the experiences of
battered immigrants from around the country. In all of these
cases, battered immigrants either filed or are in the
process of filing self-petitions for lawful permanent
residency pursuant to Subtitle G of the Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA) of 1994. The purpose of this compilation is
to highlight the potential hardships and dangers that
battered immigrants will face now that §245(i) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) has sunsetted. This
provision previously allowed many immigrants, including
battered immigrants, to obtain lawful permanent residency
while they remained in the United States. Since the
sunsetting of §245(i), immigrants who have not been
lawfully present in the U.S. must now leave the country as
the only means of obtaining lawful permanent residency.
Battered immigrants are not exempted from this requirement.
They must also leave the U.S. as the only means to obtain
permanent residency through VAWA. This makes bettered
immigrants more vulnerable to abuse and may ultimately deter
them from leaving their abusers and bringing charges against
them. I.
Empowering
Battered Immigrants Through VAWA Immigrants
who are abused by their U.S. citizen or lawful permanent
resident spouses or parents may obtain their "green
cards" without relying on their abusers to file the
papers for them with the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS). The Violence Against Women Act of 1994
included a provision that allowed battered immigrants the
opportunity to "self-petition," that is, file an
application for permanent residency based on the abuse that
occurred in the marriage or the parent-child relationship.(26)
By
filing a self-petition, the battered immigrant would be free
to leave the abusive household. Prior to 1994, abusers had
total control over their spouses' or children's immigration
status. Battered immigrants could not file for lawful
permanent residency on their own behalf. As a result, many
battered immigrants remained without legal immigration
status in the U.S. because their abusers used control over
their immigration status as a tool to continue the abuse. II. The
Expiration of §245(i) At the time that VAWA was
passed, there already existed a provision in the INA that
allowed immigrants who had entered the U.S. illegally to
"adjust" from approved visa status to permanent
resident status while remaining in the U.S. Since 1994, any
immigrant who entered the U.S. illegally, or in the case of
relatives of lawful permanent residents, entered lawwfully
but worked without permission or overstayed a visa, could
pay a fine of $1000 and adjust to permanent resident status
while remaining in the U.S.(27)
The INA provision that allowed
for this adjustment of status was §245(i). This provision
brought in significant revenue to the INS(28)
and
allowed those with approved immigrant visa petitions to
remain in the U.S. to continue working and supporting their
families while adjusting their residency status.(29) The
absence of §245(i) would have meant that all immigrants(31)
with approved immigrant visas who either entered the U.S.
illegally or overstayed an earlier visa could no longer
adjust status within the continental United States. Instead,
these immigrants would be forced to return to their home
countries of origin and obtain their green cards through
processing at U.S. embassies or consulates abroad. On
July 29, 1997, the Senate voted to permanently extend §245(i); but on September 30, 1997, the House of Representatives
voted to allow §245(i) to expire.(32)
A day
later, on October 1, 1997, President Clinton signed a
resolution that extended §245(i) until October 23, 1997.(33)
When
October 23, 1997, arrived, the President again extended §245(i),
this time until November 7, 1997.(34)
Finally,
on November 13, 1997, both the House and Senate voted to let
§245(i) sunset on January 14, 1998.(35)
On
November 26, 1997, the President signed legislation entitled
the "Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the
Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of
1998."(36)
This
legislation contained a provision that eliminated the
benefits of §245(i) for all immigrants seeking permanent
residency status. When §245(i) ended, battered immigrants
petitioning for immigration relief under VAWA lost their
ability to obtain green cards while remaining safely within
U.S. borders. III.
Catch-22:
VAWA's "Extreme Hardship" Requirement and §245(i) The
sunsetting of §245(i) presents an urgent problem for
battered immigrants who self-petition under VAWA. Without §245(i),
many battered immigrants with approved VAWA self-petitions
filed after January 14, 1998, will be required to return to
their countries of origin to obtain their green cards. These
battered immigrants have already proven to the INS's
satisfaction that they must not return to their countries of
origin. This is because all battered immigrants whose VAWA
self-petitions have been approved by INS have demonstrated
that they would suffer "extreme hardship" if they
were forced to return to their countries of origin.(37) Generally,
a battered immigrant will meet the extreme hardship test if
she proves that her abuser is able to travel to her country
of origin, that she will be in danger due to the loss of her
U.S. restraining order when she travels outside the U.S., or
that her country of origin lacks laws or services to protect
her from abuse. She may also meet the test if she proves
that she will lose custody or visitation of her children by
being forced to leave the U.S. or if she or her children
will suffer from physical or mental health problems by
discontinuing the treatment they receive in the U.S. to help
them cope with the effects of the abuse. She must show that
similar physical or mental health services are unavailable
in her country of origin. In addition, she may meet the test
by demonstrating that she and her children will suffer due
to human rights violations or political and social turmoil
present in her country of origin.(38)
Immigrants who benefit from
family-based petitions filed by non-abusive spouses or
parents can receive lawful permanent residency status
without proving extreme hardship.(39)
Current law places battered
immigrants who have met the extreme hardship test and
received approval of their VAWA self-petitions in a
difficult and dangerous "catch-22." The law forces
them to return to their countries of origin as the only
means to obtain their green cards, despite the fact that the
INS has determined that they cannot safely return. The
sunsetting of §245(i) forces all illegally present
immigrants to return to their countries of origin to get
their green cards. The law makes no exception for battered
immigrants who have already proven that returning to their
countries of origin will jeopardize their safety,
undermining the treatment they rely on to overcome the abuse
and/or interfere with crafted to protect children from the
harmful effects of domestic violence. IV.
Devastating
Effects for VAWA Self-petitioners Battered
immigrants who have successfully self-petitioned under VAWA
will suffer many hardships and dangers if they are forced to
return to their countries of origin to obtain their green
cards. The stories contained here illustrate the fact that
battered immigrant VAWA self-petitioners experience many of
the same hardships and dangers even though they come from
different countries, live in different states, and make
their homes in both urban and rural communities. These
hardships and dangers can be summarized as follows: A. Risk
of being abused abroad Leaving
the U.S. deprives battered immigrants of the protection
provided by U.S. laws, court orders, and law enforcement.(40)
Restraining
orders are not valid outside the territory of the U.S.,
which makes battered immigrants vulnerable to abuse the
moment they leave the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts.(41)
The
Violence Against Women Act made restraining orders
enforceable across state lines in every U.S. jurisdiction;
however, these orders have no effect outside of the U.S.(42)
Batterers
who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents have the
ability to travel abroad easily and can take advantage of
abused immigrants' lack of legal protection. Since the
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act
(IIRIRA) of 1996 made the crime of domestic violence a
deportable offense, a batterer who is a lawful permanent
resident convicted of a domestic violence crime may be
deported to the same country where the battered immigrant
will be forced to return to obtain her green card.(43) There
are no procedures currently in place at U.S. embassies and
consulates abroad for processing cases of battered
immigrants with VAWA self-petitions approved by the INS.
Although battered immigrants are exempt from the three- and
ten-year bars to re-entry which apply to other immigrants
who have been unlawfully present in the U.S., there are no
regulations implementing these exemptions for VAWA
self-petitioners.(44)
Thus, we cannot predict how long a battered immigrant will
have to remain abroad to obtain her green card under VAWA.
If a
battered immigrant decides not to take her children with her
when she travels abroad to get her green card, she must then
locate a temporary place for the children to stay that is
safe from her abuser. This is often a very difficult, if not
impossible, task. If the battered immigrant does succeed in
finding a place for her children to stay, once she leaves
the U.S., her abuser may file for permanent custody of the
children, claiming that she has abandoned them. Furthermore,
many battered immigrants may not be able to leave the U.S.
because custody matters are still pending in the courts. A
battered immigrant may not remove the children from the
country without court permission while custody is being
adjudicated. To attain such court permission, a battered
immigrant must be able to guarantee to the court that she
will return to the U.S. by a fixed date. Providing such a
date is impossible, though, since a battered immigrant will
not be able to predict how long it will take to obtain her
green card abroad. If she misses a U.S. court date for a
pending custody matter, she may risk losing custody of her
children permanently. C. Abuser
kidnapping the children Battered
immigrants are concerned that if they leave their children
in the U.S. with a trusted relative, their abusers will
either petition the courts for custody of the children or
attempt to kidnap the children. Conversely, battered
immigrants are also concerned that if they bring their
children with them to their countries of origin, their
batterers will follow them there, kidnap the children from
them, and take the children back to the U.S. or to another
country. D. Shame
and loss of familial support Many
battered immigrants will face severe social stigma if forced
to return to their countries of origin after divorcing or
separating from their husbands.(45)
Women
are often deterred from reporting domestic violence in the
U.S. or leaving their abusers because they fear that their
families and communities in their countries of origin will
condemn them for exposing their husbands' abuse and breaking
up the traditional family unit.(46)
Religious
norms and social constructions of gender roles in the
immigrants' home countries will also penalize the returning
immigrant who has dared to leave her abusive husband.(47)
Thus,
VAWA self-petitioners forced to return
to their home countries to obtain their green cards may not
be able to access help and support from their families and
communities in their home countries during the time they
must remain abroad. They may be ostracized because they
publicly exposed their husbands' abuse. E. Lack
of physical and mental health care abroad for battered
immigrants or their children
Victims
of domestic violence and their children often suffer from
physical and mental health problems as a result of the
abuse.(48)
These
problems include depression, low self-esteem, post-traumatic
stress disorder, and long-term physical injuries caused by
the abuse. If a
battered immigrant or her children receive treatment from
mental health professionals in the U.S., discontinuing
treatment for the weeks or months needed to obtain a green
card abroad could cause tremendous emotional damage for
women and children struggling to rebuild their lives. Additionally,
for some battered immigrants or their children, travel
abroad for any period of time would disrupt treatments they
are receiving in the U.S. for physical ailments. Often,
these immigrants will be unable to find an adequate level of
affordable health care treatment in their countries of
origin. The issue becomes even more complicated when a
battered immigrant's child has a physical ailment that
requires treatment in the U.S. If the battered immigrant is
the sole caretaker of the child, and the immigrant is forced
to take the child with her when seeking her green card,
discontinuing the child's medical treatment may result in
life-threatening consequences for the child. F. Poor
socio-political conditions abroad Returning
to the battered immigrant's country of origin could also, in
some cases, subject her to political persecution, war,
torture, jail, extreme poverty, disease, entrenched gender
discrimination, or death.(49)
V.
Infeasibility
of Consular Processing for VAWA Self-petitions Consular
officers abroad have not received the training they need to
enter proper decisions regarding VAWA self-petitioners'
qualifications for lawful permanent residency. Untrained
consular officials may choose to re-open and re-evaluate
approved VAWA self-petitions. Allowing consular officials
who do not appreciate the particular problems that battered
immigrants face to overturn decisions made by INS
adjudicators with expertise in domestic violence poses grave
dangers to battered immigrants. The
INS has followed the lead of other justice system
professionals who work on issues of domestic violence. Many
courts, police departments, and prosecutors' offices have
created specialized units with trained staff to handle
domestic violence cases.(50)
The
INS has adopted this integrated approach, as demonstrated by its training of INS officials assigned to
adjudicate VAWA self-petitions.(51)
INS
centralized the collection and adjudication of VAWA
self-petitions so that all VAWA cases would be handled by a
group of specially trained immigration adjudicators at the
INS Vermont Service Center. This group of officers has been
made aware of the particular evidentiary burdens that
victims of domestic violence face, and they have developed
expertise in adjudicating these cases. The
problem and
danger to battered immigrants lies in allowing consular
officers abroad to determine whether or not battered
immigrants will receive their green cards. Within the U.S.,
both administrative agency and judicial review is afforded
to all immigrants whose petitions are denied approval by the
INS. By contrast, no judicial review is available to
immigrants for decisions made by consular officers at
embassies and consulates abroad. Even though a battered
immigrant has left the U.S. with an approved VAWA petition
in hand, a consular officer abroad could determine that the
battered immigrant's personal affidavit was not believable
or that the petition did not contain sufficient evidence to
meet the required burdens of proof. Since the domestic
violence that the approved VAWA self-petition was based upon
must have occurred in the U.S., and any evidence to support
the self-petition also must have remained in the U.S., a
battered immigrant would be unable to gather whatever
additional evidence might be needed to convince the consular
official to grant her lawful permanent residency status
based on her self-petition. The consular officer could deny
the battered immigrant a green card and trap her in her
country of origin without a way to legally re-enter the U.S.
No review of the consular officer's decision would be
available.(52) The
proposed legislation would allow battered self-petitioners
to adjust status through §245(a) and (c) of the INA, which
is the same mechanism under which spouses, parents, and
children of U.S. citizens who entered the U.S. lawfully may
adjust their status. This legislation would not create new
rights for immigrants who have entered unlawfully; rather,
it would restore a previously existing option to a narrow
group of people who, in good faith, married citizens or
lawful permanent residents only to suffer domestic violence
at their loved-ones hands. With the proposed legislation,
battered self-petitioners would be allowed to adjust their
status pursuant to §245(a) and (c) without leaving the
country and without paying a fine, regardless of whether
they overstayed their visas or worked without authorization. VII.
Methodology
The
case summaries in this compilation describe the experiences
of ____ battered immigrant women in 41 states and the
District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The
information contained in these case summaries was provided
by domestic violence agencies, domestic violence shelters,
immigration attorneys, and battered immigrants from across
the country. All case summaries were compiled from one or
more of the following sources: 1) affidavits prepared by
battered immigrants and their attorneys; 2) case files and
notes recorded by social workers and domestic violence
advocates at agencies and shelters; and 3) telephone
interviews with battered immigrants self-petitioning under
VAWA. The cases compiled here constitute only a fraction of
the total number of VAWA cases in which battered immigrants
will face hardships and dangers because of the sunsetting of
section 245(i) of the INA. All
names have been changed to protect the identities of those
involved in these incidents. Cases
were submitted by a variety of organizations, including the
following*: Albuquerque
Border City Project Albuquerque,
New Mexico American
Friends Service Committee Newark,
New Jersey Asian
Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California Los
Angeles, California Ayuda,
Inc. Washington,
D.C. Casa
Cornelia Law Center San
Diego, California Central
American Resource Center Los
Angeles, California Centro
Legal St.
Paul, Minnesota Nancy
Chen, Attorney at Law New
York, New York Congresso
de Latinos Unidos, Inc. Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania Diocesan
Migrant and Refugee Services, Inc. El
Paso, Texas Domestic
Violence Intervention Program Iowa
City, Iowa Florida
Immigrant Advocacy Center Miami,
Florida Greater
Boston Legal Services Boston,
Massachusetts Immigrant
Initiatives, CUNY School of Law Flushing,
New York Iowa
Coalition Against Domestic Violence Des
Moines, Iowa Legal
Aid of Central Texas Austin,
Texas Legal
Aid Foundation of Los Angeles Los
Angeles, California Legal
Assistance Foundation of Chicago Chicago,
Illinois Legal
Services of North Carolina, Inc. Raleigh,
North Carolina Milwaukee
Women's Center, Inc. Milwaukee,
Wisconsin Na
Loio Immigrant Rights and Public Interest Legal Center Honolulu,
Hawaii Northern
Manhattan Coalition New
York, New York Northwest
Immigrant Rights Project Seattle,
Washington NYANA New
York, New York Project
VAWA Tucson,
Arizona Sanctuary
for Families, Inc. New
York, New York Southern
Arizona Legal Aid Tucson,
Arizona Travelers
and Immigrants Aid Chicago,
Illinois *A
complete list of organizations is not provided in order to
protect the anonymity of the victims. Summary
of Cases COUNTRY
STATUS PAGE OF
ORIGIN OF SPOUSE NUMBER NEW
YORK Aminata
Afghanistan LPR 1 Lupe
El Salvador USC 3 Sol
Guatemala USC 5 Gabrielle
Haiti USC 7 Raquel
Dominican Republic LPR 8 Belinda
Dominican Republic LPR 9 Violeta
Trinidad LPR 10 Pilar
Mexico LPR 11 Lilly
Canada USC 13 Johanna
Jamaica LPR 14 Sima
Pakistan LPR 15 TEXAS Carmela
Mexico USC 16 Linda
Mexico USC 18 Estrella
Mexico LPR 20 Dolores
Mexico LPR 22 Victoria
Mexico LPR 24 Lisa
Mexico LPR 27 Doris
Mexico USC 30 Ina
Mexico USC 34 Lola
Mexico USC 36 Pamela
Mexico LPR 38 Veronica
Mexico USC 107 Berta
Mexico USC 153 Rosita
Mexico LPR 205
ILLINOIS
Paulina
Mexico LPR 40 Valerian
Mexico USC 42 Julia
Mexico LPR 44 Carolina
Mexico LPR 46 Melanie
Jamaica LPR 48 Celeste
Mexico LPR 49 Tamara
Mexico LPR 51 Nancy
Mexico LPR 53 Beatriz
Mexico LPR 99 Angela
Mexico LPR 201 CALIFORNIA Marina
Mexico LPR 55 Fatma
Bangladesh LPR 57 Melissa
Mexico LPR 59 Philippa
Romania LPR 61 Anita
Philippines LPR 63 Paola
Peru LPR 64 Marta
Mexico LPR 65 Val
Thailand LPR 67 Rosa
Mexico LPR 69 Pamina
Mexico LPR 71 Patricia
Mexico USC 73 Lina
El Salvador USC 75 Victoria
Mexico LPR 24 Doris
Mexico USC 30 Carolina
Mexico LPR 46 Conchita
Mexico USC 94 Milagros
Mexico USC 101 Laura
Mexico USC 141 Cristina
Mexico LPR 163 Nuria
Guatemala USC 180 MARYLAND Elise
Nigeria USC 76 ARIZONA Paloma
Mexico LPR 79 Susana
Mexico LPR 81 Elena
Mexico USC 83 Mercedes
Mexico USC 84 Maria
Mexico USC 86 Doris
Mexico USC 30 IOWA Ayesha
Lesotho LPR 88 Allegra
Mexico LPR 90 Marisia
Mexico LPR 92 Conchita
Mexico USC 94 Tatiana
Mexico LPR 96 MICHIGAN Yaa
Nigeria LPR 97 Beatriz
Mexico LPR 99 UTAH Milagros
Mexico USC 101 Lina
El Salvador USC 75 Laura
Mexico USC 141 FLORIDA Felicia
Honduras USC 103 Emilia
Costa Rica LPR 105 Veronica
Mexico USC 107 MASSACHUSETTS Mona
Poland LPR 110 Sonya
Guyana LPR 112 Celia
Trinidad and Tobago LPR 114 Donna
Ethiopia LPR 116 DELAWARE Teresa
Mexico LPR 118 INDIANA Consuelo
Mexico USC 120 PENNSYLVANIA Ugne
Lithuania USC 122 Maggie
Columbia USC 124 Naomi
Ghana USC 125 Teresa
Mexico LPR 118 VIRGINIA Mariangela
Mauritania USC 127 NEVADA Vilma
Mexico LPR 128 RHODE
ISLAND Alejandra
Guatemala LPR 130 NEBRASKA Josefina
Mexico LPR 132 NEW
JERSEY Ramona
Peru LPR 134 Kamara
Kenya LPR 136 Rosalinda
Peru USC 137 IDAHO Lourdes
Mexico USC 139 Maria
Luisa Mexico USC 140 Laura
Mexico USC 141 KANSAS Stella
Mexico LPR 143 Tatiana
Mexico LPR 96 MINNESOTA Magdalena
Mexico LPR 145 Brigitta
Mexico LPR 147 NEW
MEXICO Blanca
Mexico USC 149 Evangelina
Mexico LPR 151 Berta
Mexico USC 153 Conchita
Mexico USC 94 NORTH
CAROLINA Miranda
Mexico LPR 155 Kim
Thailand USC 157 Margarita
Mexico LPR 159 Lola
Mexico USC 36 VIRGIN
ISLANDS Ursula
Trinidad LPR 161 WASHINGTON,
D.C. Cristina
Mexico LPR 163 Lita
El Salvador LPR 166 ALASKA Miguel
El Salvador USC 168 COLORADO Lucinda
Argentina LPR 170 Luisa
Mexico LPR 172 Dalia
El Salvador LPR 174 Alicia
Mexico LPR 176 KENTUCKY Eva
El Salvador LPR 178 OREGON Nuria
Guatemala USC 180 WASHINGTON Sara
El Salvador LPR 182 Juana
Mexico LPR 184 Felipe
Mexico USC 186 OKLAHOMA Clara
Mexico USC 187 ARKANSAS Soledad
Mexico LPR 189 LOUISIANA Juanita
Mexico LPR 191 Sharifa
Israel LPR 192 Wabei
East Africa LPR 194 TENNESSEE Catalina
Mexico LPR 195 NEW
HAMPSHIRE Marie
Haiti USC 197 WYOMING Esperanza
Honduras USC 199 CONNECTICUT Angela
Mexico LPR 201 WISCONSIN Genoveva
Mexico LPR 203 Rosita
Mexico LPR 205 Atalanta
Venezuela USC 207 Bonita
Mexico USC 209 OHIO Elsa
Hungary USC 210 Lee
Thailand USC 211 ALABAMA
Carmen
Panama USC 213 GEORGIA Anou
Egypt LPR 214 HAWAII Lea
Micronesia USC 216 Vanessa
Mexico USC 217 This
case originated in New York. AMINATA Aminata
is a 33-year-old citizen of Afghanistan. She met her
husband, Ahmed, in Afghanistan. Ahmed is a lawful permanent
resident of the United States. The
circumstances under which the couple met and married are
disturbing. While in Afghanistan, Ahmed began stalking
Aminata. He would stop her in the street and tell her that
she was to be his and no one else's. He later threatened to
kill her if she did not marry him. Aminata was very afraid
of his stalking and his threats, but she had no one to turn
to for protection. She lived with her elderly parents who
could not help her, and the police force offered little to
no protection, due to the civil strife in Afghanistan at the
time. She was afraid, but she felt she had no choice but to
marry Ahmed. During
the first week of their marriage and every week thereafter,
Ahmed slapped Aminata. Initially, she sought refuge with her
parents, but they forced her to return to her husband and
"do her duty" as a wife. Ahmed frequently slapped,
punched, pushed, and threatened to kill Aminata. This abuse
only intensified after the couple moved to the United States
and settled in New York. During
one of Aminata's pregnancies, Ahmed grabbed a kitchen knife
and tried to cut open her stomach and remove the baby from
her womb. Aminata defended herself and her baby as best she
could from Ahmed's attack. Her hands were cut and bruised.
On another occasion, Ahmed put a knife against Aminata's
chest and cut her hand when she tried to protect herself. He
also threatened to kill her by running her over with his
car. He began abusing their daughters, as well, often
pulling their hair and hitting them. After
this incident, Aminata received a restraining order against
Ahmed. She further sought to protect her daughters from
Ahmed by getting a court order limiting Ahmed's visitation
of the girls to supervised visits only.
Over
the course of her marriage, Aminata has suffered constant
physical and verbal abuse from Ahmed. Even though he was
excluded from the family home pursuant to the restraining
order, Ahmed has continued to threaten and harass Aminata.
She has struggled to survive without his income, supporting
her girls with meager assistance from her family and other
agencies. Her husband does not pay child support even though
he is self-employed. Aminata
has filed her VAWA self-petition for residency status, which
has been approved. If she is forced to leave the United
States to get her green card in Afghanistan, she believes
that Ahmed will follow her there and kill her. In
Afghanistan, Ahmed is fully able to do anything he wishes to
Aminata because she is his wife. He knows exactly where she
would stay in Afghanistan, and he is aware that the police
force and laws of Afghanistan would not hold him accountable
for any violence committed against Aminata or the children.
He is watching her very closely in the United States, and he
would know when she left the country with the children.
Aminata's restraining order would not keep her safe in
Afghanistan from Ahmed's abuse. This
case originated in New York. LUPE Lupe
is originally from El Salvador. She met Christopher, a
United States citizen, at a dance club where he was working
as a disc jockey. They started dating and quickly fell in
love. Later, they moved in together. They married in New
York three years later. Christopher
began controlling Lupe's movements from the beginning of
their relationship. He would call her every five minutes
when she was at home, just to check up on her. When she got
pregnant with their first child, he purchased a cellular
phone so he could call her even more frequently. He told her
that she did not need anyone but him and the baby. A few
months into her pregnancy, though, Lupe discovered that
Christopher was having an affair with another woman. She
left him and went to her parents' house. Christopher
began stalking Lupe at her parents' home, parking his car
directly across the street and calling out "I love
you!" whenever she would leave the house. One day, she
was standing outside the house with her mother and brother
when Christopher came barreling into the driveway in his
car, ordering Lupe to "get in." When she refused,
he got out of the car and dragged her by the hair into the
passenger's seat. Her pregnant belly got stuck between the
seats, and Lupe could not move. Lupe's brother got a
baseball bat and hit the back windshield of the car as
Lupe's mother tried to pull Lupe out of the car. Christopher
threw Lupe's mother to the sidewalk and sped off with Lupe
in the car. He drove her to his apartment and locked her
inside with him, telling her that if she did not come back
to him, he would do something drastic. He told her it was
all her fault that he did these crazy things. He kept
repeating that he loved her and begged her not to leave him.
The he pulled the phone off the wall and laid down next to
her in bed. He convinced her to stay. On
other occasions, Christopher would force Lupe to perform
sexual acts against her will. Three weeks after giving
birth, the baby was sleeping next to Lupe in the bed when
Christopher came into the room and began to undress Lupe.
She told him that the doctor had strongly recommended no
sexual activity for at least one month. Christopher became
angry and called her nasty names. Then he pushed her onto
her knees and demanded that she give him oral sex. When she
said "no," he pinned her against the wall and
screamed at her to do it now. She had no choice but to
follow his orders. Then he had sex with her against her
will, even though she told him that he was hurting her. Later
that year, Christopher began complaining that Lupe was
spending too much time with the baby. One day, he forced her
into the car and made her drop the baby off at her mother's
house. Then he took her back to their house and pushed her
around the bedroom, ripping off her clothes and calling her
a whore and a slut. The he pulled his pants off as Lupe
screamed and tried to reach for the phone. He told her to
act like the whore she was and have sex with him like one.
She was so afraid that she held still as he raped her again
and again. When he was done, he acted as though nothing had
happened and treated her as if she had enjoyed it. From then
on, the sexual abuse was more frequent. When he would come
home for lunch he would order her to put the baby to nap so
that they could have sex. Every time he wanted rough sex and
oral sex, Lupe would feel sick. Christopher would respond by
pushing her, smacking her, pulling her hair, and telling her
that she would never see the baby again unless she did what
he asked. Christopher
abused the baby, as well. He would lock him in the closet to
punish him for crying. He would also crush the baby's
favorite toys with his foot. Lupe discovered Christopher's
abuse of her son and immediately left Christopher, fleeing
to her parents' house. Christopher came to her parents'
house and stalked her for a week, calling her and parking
his car outside the house. When she finally agreed to talk
with him, he forced her into his car and drove away at a
high speed, swerving all over the road and telling her that
they were both going to die that day. He said that if he
could not have her, no one would. She was so frightened that
she told him that she would return to him. Lupe
got a restraining order against Christopher after he
abducted her from the local gym and drove her to a lake,
where he threatened to drown her. Lupe talked to him and
calmed him down for hours before he finally agreed to take
her back to the gym, where she called the police. She later
consulted an attorney and filed a VAWA self-petition for her
residency. If
Lupe is forced to return to El Salvador to get her green
card, she will face severe hardships. First of all, her
restraining order is unenforceable in El Salvador.
Additionally, Lupe fled the war in El Salvador along with
all her family when she was only five years old and has
horrible memories of gunfire, hiding, and running for cover
in El Salvador. She has not been to El Salvador since she
fled many years ago, and she no longer speaks Spanish or
knows any contacts in El Salvador. Finally, the expense of
the trip would be a significant financial burden to a young,
single mother of two young sons. She is trying to rebuild
her life and support her babies entirely on her own, with no
help from Christopher. Forcing Lupe to return to El Salvador
would be a nightmare of confusion and emotional trauma for a
woman who has already suffered so much in her life. This
case originated in New York. SOL Sol
was born in Guatemala. She met her husband, Jeffrey, in New
York in 1987. Jeffrey was the owner of the apartment
building where Sol lived when she first arrived in New York.
He is a United States citizen. Sol
and Jeffrey started living together shortly after they met.
They married almost six years later. While they were living
together, Jeffrey revealed to Sol that he was addicted to
cocaine and that he was trying his best to quit. Sol tried
to be supportive of Jeffrey, but she soon discovered that he
was still partying with friends and taking drugs without
attempting to quit. Knowing that her husband was a drug
addict upset Sol and created tension in their relationship. Jeffrey
began abusing her shortly after their first child, Maggie,
was born. He would push Sol forcefully when he would get
angry. He would also grab and shake her violently. He
threatened to throw her out of the apartment and leave her
homeless. Only 15 days after Maggie was born, Sol became so
afraid of Jeffrey that she attempted to leave him and move
in with her brother. Before she could leave, Jeffrey told
her that unless she stayed with him he would hurt her
brother. Fearing for her brother's life and not knowing the
extent of Jeffrey's capacity for violence, Sol stayed with
him and abandoned her plans to flee. On
another occasion, after Jeffrey held Sol by the arms and
shook her repeatedly, Sol feared for her and her daughter's
life and fled to her local church. There, the pastor called
the police and helped her enter a women's shelter. She
remained there for the next year. Towards the end of that
year, Jeffrey sought out Sol's brother and demanded he tell
him where Sol was living. When Sol's brother refused to tell
him, Jeffrey beat him up and rummaged through his house. He
found a phone bill and from there traced one of the phone
numbers to the shelter where Sol was staying. He arrived at
the shelter and demanded that Sol return to him, or else he
would kill her whole family. Believing his threats, Sol felt
she had no choice but to move back in with him. Immediately
afterward, Jeffrey began pressuring Sol to have a second
child and refused to allow Sol to use birth control. Sol's
second child, Anthony, was born needing a liver transplant.
Money was tight in the household at that time, and one day
Jeffrey flew into a rage over how much money Sol had spent
for household supplies. He started to throw things around
the apartment, kicking and hitting the furniture and walls.
He also threatened to kill Sol's mother. At that moment, Sol
decided that she would risk everything to escape this man's
violence. She left the apartment with the children and filed
for a restraining order, which is still in effect and which
granted her sole custody of the children to protect them
from Jeffrey's violence. Since
Sol left Jeffrey, he has continued to stalk her, harassing
and threatening to kill her and her family. He has also sent
her threatening letters and a videotape of him filming the
place where Sol and the children were now living. The police
are trying to arrest Jeffrey for violation of the
restraining order, but so far, he has managed to evade them.
Sol believes he is capable of the greatest
violence--including killing her and her family and kidnaping
the children. If
Sol is forced to return to Mexico to get her green card
under VAWA, she fears that Jeffrey will follow her there and
abuse her. She knows that he is currently stalking her and
the children and that he follows her movements closely in
the U.S. The restraining order she has against him is the
only thing that is keeping her safe from Jeffrey's violence.
Outside of the U.S., her restraining order would not be
valid. In
addition, if forced to leave the U.S. to get her green card,
Sol would have to take her children with her for an unknown
period of time while the consulate processes her visa. Sol's
U.S. citizen son, Anthony, would face life-threatening
health problems if he went with his mother to Mexico to get
her green card. He requires ongoing treatment and dialysis
for his liver problems, and he depends on Sol as his primary
caretaker. He cannot interrupt his medical treatment for a
trip with his mother to Mexico. There is no one that Sol can
risk leaving the children with in her absence. Any caretaker
would be subject to violent attacks while caring for the
children and may not be able to protect the children from
Jeffrey. This
case originated in New York. GABRIELLE Gabrielle
was born in Haiti. She has lived in the United States for
the past three years. While she was living in Haiti, she met
Pierre, a United States citizen also originally from Haiti.
Pierre had been visiting his mother near Gabrielle's
hometown. In time, Pierre and Gabrielle started dating and
soon fell in love. Pierre later brought Gabrielle with him
to the U.S. and married her in New York. Soon
after the marriage took place, Gabrielle noticed a change in
Pierre. He isolated her in a small town where she had
neither friends nor family. Gabrielle felt depressed and
lonely and longed to make American friends, but Pierre never
allowed her to leave the house without him. He even pinned
down the curtains and told her that she "had no
business looking outside." He refused to let her go to
school or learn to speak English because he wanted her to be
entirely dependent upon him. Pierre would inform Gabrielle
that she was only good for cooking, cleaning, and having sex
with him. He even proposed bringing women to the house to
have sex with both Gabrielle and himself. This proposition
horrified Gabrielle. One
day, after a long period of severe emotional abuse and
isolation, Gabrielle finally disobeyed Pierre's orders and
left the house to take a walk by herself. When she returned
home after the walk, she found that Pierre had called the
police and had told them that she was taking drugs.
Gabrielle did not understand English, so she could not
answer the police officer's questions. After a translator
was called, Gabrielle explained to the police how Pierre had
been abusing her during their marriage. The police took
Gabrielle to a battered women's shelter. Pierre
later served divorce papers on Gabrielle and threatened to
have her deported. He told her that since he was an American
citizen, he could do whatever he wanted to her, and nothing
would happen to him. Gabrielle went to an attorney and
received a restraining order against Pierre and assistance
in applying for her green card under VAWA. Pierre was
furious at Gabrielle's actions. He immediately made a trip
to Haiti and visited Gabrielle's parents, her adult
daughter, and her former place of employment, spreading lies
about Gabrielle and threatening to kill her if she ever set
foot in Haiti again. He also threatened to hurt Gabrielle's
parents and daughter if Gabrielle ever came back to Haiti.
He knew full well that Gabrielle's restraining order would
not protect her outside the United States. Gabrielle's
family and friends in Haiti have called and written to her
to warn her of Pierre's plan to kill her or have her killed
if she ever returns to Haiti. Gabrielle is very afraid of
Pierre and believes she will be in serious danger if she
returns to Haiti to get her green card under VAWA. Gabrielle
feels that Haiti is an insecure place where Pierre could
easily kidnap, hurt, or kill her without police
intervention. She has no doubt that once she sets foot in
Haiti, Pierre will be waiting for her. This
case originated in New York. RAQUEL Raquel
is a citizen of the Dominican Republic. She has lived in the
United States for the past four years. After her arrival in
the United States, Raquel met and fell in love with Gerardo,
a lawful permanent resident of the United States originally
from the Dominican Republic. After a period of courtship,
Raquel and Gerardo were married. Raquel had no idea at the
time of her marriage that Gerardo was an abusive man. Shortly
after their marriage, Raquel noticed a change in Gerardo's
behavior. He began to be very controlling and domineering
with Raquel. He also started criticizing the way she talked
and acted. He would insult her verbally, telling her
"you're not good enough," and calling her an unfit
wife. When their son, Pablo, was born, Gerardo began
criticizing Raquel's skills as a mother. He was never
satisfied with anything Raquel did, and soon his verbal
abuse made Raquel depressed, afraid, and severely lacking in
self-confidence. Gerardo's
abuse of Raquel escalated drastically over time. He began
calling Raquel at work, threatening and harassing her.
During one call, he threatened to burn down their home.
Finally, in April of 1998, Gerardo beat Raquel severely all
over her body. Bruised and fearful for her and her son's
safety, Raquel went to the police and reported the beating.
She received a permanent restraining order against Gerardo,
in which Gerardo was ordered to leave the family home.
Shortly after this incident, Raquel consulted a lawyer who
began helping her self-petition for permanent residency
under VAWA. If
Raquel is forced to return to the Dominican Republic as the
only way she can get her green card under VAWA, her U.S.
citizen son will suffer serious, perhaps life-threatening,
health risks. Raquel's son, Pablo, was born with severe
atorec dermatitis, a rare disease which makes him sensitive
to weather changes and puts his life in jeopardy if he is
exposed to sunlight. Pablo has been receiving ongoing
medical treatment for this disease, and he requires close
care and monitoring. Treatment for Pablo's disease is
unavailable in the Dominican Republic. In fact, doctors from
the leading medical centers in the Dominican Republic have
reported to Raquel's attorney that there are no reported
cases of Pablo's disease in the Dominican Republic and that
the Dominican Republic is unprepared to treat such a disease
as Pablo's. Sending Raquel and Pablo back to the Dominican
Republic to obtain Raquel's green card could be a death
sentence for young Pablo. This
case originated in New York. BELINDA Belinda's
long-term boyfriend, Francisco, brought Belinda and their
child to the United States from the Dominican Republic.
Belinda and the child entered illegally. Francisco is a
lawful permanent resident of the United States. After
several years of living together both in the Dominican
Republic and the United States, Belinda and Francisco were
married in New York. Later, they had a second child here in
the United States. The
year after Belinda entered the U.S., Francisco began to
physically abuse her. He would punch and slap her
repeatedly, and when she would attempt to call the police,
he would threaten to report her to the INS. He was very
controlling and would monitor her movements and her phone
calls. She was not allowed to leave the house, make friends,
or associate with anyone without Francisco's permission. The
physical and emotional abuse was so severe that Belinda
separated from Francisco and fled the family home with her
two children. She sought refuge with Francisco's sister and
began living with her. One day, Francisco arrived at his
sister's house and demanded to see Belinda. When she came
out, he began beating her face and body with his fists and
pulling her hair. She managed to escape his grasp, open the
door, and run out into the street. To her horror, Francisco
followed her to the street and attacked her with a machete.
The attack only ended when police arrived on the scene and
arrested Francisco for domestic assault and battery. Belinda
was hospitalized with the severe injuries that Francisco
inflicted upon her. Later, she obtained a protective order
against Francisco. The
state filed criminal charges against Francisco for
assaulting Belinda. The criminal case is still pending.
Francisco is filled with rage and blames Belinda for getting
him arrested and charged with this crime. He has vowed to
follow her to the ends of the earth to exact his revenge
upon her. Belinda believes his threats and is afraid that
Francisco will hurt or kill her if he ever comes in contact
with her again. If
Belinda is forced to return to the Dominican Republic as the
only way to obtain her green card under VAWA, she fears that
Francisco will follow her and hurt her. His family knows
Belinda, and Belinda is certain that Francisco could find
her easily in the Dominican Republic. Belinda's restraining
order would not keep her safe from Francisco's abuse outside
the United States. In addition, making the trip to the
Dominican Republic to get her green card would be a
devastating financial hardship to Belinda. She and her two
children are living in a shelter for battered women and
children, and she does not have the resources to finance a
trip now or in the near future. Her protection order awards
Belinda custody of their two small children. She has no one
in the United States on whom she can rely to take care of
her children while she is in the Dominican Republic. All of
these hardships would make it dangerous impossible for
Belinda to return to the Dominican Republic to get her green
card. This
case originated in New York. VIOLETA Violeta
was born in Trinidad. She came to the United States along
with other family members. While Violeta was living in New
York, she met Kurt, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S.
originally from Trinidad. Kurt and Violeta fell in love and
were married in 1997. Shortly after their marriage, Kurt
began mistreating Violeta. Kurt
had an uncontrollable temper. He would savagely beat Violeta
for no particular reason. The beatings were frequent and
unpredictable. He would punch her, scratch her, and kick her
repeatedly during these attacks. He constantly threatened to
kill her by throwing her out of the window. Violeta
sincerely believed these threats. She knew that it was only
a matter of time before Kurt snapped and beat her to death.
He had already begun beating her in front of others,
including Violeta's mother. Kurt's
brutal physical abuse of Violeta caused her to miscarry
their child in the second month of pregnancy. At that time,
Kurt was unemployed, and Violeta's income from her own job
was the only means of support for the couple. Despite this,
Kurt called Violeta's boss to try to get her fired. It was
then that Violeta decided she could not stand to be with
Kurt any longer. Even though she feared what he would do if
she left him, Violeta gathered her courage and moved in with
her mother. She applied for and received a restraining order
against Kurt and applied for legal immigration status under
VAWA. Despite
Violeta's attempts to sever her relationship with Kurt, he
has continued to stalk her ever since she moved out of their
house. He calls her on the telephone 10-12 times every
night. Violeta is so frightened of Kurt that she goes
everywhere with an escort and always has either her mother
or a friend in the house with her at all times. Her body is
covered with scars and bruises left from Kurt's abuse. She
is now undergoing counseling and psychiatric treatment for
the trauma she experienced living with Kurt. If
Violeta must return to Trinidad as the only way of getting
her green card under VAWA, she will face possible injury and
death at the hands of Kurt. Since her restraining order will
not be valid in Trinidad, she will have no way to protect
herself from Kurt, who has maintained his contacts in
Trinidad. He has already vowed to kill her in the U.S., and
he continues to stalk her to this day. Violeta does not
doubt that he would follow her to Trinidad, a place where
she would be alone and unprotected. Violeta has no friends
or family to rely upon for support and protection in
Trinidad, and she cannot even imagine walking the streets
alone, either in the U.S. or in Trinidad. She lives in a
constant state of terror and is in such terrible physical
and emotional shape that she cannot endure a trip to
Trinidad. To Violeta, the only place where she stands a
chance at protecting herself from Kurt is here in the United
States. If she is forced to return to Trinidad for any
period of time to obtain her lawful permanent residency
under VAWA, she knows she will be a target for violence. This
case originated in New York. PILAR Pilar
is originally from Mexico. She first entered the United
States when she was fifteen years old. Her parents
disapproved of her leaving Mexico to live with her aunt in
the U.S. at such a young age. Consequently, Pilar's family
and community in Mexico cut all ties with her. When
Pilar was sixteen, she met and fell in love with Roberto, a
twenty-year-old lawful permanent resident of the United
States who was originally from Nicaragua. Pilar moved in
with Roberto and became pregnant with their child when Pilar
was seventeen. Roberto forced Pilar to have an abortion,
even though this decision was against Pilar's religious and
moral beliefs. Since Pilar was under age at the time of the
abortion, Roberto posed as her brother and signed all the
consent papers for the procedure. Pilar still carries severe
emotional scars as a result of this forced abortion. Throughout
the next three years of their relationship, Roberto
physically and emotionally abused Pilar. He would punch,
slap, and kick her when she displeased or
"disobeyed" him. He refused to let her out of the
house and isolated her from friends and family. During the
day, Roberto kept an eye on Pilar by getting her a
waitressing job at the same restaurant at which he worked.
He would exercise complete control over Pilar's every
movement, often threatening to have her deported if she did
not obey his commands. When
Pilar was twenty, she again became pregnant with Roberto's
child. Roberto married her at that time. Soon after this, he
tried to make her have another abortion, but Pilar refused.
In response, Roberto beat Pilar severely during all nine
months of her pregnancy, regularly punching her in the
stomach so that she would miscarry the child. At the end of
nine months, when Pilar went into labor, Roberto refused to
take her to the hospital, and instead told her to "call
a cab." After their baby was born, Roberto did not pick
Pilar and the baby up from the hospital, and Pilar was
forced to take a bus home. About
a month after the baby was born, Roberto attacked Pilar for
the last time. He began beating her even though she was
holding the baby in her arms. He attacked her with such
force that she dropped the baby. Although the baby was not
hurt in the fall, the incident made Pilar fear for her
baby's safety. She found the strength to pack her things, go
to the police, and enter a shelter for battered women and
children. She left Roberto that day. Since then, she has
sought counsel to assist her in obtaining her green card via
a VAWA self-petition. Pilar
has lived in the United States since she was a young girl.
If she is required to return to Mexico as the only way to
get her green card under VAWA, Pilar will face extreme
hardship. She has no family in the U.S. with whom she may
leave her U.S. citizen child while she is getting her green
card. In Mexico, Pilar no longer has ties to her family, who
disowned her when she left for the United States, nor does
she have any ties with her hometown community. Her parents
refuse to see her and do not communicate with her. She and
her baby would be shunned if they returned to Mexico, and no
one would help and support Pilar there. Because of the years
of abuse that Pilar has suffered in her relationship with
Roberto, she now lacks the emotional strength to confront
her family. After all she has suffered, she must not be
forced to leave the United States to obtain her green card. This
case originated in New York. LILLY Lilly
is originally from Canada. Her mother, an alcoholic named
Mary, and her father, a violent, abusive man named John,
mistreated Lilly both physically and emotionally when she
was a little girl. They would belittle her, call her names,
and beat her severely whenever they perceived she had
misbehaved. Lilly suffered such tremendous emotional scars
from the abuse and neglect of her parents that she was
placed in Child Protective Services by the Canadian
authorities. Lilly was released to her uncle's care in the
United States, and she entered the country without
inspection in 1990. Lilly
later married a U.S. citizen named Stuart. Unfortunately for
Lilly, Stuart was also a controlling, violent man who abused
her just as her parents had. Stuart would insult her and
damage her self-esteem, and he would punch, slap, and kick
her when angry. After years of abuse and terror, Lilly
finally escaped to a shelter with her two children, Greg and
Katie. After consulting with a lawyer, Lilly filed her
paperwork for a VAWA self-petition, and it was approved. Lilly's
two children are U.S. citizens, and they are both involved
in the community and enrolled in school. Lilly would not be
able leave them behind if she were forced to return to
Canada to get her green card under VAWA. Furthermore, she is
unable to afford the trip to Canada at all, considering that
she is currently living with her children in a battered
women's shelter. Assuming she did go back to Canada, though,
Lilly would face painful memories from her childhood and
severe emotional trauma. Lilly
has no other friends or family in Canada aside from her
abusive parents. She and her children would have no one else
to rely on for help and support while in Canada. The
prospect of seeing her parents again fills Lilly with fear.
Her contact with them has been very limited, but they still
try to control and emotionally abuse her to this day. Her
mother has even threatened to call the police and the INS to
have Lilly deported to Canada. Considering her parents'
emotionally controlling nature, Lilly cannot fathom
returning to Canada and facing the painful memories from her
childhood after the abuse she has recently suffered at the
hands of her husband. This
case originated in New York. JOHANNA Johanna
is a citizen of Jamaica who entered the United States in
1991 with a visitor's visa. In 1992, Johanna's landlord
introduced her to Irving, a citizen of Jamaica who had
gained permanent residency through his mother. The two dated
and lived together for several years, and had two American
citizen daughters. They finally married in 1997. Johanna
constantly suffered physical and emotional abuse throughout
the course of their relationship. Irving was extremely
possessive and controlling, preventing Johanna even from
picking out her own clothes to wear. Both Johanna and her
neighbors reported several incidents of abuse to the police.
Johanna required medical attention for her injuries after
several brutal incidents. It was not uncommon for Irving to
punch Johanna in the face and slap her. Specific incidents
of abuse include shaking her violently while she was
pregnant with their daughter, slapping her while she was
holding their child in her arms, and hitting her in the head
with a ceramic mug. The
worst incident of abuse Johanna suffered was in June of
1997, when Irving invited his mother to move in with the
couple and their children. Johanna told Irving this was not
a good idea because the apartment was already very crowded.
Enraged, Irving punched her in the ears, grabbed her, and
pushed her up against the wall and then down onto the floor.
Johanna's ears were seriously injured from this abuse and
rang for two weeks after this incident. Soon
after this episode, Johanna escaped the home with her two
daughters and moved to a shelter for battered women. Irving
never filed a spousal petition for Johanna's green card, and
Johanna has now filed a self-petition. However, she is
afraid to return to Jamaica to receive her green card.
Irving knows he could abuse her there without legal
consequences and would likely follow her there to do so. In
addition, she cannot afford to take her children to Jamaica
for an indeterminate length of time, but has no one with
whom to leave them. Johanna has no support system left in
Jamaica to aid and protect her while she is there. It is
necessary that Johanna be allowed to remain in the United
States to become a lawful permanent resident in order to
protect her safety. This
case originated in New York. SIMA Sima
is a citizen of Pakistan who entered the United States on a
student visa in 1981. She met her future husband, Rashid, in
1985. The couple dated for many years, and eventually
married in September of 1997. Rashid, a citizen of Pakistan
and a lawful permanent resident, refused to file a spousal
petition for Sima. Rashid
became both physically and emotionally abusive to Sima
immediately after they were married. He would often tell her
she was no longer attractive, and that he no longer wanted
her. On one occasion, he shouted curses at her and spit
toothpaste on her several times. Rashid first hit Sima in
the face in November of 1997. Having sustained extensive
bruising, she went to the police after this incident.
Subsequently, physical violence such as hitting, pushing,
and slapping took place about once a month, and verbal abuse
took place almost every day. During one incident, Rashid
slapped Sima and pulled her by the hair. Sima called the
police, which only further enraged Rashid. He exacted
revenge by threatening Sima's friends and family and
spreading malicious lies about her in their close-knit
community. In
December of 1997, Sima's husband started forbidding her to
answer the phone, and denied that they were married to many
of the couple's friends and acquaintances. Rashid would also
constantly threaten to have Sima deported. Throughout the
marriage, women would call the couple's home and harass Sima
by telling her that they were Rashid's lovers. In
October of 1998, Sima came home to their marital residence
to find the locks had been changed. She later found that
Rashid had put half of her possessions in storage and the
rest in garbage bags. After a warrant for her husband's
arrest was issued due to the history of domestic violence
culminating in the illegal lockout, Rashid wrote letters to
Sima's family in Pakistan threatening to have Sima and her
family members killed. Rashid then served Sima with divorce
papers. Sima
is currently staying with friends while awaiting space so
she can move into a shelter for battered women. She has
filed a self-petition for residency, but she is frightened
to return to Pakistan for visa issuance. She has no doubt
that if she returns home Rashid will follow through with his
threats to kill her and her family. Once she leaves the
United States, Sima will no longer be protected by the
American criminal justice system that has, for now, brought
a halt to the physical violence if not the threats. Sima
will face grave danger in her tumultuous home country where
husbands have full legal right to control and abuse their
wives. Since Rashid is also a Pakistani citizen and
maintains contacts in Pakistan, he knows this and will be
able to carry out his threats. Sima must be allowed to
remain safe within the boundaries of the United States, and
not be required to return to Pakistan in order to become a
lawful permanent resident. This
case originated in Texas. CARMELA Carmela
is originally from Mexico. She moved to Texas in 1988, after
both her parents died in Mexico. She met Jed, a United
States citizen, in 1995 through a mutual friend. She and Jed
began dating, and eventually they moved in together in El
Paso. A few months after they moved in together, Carmela
found out that Jed had a drinking problem. He was arrested
for causing an accident while driving under the influence,
and when he was released from jail, he begged Carmela to
help him quit drinking. Carmela thought he was a good person
and was in love with him, so she told him she would try to
help. They were married in 1996, when Jed became sober.
Carmela believed that he would not drink again. The
first month of their marriage was happy; however, soon after
that, Jed began coming home drunk. When Carmela confronted
him about his drinking, he screamed at her and insulted her.
His verbal abuse of Carmela grew more frequent over time.
Jed would yell at Carmela, call her a prostitute, throw her
clothes all over the floor, and kick her out of the house
when he would get angry at her. He began disappearing every
weekend, leaving Carmela alone and without transportation.
She began to suspect that he was having affairs with other
women. At
this time, Carmela was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She
had a very difficult time getting Jed to take her to the
doctor, and he refused to give her money to pay the clinic
fees. He began telling her that he wished she were dead. He
also began sexually abusing her, and on one occasion, he
purposely urinated inside of her while they were having
intercourse. He became more violent, as well. One evening,
he got angry at her while they were at a bar. He smashed two
glasses, insulted her, and drove off without her. By the
time she got home, Jed had destroyed a clock and had ripped
the telephone out of the wall and thrown it across the room.
Carmela was very afraid of his violence. After
Carmela had an operation to remove the cancer from her
uterus, Jed did not bring her food while she was
recuperating, and he abused her physically. About a week
after her operation, she asked Jed to bring her some food,
and he became so angry that he pulled her out of bed and
threw her against the sofa. Then he pushed her out the door
and refused to let her back in the house. She
separated from him shortly after that incident. First she
went to a shelter, and then she found an apartment of her
own. Jed came to her apartment shortly after she moved in,
asking her to let him inside. When she refused, he broke the
door down and slapped her so hard that her gums bled. Then
he spat in her face and called her a prostitute. Carmela
raced to her bedroom and called the police. Jed was
arrested, and Carmela received a restraining order to
protect her from his abuse. She also obtained counsel to
assist her in filing a VAWA petition for residency. Now
Carmela will be forced to return to Mexico as the only way
of getting her green card under VAWA. She has lived in the
U.S. for the past ten years, since she was a very young
girl. She has no relatives to help and support her in
Mexico, and making the trip alone would cause her great
emotional stress. In addition, Carmela cannot leave the U.S.
to journey to Mexico because she is receiving ongoing
treatment in Texas for uterine cancer. She pays for her own
treatment, but it is affordable and accessible in the U.S.
In Mexico, similar treatment would be too expensive for
Carmela to afford, and the quality of care would not match
that of the U.S. Because Carmela must aggressively treat her
uterine cancer through intensive therapies, she cannot put
her life at risk by leaving the U.S. and discontinuing her
treatment. This
case originated in Texas. LINDA Linda
is originally from Mexico. She met her husband, Tom, a
United States citizen, while she was living in Texas. At the
time, Linda had a four-year-old daughter from a previous
relationship named Jan. When Linda and Tom started dating,
she was pleased to see that he was very thoughtful and
considerate toward her and her daughter. In time, Linda fell
in love with Tom, and she accepted his proposal of marriage. Once
Linda and Jan moved in with Tom, his behavior began to
change. He controlled Linda's movements and restricted her
phone calls. He made up a schedule of foods that could only
be eaten at certain times and on certain days, and he
refused to buy fruit, saying it was "not food." He
also refused to give Linda money to buy groceries, telling
her that she did not know how to shop properly. He enjoyed
making her cry and insulting her in public, using foul
language and calling her names like "dummy,"
"garbage," and "bitch." After only a few
months of marriage, Linda became depressed and lacking in
self-esteem. She felt powerless in her marriage and was very
upset when Tom told her that he was "the king" and
that she must "always obey him." Linda
also suffered sexual abuse at her husband's hands. He would
hurt her when they were having sex, pulling her hair and
forcing her to perform acts that she did not want to
perform. He would get angry if she refused to perform these
acts, and then he would rape her with much force and
violence. This sexual abuse continued while Linda was
pregnant with their child. He raped her several times in the
few weeks before the baby was born, causing her great pain
and concern for her unborn baby's health. Tom
was drinking alcohol and getting drunk every day, which only
made him more violent. On one occasion after their daughter,
Jodie, was born, he refused to buy milk for the baby and
told Linda that she should give her water instead. When
Linda protested, he told her that she should become a
prostitute if she wanted to make money of her own. He then
demanded that she have sex with him, although she had given
birth only a few days before. When she declined, he forced
himself upon her, hurting her because she had not yet healed
from the child's birth. On another occasion, he got angry
and hit the bathroom wall with his fist, making a hole in
the wall. His growing violence frightened Linda, and she
considered leaving him. She
separated from him after an incident in March of 1998. He
had told little Jan to tie her tennis shoes, and when she
was slow to react, he pulled her by the legs and dropped her
on the floor. Linda told him not to treat her that way, and
in response, Tom grabbed Linda and pinned her arms to the
door. Linda told her daughter to call the police, but Tom
pushed Jan out of the way and pulled the phone cord from the
wall. Once Tom let Linda go, she raced upstairs to baby
Jodie's room and attempted to pick her up from the crib. Tom
followed her and shoved her against the crib, then he yanked
the baby blanket out of Linda's hands, almost causing her to
drop the baby. He put his face close to Linda's and shouted
that he was the one to give the orders in their house. Just
then, the police arrived and arrested Tom. Linda obtained a
restraining order against him, and the court ordered him to
vacate the family home immediately. Since
then, Linda has filed a VAWA self-petition for residency.
She remains extremely afraid that Tom will return to her
home and try to abuse her or kill her. He is very angry at
her for having left him, getting a restraining order and
calling the police. Considering Tom's violent, unpredictable
nature, Linda must rely exclusively on her restraining order
to keep her and her children safe from Tom. Since
Tom is a U.S. citizen, he can cross borders easily, and he
is familiar with where Linda's family lives in Mexico. If
Linda were forced to return to Mexico to get her green card
under VAWA, she believes Tom would follow her there and try
to hurt or kill her. Linda knows that in Mexico her
restraining order would not protect her, and the Mexican
police would not stop Tom from abusing her. She is also
fearful that Tom would try to kidnap her daughters while she
was in Mexico. Because Tom has threatened to take Linda's
daughters from her in the past, she believes he will act on
these threats. In order for Linda and her children to be
safe, she cannot return to Mexico to get her green card. This
case originated in Texas. ESTRELLA Estrella
is a citizen of Mexico. She met Báltazar, a lawful
permanent resident of the United States, while she was in
Mexico. They dated for a short while, and Báltazar proposed
to her. Estrella is deaf-mute, and at the time that she
married Báltazar, she was only 18 years old. Nevertheless,
her parents approved of the marriage, and Estrella also
believed that Báltazar loved her and would be good to her.
The couple immediately moved to Texas, where most of Báltazar's
family lived. Estrella
and Báltazar moved in with his mother and sisters. At
first, all went well in the marriage, but little by little,
problems arose. Báltazar would leave Estrella alone with
his family for days at a time, and no one would speak or
sign to her during those days. She felt very isolated. When
her husband would come home, he would argue with her and
become frustrated with her inability to hear or talk. He
would shout at her and shake her violently, then he would
slap and punch her. His family knew that he was abusing her,
but they did nothing to stop him. On
other occasions, Báltazar would abuse Estrella outside,
where the neighbors could see. He would push her and slap
her repeatedly across the face until a neighbor would step
in and calm him down. Because Estrella was deaf and unable
to use the telephone, she could not call the police, nor
could she rely on Báltazar's family to help her. Her own
family lived far away in Mexico and could not protect her. Estrella
gave birth to three daughters during her marriage to Báltazar.
He continued to either ignore her completely or physically
abuse her at every opportunity. On top of that, he ordered
Estrella to give the babies to his mother and sisters to
raise, since he thought she would not be a good mother.
After all of her children's births, Estrella was kept from
having too much contact with her them, despite her protests.
Her mother-in-law refused to let her feed them or play with
them except on rare occasions. Also, Estrella was not
permitted to leave the house, even to buy groceries. Báltazar's
family used the fact that they kept the children from her to
qualify to receive government assistance, food stamps, and
WIC. One
evening, Báltazar came home and told Estrella that he had a
girlfriend in Mexico whom he wanted to marry. He told
Estrella that he did not love her anymore, and that he
wanted her to leave his home and go back to Mexico. If she
refused to leave, he would call the police and the INS and
have her deported. Finally, he informed her that when she
was deported, he would keep all three of the children and
let his mother raise them. Estrella was horrified. She
pleaded with Báltazar to reconsider, but he just got angry
and started beating her. Their three girls watched as Báltazar
punched their mother repeatedly in the stomach with his
closed fists. Then he kicked her with all his strength,
grabbed her by the neck, and told her he wanted her to die.
He dragged her by her hair to their bed and smothered her
face with a pillow until she passed out from lack of oxygen.
After he left the house, one of the children ran to a
neighbor's house to get help. The neighbor called Estrella's
mother-in-law. No
one took Estrella to the hospital for treatment of her
injuries, even though she was vomiting blood. Eventually,
Estrella's mother contacted Báltazar's family and came to
Texas when she learned that Báltazar had beaten her
daughter. It was Estrella's mother who called the police
after seeing the extent of her daughter's injuries. Estrella
had been vomiting blood from the internal stomach injuries,
was yellow in color, and had difficulty walking. The police
arrived and helped Estrella obtain a restraining order and
get help at a battered women's shelter. The judge in the
restraining order case found that Báltazar had abused
Estrella and that he and his family had also harmed their
oldest daughter. The protection order Estrella custody of
the children. Since leaving Báltazar, Estrella has also
sought assistance in filing a VAWA self-petition for
residency. If
Estrella is forced to return to Mexico as the only way of
getting her green card under VAWA, Báltazar would go to
court as soon as she left to get custody of their three
children, telling the judge that she had abandoned them. she
could lose custody of her three children. Even before
Estrella left Báltazar, he had been trying to have her
deported so that he could marry his new girlfriend. It was
his plan to take custody of Estrella's three girls and get
rid of Estrella--either by having her deported or by beating
her to death. Now Estrella faces a bitter custody battle for
the three children. She does not want them to grow up with Báltazar
or his family, since they all have mistreated her and would
likely mistreat her children. Estrella is a good mother to
her children and believes that only she can protect them. She
cannot afford to make the trip to Mexico because she is
currently living in a shelter and does not have the funds to
pay for the trip. Even if she were able to travel to Mexico,
she would not be able to leave her children with Báltazar's
family without risking losing custody of the children to
them. Leaving the U.S. for any period of time would increase
her chances of losing custody, since she would miss
important court dates while she was out of the country.
Therefore, in order to keep her children safe from her
husband's violence, she must be allowed to obtain her green
card in the U.S. This
case originated in Texas. DOLORES Dolores
was born in Mexico. Her boyfriend, César, lived in the same
small Mexican town. When Dolores and César were both 16
years old, they got married. A little while after their
marriage, César found work in the United States, and he
eventually became a lawful permanent resident of the U.S.
Dolores was happy in her marriage to César until their
first child was born. It was at that time that César began
abusing Dolores. When
their baby was only eight days old, Dolores came home from
work one evening and found her husband smoking marijuana and
drinking. She said nothing to him and went straight to bed.
He came into the bedroom and started yelling at her, then he
slapped and kicked her and pulled her hair. Next, he
demanded that she give him his gun, which she had previously
hidden from him. She refused and ran to hide behind some
furniture. She did not call the Mexican police because they
were located two hours from her house, and she knew that
they would not help a woman who was being abused by her
husband. Dolores knew that the police would not help because
she had witnessed her own father beating her mother when
Dolores was a little girl. When the police had been called,
they never did anything to stop the abuse. César
left the following day for the U.S., where he had been
working for the past several months. He moved Dolores and
the baby to Texas that same year, and the abuse began again.
One evening, he locked her in their bedroom and started to
hit her repeatedly on her head and body until she was
knocked unconscious. Dolores' mother, who was staying with
them at the time, got Dolores' son to call the police and
ambulance. On another occasion, César smacked Dolores
repeatedly across the face as punishment for not going to
work when she was sick. He never needed an excuse to beat
her. Dolores
left César several times, but each time she would return to
him out of fear. He often threatened to kill her if she left
him. When she finally separated from him permanently, the
separation followed a horrifying incident involving her
young daughter, Amy. One morning, little Amy woke up with a
fever, so Dolores decided not to send her to school for the
day. Later that same afternoon, Dolores had to leave for
work, and she left Amy in her father's care. Two or three
days later, Dolores noticed that Amy was very sad. She asked
Amy what was wrong, but she did not get an answer. The
school called to tell Dolores that Amy was very upset and
was scheduled to speak to a counselor. Dolores later
discovered that Amy told the counselor that César had done
something very bad to her. That same day, Amy confessed to
Dolores that her father had sexually molested her, and that
he had told her that if she told anyone about it, he would
kill her mother. Dolores
was sick with the news that César had sexually abused their
daughter. She called Child Protective Services, and they
conducted an investigation. Now César is serving time in
jail for pleading guilty to the charge of indecency with a
minor. Dolores moved out of the house with her children and
sought counseling for herself and her daughter. She also
filed a VAWA self-petition for residency. If
Dolores is forced to return to Mexico as the only way of
getting her green card, she and her children would face many
hardships. She has no family in the U.S., so she would have
to remove her two children from school and take them with
her to Mexico. Her daughter is currently receiving
counseling to help her cope with the trauma of being
sexually abused by her father. Stopping this counseling
would be detrimental to the little girl's mental health. In
addition, Dolores is afraid that César would hurt or kill
her and the children while in Mexico. Dolores and César are
from the same town, so he would know if she were staying in
Mexico with her family. Since he will be released from jail
on probation and possibly deported back to Mexico for his
crime, he will be in a position to find Dolores in Mexico
and take revenge on her for reporting him to the police.
Dolores knows that she cannot be safe from his abuse in
Mexico. This
case originated in Texas, moved to California, and is
currently in Texas. VICTORIA Victoria
is 39 years old. She is originally from Mexico, where she
studied theology and worked in a church. She met her
husband, Beto, a lawful permanent resident of the United
States, while he was visiting family and friends in Mexico
near Victoria's home. The two became friends and began
dating. After an eight-month courtship, Victoria and Beto
were married in Texas. Victoria was in love with Beto and
was very happy about beginning a new life with him in Texas.
The
couple moved in with Beto's mother, and had their first
child in 1987. The next year, Beto's mother died. After
this, Beto began physically abusing Victoria. At the time of
the first incident of abuse, Victoria was eight months
pregnant with their second child. That day, Victoria had
discovered she was not eligible for assistance from WIC
because she was missing a document from Beto. When she told
Beto this, he began to hit her. He proceeded to kick her in
the stomach, pull her hair, and slap her. Beto then kicked
Victoria out of the house, and she had no choice but to
return to Mexico to stay with her mother. After a few weeks,
Beto followed Victoria to Mexico and insisted she return to
Texas with him. She was about to give birth, and felt she
had no choice. She had the baby in Texas that night. Another
serious incident of abuse occurred in 1990, shortly after
the birth of their third son. Beto was injured and told
Victoria to clean up his wound. She did, but it was not to
his liking. He became angry with Victoria and started
hitting her. Then their infant began to cry, and Victoria
went to pick him up. Beto tried to hit her again, but missed
and hit the baby in the lip instead. Victoria and the two
children entered a shelter, and the police arrested Beto.
Once Beto was in jail, Victoria felt it was safe to return
to the house. However, Beto's sister bailed him out of jail
and he immediately returned home. Enraged, he ripped out the
heating and air conditioning units and then reported
Victoria to INS. But Victoria was not deported, and she
decided to divorce Beto to get away from his abuse. In
1991, Victoria and the children moved to California because
one of her sons had serious heart problems and needed a
heart transplant. Beto came to visit and reconciled with
Victoria. During his visit, the couple conceived another
child. After her son's operation, Victoria took the children
back to Texas and moved into an apartment. Beto visited
often and put pressure on Victoria to abort her baby since
it was conceived out of wedlock. Victoria insisted upon
having the baby, and he was born in 1992. This child also
had heart problems. In 1993, Victoria had to move with the
children to a different city in Texas to obtain a heart
transplant for her youngest son. In
1994, Victoria decided to remarry Beto. She thought he had
changed, and needed his support in raising the children. A
few months later, they had a fifth son together. A week
after this, their fourth son died of cancer due to his heart
medication. This was an extremely difficult time for
Victoria, but she forced herself to keep going for her four
other children. Beto only worsened things for Victoria by
abusing her verbally, often in front of the children. He
accused her of sleeping with other men and lied to her to
make her angry. When his anger escalated, he would pull her
hair, throw things at her, and throw her against the wall.
Beto also often forced Victoria out of the house without any
money or clothes. The
beatings continued as well. Beto often beat her in places
where her bruises could not be seen by others, so as to hide
the fact of his abuse. On one occasion, however, Beto beat
Victoria so brutally that she had a severe cut under her
left eye and her blood pressure dropped dramatically. Yet
Beto refused to take Victoria to the hospital, and ripped
out the phone cord so she could not call the police.
Beto
increasingly treated Victoria as a slave. He would become
livid if his dinner was not ready when he arrived home, or
if it was cold. He also forced Victoria to have sex with
him. If she refused, he would get angry and call her names
or beat her. Beto made Victoria do virtually everything for
him, and became enraged when she stopped attending to him to
help the children. He would not let her watch television or
sleep late, leaving Victoria little personal freedom. The
telephone was also restricted from Victoria, preventing her
to keep in touch with her family. Victoria's and Beto's
oldest son began treating Victoria as his father did,
demeaning her and ordering her around. When Victoria tied to
punish the son, Beto would beat her. Beto also beat the
children when they did not obey him. The spankings would
become beatings, and Victoria would intervene to protect the
children, and be further beaten herself. The
last incident of abuse occurred when Victoria complemented
their pastor on his new suit. A jealous Beto became furious
and beat Victoria brutally. She wanted to call the police,
but they were in a hotel room and did not have access to a
phone. That night, Beto made Victoria sleep on the floor and
would not even give her a blanket. The next day, Victoria
decided she had suffered enough abuse, and called the police
to take her and her children to a shelter. She then obtained
a restraining order, began learning English, and filed a
VAWA self-petition for residency. Victoria and her children
are receiving counseling to help them overcome the effects
of the violence. Law
requires that Victoria return to Mexico to obtain her green
card based on her VAWA self-petition. If she is forced to
return, Victoria will face the fear and danger of being
stalked by her abusive husband in Mexico. Beto has already
followed Victoria to Mexico once before. He knows exactly
where she would be staying in Mexico while getting her green
card, and he would take advantage of the fact that her
restraining order would not be valid in Mexico and would
offer her no protection from his abusive attacks. Further
interrupting ongoing therapy sessions for Victoria and
especially for her boys when they travel to Mexico would
have severe consequences. In
addition, Victoria would be unable to return to Mexico to
get her green card because it would put her child at serous
medical risk. Her six-year-old son Bobby has a heart
condition which is life-threatening and requires constant,
specialized medical attention. If Victoria is forced to go
to Mexico to get her green card, she would have to take
Bobby and her other four children with her, since she has no
family or friends in the U.S. whom she trusts to care for
her children, and who can keep the children safe from Beto's
violence. Taking Bobby with her to Mexico may worsen the
child's heart condition and put him at risk of illness and
death, according to doctors. Mexico does not have the
facilities, specialized medical care, and resources to
adequately treat Bobby's heart condition. Consequently,
Victoria must be allowed to remain in the United States to
get her green card. Forcing her to return to Mexico will put
her and her children at risk of abuse at the hands of her
husband, and discontinuing her son's medical care in the
U.S. will jeopardize his health. This
case originated in Texas. LISA Lisa
is a 37-year-old woman from Mexico. She met her husband
Manrique in Mexico, and they got married in 1982. The couple
had three children together while living in Mexico. In 1992,
the family moved to the United States when Manrique became a
lawful permanent resident. However, he never petitioned for
the residency of his family. Lisa's
marriage to Manrique was plagued from the outset. Manrique
began verbally and physically abusing Lisa shortly after
their wedding. Sometimes he would abuse her every day for a
week, and sometimes he would go for weeks without abusing
her. Manrique's unpredictable nature caused Lisa to live in
constant fear. She had to go to a clinic in Mexico three
times because of the severe beatings and mental cruelty
inflicted upon her. She developed symptoms of anxiety and
mental distress and had to take medication to calm her
nerves. One
incident of abuse occurred when their oldest child was ill.
Lisa was quite concerned and knew the child needed medical
attention. However, Manrique refused to take their daughter
to the doctor. He instead began to scream at Lisa, blaming
her for the illness of the child. He then began to beat
Lisa. When he delivered a hard blow to her face, it knocked
her unconscious. She also suffered a large cut on her eye as
a result. Once,
when the beatings became especially severe, Lisa tried to go
to the Mexican police for help. However, she discovered that
no one would take her seriously. She said that they refused
to prosecute her claim because she could not provide them
with a large sum of money. Domestic violence reports are
ignored in Mexico, because it is socially accepted for men
to beat women. Lisa's mother-in-law had no sympathy for
Lisa, telling her that real women can take the abuse. When
the family moved to Texas in 1992, the beatings continued.
Manrique also started beating the children. However, he knew
he could be punished for abuse more easily in this country.
He began hitting his family in less obvious places and in
ways that would not leave a mark. For example, he would hit
their son in the back and drag Lisa across the floor by her
hair. Manrique
would not let Lisa talk to anyone or have any friends. He
said they would only put ideas in her head. If anyone
visited the house, he would yell and throw them out. He
wanted absolute control over Lisa's life, and was able to
use her residency status as a way to control her. He
threatened never to file papers for her if she did not do as
he said, or if she did not forgive him for abusing her.
Manrique also refused to support his family. He worked, but
said that whatever money he made was his to keep. There was
never any money for food or clothing, and the children did
not even have shoes. Lisa tried to make some money by
selling cold drinks and sewing. Sometimes Manrique would
forcefully take what little money Lisa made. He said she was
responsible for paying for his expenses. As far as the
children were concerned, Manrique insisted that they should
get jobs to support themselves. Of course, they were much
too young to work. In
the spring of 1998, Manrique again beat Lisa, causing her
nose and lip to bleed. However, she was too afraid to call
the police. A few weeks later, Manrique again abused Lisa.
He saw her on the street near their house, forced her into
the car, and started beating her. Lisa jumped out of the car
and ran into a restaurant, where the police were called.
Manrique was arrested and served a few days in jail. Manrique
had always been unfaithful to Lisa throughout their
marriage, but his infidelities have recently become more
flagrant. On one occasion, he and a girlfriend tried to take
the children with them to Chicago so that Lisa could not
find them. Another time, he brought a different girlfriend
home with him. This one was pregnant with his baby. Manrique
tried to make Lisa lick this woman's dirty shoes, telling
Lisa she had to because his girlfriend was a "real
woman." Lisa
grew most concerned about the welfare of her children.
Manrique was cruel to them, especially their son. He beat
and screamed at his son frequently. Lisa has tried to shield
her children with her body to protect them from getting
hurt. One day, when the entire family was in the car,
Manrique kept swerving off the road threatening to kill them
all. The children were terrified and begged him to stop.
Lisa is quite worried about the way Manrique has affected
the children. They are all afraid of their father, and the
boy suffers from some behavioral and learning problems as a
result of the abuse he has suffered at home. The two girls
are also afraid and angry and often act out. They feel
powerless to stop the violence. The eight-year-old was so
scared that she asked her teacher to help them find
counseling. The older of the two daughters is afraid of men.
Lisa
ultimately decided to free herself and her children from
Manrique's torment and abuse, and they have entered a
shelter. She has filed a self-petition for residency under
VAWA, but is terrified of returning to Mexico for consular
processing. Lisa believes that Manrique "would
definitely come and find us and seek retribution against us
for leaving him." He has already located the shelter
and gone there to harass Lisa, and could easily travel to
Mexico to find her. As
recently as January 1, 1998, Manrique traveled to Mexico to
threaten Lisa's parents. He said that once Lisa returned to
Mexico, she would never receive her immigration papers, and
he would take the children away from them forever. As Lisa
has discovered previously, Mexican law enforcement will not
protect her against Manrique's abuse. She also fears
Manrique's parents in Mexico, who are abusive as well. She
refuses to take the children into this dangerous situation,
but has no one with whom she can safely leave them behind.
Additionally, Lisa cannot afford a journey for four to
Mexico, and does not want to uproot her children from school
and therapy for a period of weeks or months. Lisa and her
children would have no help or support in Mexico, and would
be isolated and endangered. It is therefore imperative that
Lisa be permitted to remain in the United States to receive
her green card, and not be required to return to Mexico for
any reason. This
case originated in Texas, moved to Arizona and California,
and is currently in Texas. DORIS Doris
is a 33-year-old citizen of Mexico. She moved to the United
States in 1985, living briefly in Texas, and then moving to
Arizona. In Arizona, Doris worked as an aide to the elderly.
There she met Nelson, an American citizen who lived nearby.
Doris and Nelson met in 1988, dated for two months, and then
moved in together when Doris became pregnant. She did not
realize until a year later that Nelson was already married.
Nelson finally obtained a divorce in 1992. Although Doris
and Nelson were together for many years, they did not marry
until 1997. Together they have three children, a
nine-year-old son, an eight-year-old son, and a
seven-year-old daughter. After
four years in Arizona, Doris and Nelson moved to California
for a six months, and then settled in Texas in 1992. The
relationship was plagued with abuse from the beginning.
Nelson verbally abuses Doris every day, beginning as soon as
he awakes in the morning. He curses at her and calls her
obscene names, telling her she is better off dead than alive
because she is worthless. Nelson says that because he is a
citizen and Doris is not, he can do whatever he wants with
her. He makes these remarks in front of the children, and
often directs such remarks to them. Nelson's actions are
also extremely cruel. When Doris was pregnant with their
youngest child, she became violently sick one night. She was
on the floor of their bedroom, doubled over in pain, begging
for Nelson to help her and to call an ambulance. Nelson
simply ignored her. Eventually, the apartment manager heard
Doris's cries and called an ambulance. Doris was
hospitalized for three days, but not once did Nelson visit
her or even acknowledge she was ill. Nelson
has subjected Doris to constant physical and emotional abuse
for the past eight years. The first time Nelson abused Doris
was in 1990, during her pregnancy with their youngest child.
Nelson came home and told Doris that the house was not clean
enough, and proceeded to hit her in the head with his fists.
On another occasion, Nelson lashed out at Doris because she
had taken the car to buy groceries. He had forbidden her
from driving, saying she was too stupid, but the children
needed food. When she came back from the store, Nelson was
waiting for her. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her
out of the car. She landed on the ground, and Nelson got in
the car and tried to run her over. This was Nelson's first
attempt to run her over with a car. Again, in 1998, Nelson
pushed Doris out of their moving truck in front of the
children, saying he did not love Doris or the children
enough to give them money to eat. Nelson also frequently
grabs Doris by the shoulders, shaking and pushing her, pulls
her hair, kicks her in the legs, and hits her in the head. Nelson
often takes Doris's personal belongings and throws them away
or hides them. For example, Nelson did not like the fact
that Doris went to church on Sundays. To prevent her from
going, he took away her only pair of nice shoes, knowing she
would be uncomfortable going to church in tennis shoes.
Another time, Doris had borrowed some books from a friend,
but Nelson disapproved of her reading. He found the books
and threw them at her when she arrived home one day. When
Nelson was working, he would make Doris perform humiliating
acts in order to receive money from him to buy food and
clothes for the children. He would make her get down on her
knees to put his shoes on for him, and to take them off when
he arrived home. Once when the couple was in a restaurant,
he demanded that Doris tie his shoes for him in front of
everyone. Doris had no choice but to get down on the floor
and do this for him, and she recalls it as one of the most
embarrassing moments of her life. Nelson
would also demand sexual acts from Doris, especially acts
with which she was uncomfortable. Doris preferred to sleep
with the children, but Nelson would frequently drag her into
his room and demand that she perform all types of sexual
acts. Doris would cry and fight him off, but Nelson said
that it was her duty as his wife, and that it was the only
way he would give her money for the children. Sometimes he
would take the children's food stamp card away from Doris,
only giving it back in exchange for sex. Once when Doris was
taking a bath, Nelson broke the lock on the bathroom door
and raped her. Since that time, Doris has had no choice but
to give in to Nelson's sexual demands, because he constantly
threatens to kill her if she does not do what he says. He
tells her that he will break her neck and put her in the
dumpster where no one will find her. On one occasion Nelson
put a knife to her throat and told her that if she divorces
him, he will send her back to Mexico in a coffin. Doris has
no doubt that Nelson's threats are in earnest. He once told
her that he beat his ex-girlfriend so badly that she was in
the hospital for several weeks. In
early 1994, an especially violent incident prompted Doris to
enter a shelter. Nelson came home and saw that Doris and the
children were eating dinner. Nelson was furious, saying he
should be the first to eat. Doris tried to explain to him
that it would be better to eat after the children finished,
when it would be quieter. He then became enraged, and began
to punch and kick the walls. He overturned the table,
sending dishes and food all over the kitchen. A piece of
glass ricocheted off the floor and became lodged in one of
the children's legs. Then Nelson left, and came home drunk
much later. He tried to force Doris to have sex with him,
but she was able to fight him off. The next morning, Doris
took the children and entered a shelter. Doris
and the children eventually returned home to Nelson, because
Nelson was working at the time. Doris could not support
herself and the children on her own and she saw no other
options. Although Nelson was a U.S. citizen, he never filed
papers for Doris to obtain lawful permanent residency and a
work permit, and he threatened to take the children from
her. On this occasion and others when she sought to leave
him, Nelson threatened to turn her in to INS. In
November of 1994, another violent incident caused Doris to
return to a shelter. Nelson had been drinking at home and
ran out of beer. He asked Doris where she had put the money
he had given her earlier. Doris explained that she needed
the money to pay bills and buy food, but he did not care.
Doris gave him half the money, hoping he would believe that
was all there was, and he left to buy beer. He returned home
to drink the beer, and then left for a bar. He then returned
home again looking for the rest of the money. Doris and the
children were eating lunch when he stormed home, tore off
the door to the closet, and threw its contents all over the
floor. Nelson then took Doris's purse and emptied it on the
floor. He grabbed Doris by the hair and punched her in the
face, giving her a black eye and bloody lips. Next he picked
Doris up by the shirt and dragged her into the backyard,
where he kicked her in the ribs with his boots on. Three
days later, Doris took the children and again entered a
shelter. While there, she became extremely ill and was taken
to the hospital twice, but she was not properly treated
because she lacked insurance. Nelson began to call the
shelter and threaten its staff, saying he would burn the
entire building down. The shelter asked Doris to leave
because of Nelson's threats, and offered to move her to a
shelter in another community. But Doris felt she had to
return to Nelson at this point, for the safety of those
helping her was compromised, and Nelson promised her things
would be different. However,
nothing changed between the two. Doris had begun counseling
through the shelter, but Nelson forced her to stop going. In
1996, Nelson woke Doris up in the middle of the night and
pulled her by the hair into the living room. He started to
argue with her, and then threw an iron at her. Doris put her
hands up to prevent the iron from hitting her face. Her
fingers were injured and badly bleeding. She ran out of the
house and someone called the police, but Nelson begged Doris
not to press charges. He said it would ruin his chances for
a job, which Doris knew he needed to support the family. He
spent less than 24 hours in jail. Beginning
in 1996 or 1997, Nelson began working only intermittently.
In 1997, Doris began working as a housekeeper. One day, she
was outside hanging clothes up to dry when Nelson demanded
money to buy beer. When she told Nelson they needed the
money to buy groceries, he picked up a brick and threw it at
her. After this, Doris again entered a shelter and again
felt compelled to return to Nelson after a few weeks. Nelson
promised to change, and they moved to a different city so he
could get a job. Once they arrived, they moved into a
homeless shelter because Nelson was not working. Nelson
refused to do his chores at the shelter, and verbally and
physically abused Doris and others at the shelter. When he
did work, he spent all his money on alcohol. He was asked to
leave, but Doris joined up with him again when he found a
job. However, Nelson lost the job before long, and Doris had
to begin work at a restaurant to have money to buy food and
clothing for the children, and to pay rent. In
July of 1998, Doris wanted to see a movie with some friends.
Nelson refused to let her go, threatening her with a wire
hanger in front of her friends. Later that night, Doris
awoke to find Nelson standing over her bed with the hanger,
telling her he was going to kill her. He put the hanger
around her neck and tried to strangle her. Doris ultimately
fought him off, but he threatened that next time she would
not be so lucky. The next month, Nelson began to argue with
Doris, and kicked her twice in the leg. He told her she had
until 6:00 the next morning to get out of the house, because
he had called INS. Doris
again fled to a shelter, this time filing a self-petition
under VAWA, because she has found a lawyer to help her file.
She also applied for a protective order against Nelson, and
filled out a police report to have Nelson prosecuted for the
incidents with the wire hanger and the knife. Nelson
continues to follow her everywhere, so once again, prior to
receiving her protective order, Doris returned to live with
him for the time. When the protective order was delivered to
their home, Nelson became livid. He yelled at Doris and
kicked her while she was in bed. He then jumped on top of
her and beat her head with his fists. Calling her a
prostitute, he said he was going to buy a gun and kill her.
He said he would put her dead body in the creek behind their
apartment. Their seven-year-old daughter awoke and jumped on
Nelson's back, trying to stop him. Doris put her daughter
back to bed, at which point Nelson began to chase Doris
around the house. When she went into the kitchen, Nelson
broke dishes and glasses in front of her. Doris tried to run
out, but Nelson blocked the door. There was no phone in the
apartment to call for help. He kicked Doris several times,
until she was finally able to lock herself in the bathroom.
He then threatened to shoot Doris and hurt her lawyer,
saying that if he shot Doris nothing would happen to him
because he was a U.S. citizen and she was illegal. The next
morning, as Doris was leaving to take the children to
school, Nelson tried to push her down the concrete stairs to
the sidewalk. Doris again entered the shelter for a few
days, but returned to Nelson out of fear and desperation. Doris's
self-petition has been approved and she is now ready to
become a lawful permanent resident, which would empower her
to leave Nelson and his abuses behind. However, because she
did not learn about self-petitioning until 1998, she will
now be required to leave the country to get her green card.
Returning to Mexico for consular processing would pose
severe hardship for Doris and her children. Every time Doris
has tried to leave Nelson, he has stalked her and forced her
to return to him. She will only be able to fully free
herself and her children from his abuses if she can obtain
her green card and work legally. Doris knows that Nelson
would follow her to Mexico so that he could harm her without
legal consequences. Her protective order against him would
not be valid in Mexico, and the Mexican police would be of
no assistance to her. In addition, Doris feels her U.S.
citizen children would suffer hardship if forced to travel
to Mexico for an indeterminate period. Of course, she cannot
leave them safely behind. None of her children speak Spanish
or are familiar with Mexican culture. One child is extremely
developmentally delayed and could not receive proper care in
Mexico. Being uprooted from school and routines would be
detrimental to the fragile emotional states of all of
Doris's children, who have suffered tremendously by being
raised with such abuse. Finally, Doris has no place to stay
in Mexico, and no one there will support her. Her abusive
father does not approve of Doris or her lack of tolerance
for her husband's abuses. Doris's mother has also suffered
years of physical abuse at the hands of Doris's father, who
abused Doris and all of her siblings as well. Her parents
still live together because Mexico had no shelters her
mother could go to, and when called the Mexican authorities
would do nothing to help her. Doris's mother works and her
abusive father is always home. Doris cannot return to that
home with her children where all would fall victim to abuse
by her father. It is essential to the well-being of Doris
and her children that she be allowed to remain in the United
States to become a lawful permanent resident. This
case originated in Texas. INA Ina
is originally from Mexico. She came to the United States in
April of 1996 in order to visit relatives. While in Texas,
she was introduced by her brother-in-law to a U.S. citizen
named Seth. Ina found Seth to be educated, polite, and
always smiling. She started dating him, and eventually they
fell in love. After two months of dating, they became
engaged. Ina suggested they postpone the wedding for a while
so that they could continue getting to know one another. A
couple of months later, Ina became pregnant with Seth's
child. After that, Seth's behavior began to change. Even
though he said he wanted to support Ina and the baby, he
stopped visiting Ina and taking her to the doctor for
pre-natal visits. Ina felt very sad and confused at his
sudden lack of attention. She wondered whether he still
wanted to marry her, and he said that he did. On their
wedding day, he showed up at the church two hours late and
drunk. Ina was upset, but she figured he was just nervous
about the wedding. After
their marriage, Ina moved in with Seth. She continued to
feel depressed and lonely, since Seth would leave her in the
house all day, and then he would go out with his friends at
night and not return until the following morning. He began
drinking quite heavily, which he had never done while he and
Ina were dating. After weeks of being ignored and abandoned,
Ina finally left the house one afternoon to go shopping with
her sister. While Ina and her sister were at Wal-mart, Ina
saw Seth standing in the aisle and holding hands with
another woman. Ina felt humiliated. She felt a pain in her
stomach that she had never felt before. She went home and
cried all night, suffering from all the emotional abuse that
Seth had put her through. She eventually decided to continue
living despite the pain and humiliation, telling herself
that needed to be strong for her unborn baby. The
baby was born premature. Ina tried to reach Seth because he
had told her he wanted to be at the hospital when the baby
was born. When he answered the phone, he said he was busy
and would not come to the hospital until the following day.
This hurt Ina immensely and made her feel depressed. He
eventually visited that very afternoon, but he said that the
only reason he came was because his boss ordered him to
visit. After
the baby's birth, Seth promised Ina that he would come to
visit their son and would bring clothes, food, and money to
help support the baby. Ina waited for him to come, and
despite his repeated promises, he rarely came to visit the
baby, and he did not provide any support for the baby's
care. When Ina asked him to be more involved in the baby's
life and provide for some of the baby's necessities, Seth
shouted at her and insulted her, calling her
"stupid" and blaming her for everything that had
gone wrong in his life. The
last time Seth had contact with Ina was when he served her
with divorce papers and asked her for the baby's social
security number so that he could claim the baby on his own
tax return. Ina felt so abandoned and emotionally and
verbally abused by her husband that she sought help and
counseling at a legal aid clinic for battered women. With
the help of an attorney, she filed a VAWA self-petition for
residency, which was approved. To
obtain lawful permanent residency based on her VAWA
self-petition, Ina must return to Mexico. Her U.S. citizen
son is only a year old, and he relies exclusively on Ina for
his care. He frequently becomes ill, due to complications
that arose from his premature birth. If Ina were forced to
return to Mexico to get her green card, she would have to
take her baby with her, and this would jeopardize her son's
health and safety. He cannot get the necessary level of care
in Mexico. Furthermore, his medical care in the U.S. is
covered by Medicare, since he is a U.S. citizen. By
contrast, if he were to require pediatric care while in
Mexico, even in the event of an emergency, this care would
be too expensive for Ina to afford, and he could risk
developing a severe illness or dying. Since Seth has never
paid child support to Ina for his son's upbringing, Ina is
barely able to support her son, let alone find extra money
to pay for the constant medical care her baby would require
in Mexico. For these reasons, Ina must be allowed to stay in
the U.S. to get her green card. This
case originated in North Carolina and is currently in Texas. LOLA Lola
was born in Mexico. She first came to the United States in
1993, when she visited her relatives in North Carolina using
a visitor's visa. While in North Carolina, she attended a
dance at which she met Larry, a U.S. citizen. Lola returned
to Mexico later that same month, but she and Larry continued
to communicate with one another over the phone and through
letter-writing. She came back to North Carolina to visit him
the following year, and they continued to date long-distance
until December of 1997, when they were married. Lola
came to live with Larry in North Carolina. They did not see
one another for the first seven months of their marriage,
since Larry was in the U.S. Navy on a seven-month tour of
duty. When he returned home, he and Lola began having
disagreements. On one occasion, Lola locked herself in a
room, but Larry kicked the door open and went to the closet,
throwing all of Lola's clothes on the floor in his fury. He
ordered her to give him the $1400 she had earned while
working over the past seven months, saying he needed it to
pay for their church wedding. When Lola told him that she
did not want to marry him in the church, he grabbed a knife
and told her he would kill himself if she did not marry him.
After he cried and begged for the next few hours, Lola
calmed him down and agreed to marry him in the church. They
had a church wedding the next day. Two
months later, Larry began physically abusing Lola. He began
yelling at her, and when she tried to leave the room, he
pushed her to the floor and dragged her by her arms back
inside the room. He then locked her in the room for hours.
On other occasions, he verbally abused her, insulting her
and telling her that she wasn't good for anything and was
stupid. More abuse followed after Lola started working and
Larry demanded that she hand over to him her paychecks. He
would beat her with his fists until she would beg him to
stop and would hand over her checks. One evening, when he
took her out to get ice cream, he punched her in the nose
after she told him that she was not hungry. Her nose turned
blue and bruised from the blow, and her mouth bled. Lola
considered leaving Larry, but then she became pregnant with
their child and felt that she should try to keep the family
together. Larry continued to hit her during her pregnancy,
usually in the head. A few months into her pregnancy, he
pushed her off the bed, pulled her hair, and kicked her in
the head. He also did humiliating things to her while she
was pregnant, such as push her into the shower when she was
fully clothed and soak her with cold water. When she was a
couple of months away from having the baby, he got angry
with her and pushed her outside into the snow. Another time,
he pushed her into the metal corner of the air conditioning
unit, creating a large, bloody cut on her lower back. She
still bears the scar on her back. After
Lola gave birth to their baby, Larry told her he wanted to
take the baby to Texas to introduce him to his parents. Lola
wanted to come along, especially since she was
breast-feeding the baby, but Larry told her to stay home.
She always followed his orders because she feared that he
would hurt her or kill her if she did not. Larry told her
that he and the baby would only be gone for a week, but when
they arrived in Texas, Larry did not call. Finally, Lola got
in contact with Larry's father, and he assured her that the
baby was all right. A week later, Larry convinced her to
move to Texas with him. In
Texas, Lola moved in with Larry's parents. Larry continued
to abuse her, refusing to let her leave the house or give
her money to do laundry. He beat Lola on the head with a
sandal one afternoon when the baby was sleeping comfortably
in her lap. On another afternoon, Larry came home from work
as Lola was bathing the baby. He told her that he preferred
that his father bathe the baby and told her to stop. When
Lola insisted on bathing the baby herself, Larry slapped her
and pulled her hair. He picked up the baby and put him in
the next room, then he returned and grabbed Lola by the arms
with such force that they became streaked with bruises. He
pushed her into their bedroom and threw her to the floor. He
kicked her in the left knee, and when she raised her hands
to protect herself, he kicked her hands. When she tried to
leave the room, he told his brother to stand at the door and
prevent her from leaving. She could not get to a phone to
call the police. Lola
gathered her courage and left her husband after she
discovered that he was abusing their baby. First she noticed
her father-in-law hitting the baby when he thought she was
not looking. Next she saw Larry hit the baby twice to try to
make him stop crying. She decided she had to escape before
Larry killed her and the baby. One evening, she told Larry
she was going to the store with the baby. To her surprise,
he let her leave the house alone. She fled to a battered
women's shelter and has been in hiding ever since. Since
leaving Larry, Lola has filed a VAWA self-petition for
residency. If Lola is forced to return to Mexico as the only
way of getting her green card, she would have no family to
support or help her there. Lola's parents and siblings all
live in the U.S. In addition, she is afraid that Larry would
find her in Mexico and abuse her there. He has family in
Mexico and has visited several times in the past. He would
be able to travel to and from Mexico very easily, since he
is a U.S. citizen. Lola knows that the Mexican police would
not protect her from Larry's abuse, and that without her own
family to protect her, Larry would probably kill her in
Mexico. In
addition, Lola is worried that Larry will kidnap their child
while she is in Mexico getting her green card. Lola would
have to leave her baby with her family in the U.S. if she
were forced to return to Mexico. Larry knows where her
family in the U.S. live, and he would not hesitate to hurt
or kill her family members in order to kidnap the baby. For
these reasons, Lola needs to remain in hiding. She cannot
risk placing her family and baby in danger by asking them to
care for her baby while she goes to Mexico. Lola must remain
in the United States to get her green card in order to be
safe. This
case originated in Texas. PAMELA Pamela
is originally from Mexico. She is college-educated and comes
from an upper-middle class family. At the time that she met
Tobias, a lawful permanent resident of the United States,
Pamela was working as the administrative manager of her
father's company. Tobias was a Mexican police officer,
assigned to the narcotics division of the force. He told
Pamela when they began dating that he was also working for
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, a story which later proved
to be false. Pamela found Tobias to be a good, hardworking
man, but she was often disturbed by how easily he would
become angry and shout or throw things. She assumed that his
difficult and dangerous job caused him stress and led to
these angry outbursts. Tobias
and Pamela were married in Mexico and lived in Mexico City
as husband and wife. While in Mexico, Tobias continued to
lose his temper in front of Pamela, and over time, he began
directing his anger at her. He would throw objects at her,
scream at her, and insult her viciously. At that time,
Tobias also began using marijuana and cocaine in front of
Pamela, and his behavior grew more violent. He ended
arguments by kicking her, punching her, and pulling her
hair. Once he took his gun and placed it on Pamela's temple,
threatening to kill her. After enduring several of Tobias's
attacks, Pamela tried to report Tobias's abuse to the
police. To her dismay, the police told her that they could
do nothing to help her because Tobias was a police officer
himself. A
little more than a year after their marriage, Tobias
informed Pamela that they were moving to Texas. He told her
that the move was job-related, so she believed him and
agreed to move. She only discovered later that Tobias had
wanted to leave Mexico because he had been fired from the
Mexican police force and was being investigated for his role
in murdering a drug trafficker. By
the time Pamela moved to the United States, Tobias's abuse
of her had become a regular occurrence. She contemplated
leaving him, but because of her negative experience with the
unresponsive police force in Mexico, Pamela assumed that the
U.S. police would not protect her either. One evening,
Tobias beat Pamela on her face and body, leaving her bruised
and lying in a heap on the floor. Pamela went to the
hospital to be treated for her injuries, and there she
learned of the services available to battered women in the
U.S. She obtained a restraining order against Tobias and
separated from him, despite the fact that she was pregnant
with her second child and without family in the U.S. to rely
on for support. Since
her separation, Pamela has been the sole caretaker of both
of her children. Even though she has obtained a court order
which obligates Tobias to pay child support, Tobias has not
paid a penny toward his children's expenses. Without any
financial assistance from Tobias, Pamela has supported
herself and her children on the funds she saved while
working as a professional in Mexico. She is currently
enrolled in a community college in El Paso and is trying to
enhance her academic qualifications so that she may obtain a
professional job in the United States. Both of her children
are enrolled in school and are completely integrated into
American culture. Pamela
has filed a VAWA self-petition for residency, which has been
approved. If she is forced to return to Mexico as the only
way of getting her green card under VAWA, she will suffer
many dangers and hardships. First of all, Pamela has no
family in the U.S. with whom to leave her two children. In
order to make the trip to Mexico, Pamela would have to
remove the children from their courses of study in their
public schools and take them with her to Mexico. This would
jeopardize the children's educational opportunities
dramatically. Second of all, Pamela fears that Tobias will
discover that she is in Mexico and follow her there.
Tobias's family members in Mexico are very supportive of
him, and Pamela fears that they will keep him informed of
her movements and help him track her down. She knows that
Tobias still has friends on the Mexican police force and
that the police would not help her if she reported Tobias's
abuse. Tobias has threatened to kill her in the past, and he
would have the perfect opportunity to do so if she were in
Mexico, away from the protection of her restraining order.
Furthermore, Pamela continues to be afraid that Tobias or
his family will hurt or kill her own family in Mexico, as a
way of seeking revenge on Pamela for reporting Tobias's
abuse. Finally, Pamela believes that Tobias is capable of
kidnaping the children in Mexico, especially if he has his
family and friends on the police force to help him. She
knows that the only way to ensure that she and her children
remain safe is by allowing her to obtain her green card in
the U.S. This
case originated in Illinois. PAULINA Paulina
was born in Mexico. While living there, she met Ernesto, who
was working as a security guard in the same department store
as Paulina. Ernesto is a lawful permanent resident of the
United States. Paulina and Ernesto soon began to date and
quickly fell in love. They were married a few months later
in Mexico. Just
after Paulina got pregnant with their first child, Ernesto
began to hit her. He would slap her across the face without
warning, even doing so in front of his mother. On one
occasion, he kidnaped their child for three days, not
telling Paulina where the child was or if she would ever see
her baby again. Eventually Ernesto returned home with the
child, and Paulina began to fear his irrational anger. She
believed him capable of taking her child away from her if
she ever displeased him. Soon
after this incident, Ernesto announced to Paulina that he
was going to look for work in the United States. He left
soon after and did not contact Paulina again for two years.
He never sent her money or inquired after his child. It was
only after two years had passed that he sent for Paulina.
They all moved in together in an apartment in Illinois. Paulina
and Ernest had six children throughout the course of their
marriage. Paulina always wanted to use birth control, but
Ernest never allowed her to do so. He would make her have
sex with him against her will, and he told her that having
sex with him was her only useful function. Meanwhile, Ernest
continued his physical and verbal abuse of Paulina. He would
often beat Paulina on her face and body, then he would take
off with the children for several hours. Each time he did
this, Paulina feared she would never see her children again.
Ernest used the threat of kidnaping the children as a way to
make Paulina stay with him. He would also threaten to have
her deported to Mexico so she would be separated from her
children forever. Ernest's
violence became worse. He began abusing the children, and he
purchased a gun, which he would wave in Paulina's face as he
threatened to kill her. He would disappear for weeks at a
time, not leaving Paulina money for food or rent.
Eventually, Paulina and the children were evicted from their
apartment, and they sought refuge at a church member's home.
Ernest somehow tracked them down and parked his car outside
the church member's house, waiting. Paulina feared that he
would use his gun to shoot her or the children. Recently,
Paulina has received assistance in filing her VAWA petition
for residency. She would be unable to return to Mexico to
get her green card under VAWA because she cannot afford the
trip for herself and her six children. She is supporting all
her children on her own in the U.S., and she cannot leave
them with anyone here. If she somehow managed to take them
all with her to Mexico while she was obtaining her green
card, she would have no one in Mexico to rely on for support
and money during her stay. In addition, she is very afraid
that Ernest's parents will help him kidnap her children
while she is in Mexico. Ernest has threatened on several
occasions to kidnap the children when Paulina "least
expects it," and he has often said that he wants the
children to live with his mother in Mexico. Paulina believes
his threat, especially since he has kidnaped the children
before. For all of these reasons, Paulina cannot return to
Mexico to obtain her green card under VAWA. This
case originated in Illinois. VALERIAN Valerian
is a 22-year-old Mexican native. She moved with her parents
to Chicago and began work at a restaurant. There, she met
Randall, a United States citizen, and the two started
dating. Three months later, in February of 1997, they were
married. Valerian was 20 years old. Randall
was respectful toward Valerian and treated her well
throughout their courtship, and during the first two months
of their marriage, when they lived with her parents.
However, once the couple got an apartment of their own,
problems began. Randall
began pestering Valerian to ask her parents for money so
that he could buy a car. He said he wanted a car so that he
could find better work. Randall was concerned about finances
because Valerian was a high school student and could not
work full time. Valerian had missed three years of school
due to a kidney transplant, but had a strong desire to
graduate. She was not comfortable asking her parents for
money, because she knew they did not have any to spare. She
gently declined Randall's requests, but each time this
happened he became more and more angry. The
abuse escalated when Valerian and Randall were visiting his
parents. When it was time for dinner, everyone was called
into the dining room to eat except Valerian. Randall went in
to eat, but did not invite Valerian to join them. When
Randall finished eating, Valerian remarked to him that it
was impolite that she was not invited to dine with everyone.
Randall became enraged at this, and began poking Valerian
hard in the face and swearing at her. Valerian slapped
Randall in self-defense, which only increased his anger. He
grabbed her by the neck and pushed her onto the sofa,
choking her. He then started kicking her, and threw her
school bookbag at her. No one in the house attempted to stop
Randall, and Valerian became fearful and ran out of the
house. Randall followed her and chased her down the street.
A woman in a car saw Valerian was in danger and stopped for
her, giving her a ride to the subway. After
this incident, Valerian moved back in with her parents, and
Randall moved in with his. Before long, Randall began asking
Valerian for another chance. She finally relented, upon the
condition that he find them their own apartment. She did not
feel comfortable returning to Randall's parents' house. Randall
never found an apartment, but he continued to pursue
Valerian. In July of 1997, he found Valerian and her mother
on the street on their way to the supermarket. Valerian's
mother went into the store, while Valerian and Randall
talked outside in the car. Valerian told Randall she would
prefer that he come to her house to speak with her, rather
than follow her around town. Randall grew angry and said
"you're going to listen to me, bitch," slapping
her hard on the face twice. Valerian got out of the car, but
Randall ran after her. He grabbed her arms and pushed her
against the car, and she fell down. Bystanders witnessed
this take place and came over to help, and the store's
security called the police. Before the police arrived,
Randall became even more violent, holding Valerian back. The
police ordered Randall to let go of her, but he would not.
Three squad cars arrived, and eventually Randall
surrendered. An ambulance then arrived to take Valerian to
the hospital. Randall
was convicted of domestic battery, and Valerian received a
protective order. The protective order has worked and
Valerian has had no recent contact with Randall. She is in
the process of obtaining a divorce. Valerian wishes to
remain in the United States with her family, but cannot
return to Mexico to obtain status as a lawful permanent
resident. First, her order of protection against Randall
would be invalid in Mexico, giving him license to seek
revenge upon her without legal repercussions. Moreover, as a
result of her kidney transplant, Valerian needs consistent
medical treatment for the rest of her life. She would not be
able to receive this in Mexico, and her health would be
gravely endangered even if she were only there temporarily.
There is no indication of how long she would have to remain
in Mexico for consular processing. In addition, all of her
family are in America, and she would have no support system
in Mexico to assist her financially, medically, or
emotionally. Finally, traveling to Mexico for an
indeterminate amount of time would be too great a financial
hardship for Valerian, who would have no means of
sufficiently providing for herself while there. In this
light, it is imperative Valerian be allowed to obtain legal
immigration status without leaving this country and the
security it provides. This
case originated in Illinois. JULIA Julia,
a Mexican citizen, met Luis in Mexico in 1985. They dated,
and were married in February of 1986. They lived in Mexico
and went on to have two children. Shortly after the birth of
their second child, Luis told Julia that he wanted to move
to Chicago, where his parents live. Julia did not want to
move because she had a good job in Mexico. Luis traveled
back and forth between Chicago and Mexico until he finally
persuaded Julia that living in Chicago would be best for the
family. Luis
became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in
August 1995, through his parents. Julia and her daughters
joined Luis in Chicago in 1996. Julia always intended to
return to Mexico eventually, but once she got to Chicago,
Luis said he would not let her leave and take the children.
He threatened to have her deported. Julia
had been trying to separate from Luis since before they
moved to Chicago. He ignored and mistreated his family and
behaved irresponsibly. He was also violent toward Julia
since the beginning of their relationship. Whenever Julia
and Luis got into an argument, Luis would become enraged and
hit Julia. She was afraid of Luis, but wanted to remain in
the relationship because she believed it would benefit the
children. Julia
ultimately separated from Luis in December 1997 when she
could no longer stand his violent physical abuse. She rented
an apartment in Chicago for herself and her daughters.
However, Luis continued to threaten and harass Julia,
constantly appearing at her apartment to say he would take
the children and have her deported. In May of 1998, when
Julia was dropping off the children at Luis's house, he came
out to her car and started arguing with her. Grabbing Julia
out of the car, he punched her in the chest and threw her
down into the street, all in front of the children. After
this incident, Julia received an order of protection against
Luis. She is now pursuing a divorce. There
are several reasons why Julia now needs to remain in the
United States, instead of returning to Mexico as she once
planned. First of all, her order of protection against Luis
would not be valid in Mexico, and once she left this country
she would have no way to protect herself against him. Also,
Luis is attempting to receive full custody of their
daughters. Julia needs to stay here for lengthy court
proceedings to ensure her children are not taken from her by
an abusive man. Finally, Julia and her daughters are
currently benefitting from therapy in Chicago, learning
about domestic violence issues and how to break the cycle of
abuse. Julia
wishes to become a lawful permanent resident, but cannot
return to Mexico to receive this status. Luis could easily
follow her to Mexico, where there would be no consequences
for his abuses. She is afraid to leave the country and the
security of the protective order which has kept Luis away
from her. In addition, Julia cannot afford to take her
children with her to Mexico, nor does she want to take them
away from their schooling and therapy for an indeterminate
amount of time. However, leaving them in the country would
jeopardize their safety. Luis has made it clear that he
wants sole custody of the children, and has taken them from
her before in violation of court orders. If Julia leaves,
she will most likely be detained for a lengthy period for
the processing of her paperwork. In this time, Luis could
claim that Julia has abandoned the children and receive full
custody. Julia needs to be able to receive her lawful
permanent resident status without facing the dangers
involved in returning to Mexico. This
case originated in California and is currently in Illinois. CAROLINA
Carolina
is 35 years old, and is originally from Mexico. She met her
husband Rico in Mexico through friends in 1980, when she was
16. Soon after meeting, they ran off together to live
together, and then got married. Carolina came from an
unhappy home and wished to escape from her parents'
fighting. The couple had two children in Mexico, in 1981 and
1985. In
1986, Rico decided to go work in the United States until he
had acquired enough money to buy a house in Mexico. Carolina
was bored and lonely after Rico left, and her parents would
not let her work, claiming it inappropriate for a married
woman. She took the children and left for California to live
with Rico in 1988. They lived in California for four years,
both working as migrant farm workers. They had two more
children during this time. In 1991, the family moved to
Chicago so Rico and Carolina could find better jobs. Rico
had received status as a lawful permanent resident in 1990
through an amnesty program for agricultural workers.
Although Carolina also qualified, Rico told her she did not
need to file on her own because he would file a petition to
get the same status for Carolina and their first two
children. However, this never happened. The
couple found good work in Chicago; Carolina babysat and Rico
worked in a factory. The couple bought a house and were able
to live comfortably. However, the extra money led Rico to
drink more frequently and excessively. When he came home
drunk he would shout at and insult Carolina, and often he
would hit her. When Carolina threatened to call the police,
Rico said they could not do anything to him because she was
not a legal resident and he was. He believed that because of
this he could abuse Carolina without consequences. Over
time, Rico's drinking worsened, and the couple fought about
it constantly. Rico always promised to quit drinking, and
this made Carolina stay in the relationship. However, he
never quit. In
March of 1998, Rico came home drunk in the middle of the
night. He unplugged and hid the phones, and then entered the
room where Carolina was sleeping with her daughters. He
began shouting at Carolina, and then pushing her. He punched
her in the arm and in the face. He refused to leave and
continued arguing until he finally passed out. A few days
later, when Carolina found the phones, she reported the
incident to the police and received an order of protection.
Carolina then separated from Rico. Rico
soon came back in violation of the protective order, furious
with Carolina for having him arrested. He again said that
nothing would happen to him because he was a legal resident
and Carolina was not. Carolina called the police again, and
Rico was arrested and convicted of domestic battery. It
would be dangerous for Carolina to have to return to Mexico
to obtain status as a lawful permanent resident of the
United States. For now at least, Carolina's protection order
and the criminal case of domestic battery seem to be
offering her and the children some protection from ongoing
abuse. Rico has demonstrated, however, his willingness to
violate those court orders. Carolina fears that if she is
forced to return to Mexico for any period of time to get her
green card, she will be in grave danger. Rico can follow her
there and Mexican law will offer her no protection. Further,
much of the hardship revolves around the safety of the
children. There is no indication of how long Carolina will
be forced to remain in Mexico for consular processing. If
she leaves the children behind when she travels to Mexico,
Rico could claim she has abandoned them and obtain full
custody of them. However, if she takes them, she will be
violating Rico's court-ordered right to see the children
every other weekend. Carolina's children are thriving in
American schools and benefitting from domestic violence
counseling which they would not be able to receive in
Mexico. Carolina must be able to achieve lawful immigration
status without leaving this country to ensure the safety of
her children and her rights to protect them.
This
case originated in Illinois. MELANIE Melanie
was born in Jamaica, and moved to Chicago in 1980. Her
mother had died at age 36 two years earlier, and Melanie had
no other family left in Jamaica. Shortly after she moved to
Chicago, she met Rodney, a lawful permanent resident also
from Jamaica. Melanie was alone and grieving, and it was
comforting for her to meet someone from her country. After a
year of dating, the couple was married. Melanie
worked as a live-in employee, and could only stay with
Rodney on the weekends. However, in 1985, Melanie became
pregnant and had to stop working. In this extra time she had
at home, she began to realize that Rodney was seeing other
women. When she confronted him about this, he became
violently angry. As
the baby's due date approached, Rodney spent less and less
time at home. When Melanie went into labor, Rodney was
nowhere to be found. He had not come home the night before
and left no indication of where he was. Melanie had no one
to help her, and was forced to deliver her baby herself at
home in the early morning. Rodney's
anger and violence only increased during the years following
the birth of their son Ezekiel, and he spent more and more
time away from home with other women. Finally, Melanie
decided that she and her son deserved better, and they went
to stay in a shelter. However, Rodney fought to have Ezekiel
live with him, and Melanie was forced to relent. She still
has weekly contact with her son, and hopes have him live
with her soon. She feels Rodney's affairs and violent temper
make him a poor example for her son. Melanie
wishes to become a lawful permanent resident of this country
where she has lived for 18 years. Rodney refused to petition
Melanie during all that time, but now she plans to
self-petition for residency under VAWA. However, returning
to Jamaica for consular processing would present hardship
for Melanie. Rodney could follow her there, where he could
again violently abuse her without consequences from American
law enforcement. Also, leaving the country for an
indeterminate length of time could adversely affect her
custodial rights to Ezekiel. Melanie therefore must be
allowed to remain in the United States to receive her green
card. This
case originated in Illinois. CELESTE Celeste
was born in Mexico. She met her husband, Ronaldo, a lawful
permanent resident of the United States at a party in 1991.
They immediately began dating and fell in love. Four months
later they decided to get married, and Celeste moved with
her husband to Chicago. For
the first five months things went well. Celeste became
pregnant and soon after things began to change. Ronaldo
seemed to change for no apparent reason and without warning.
He suddenly became unpredictable and controlling. A year
later, Celeste discovered that at this time Ronaldo had
begun having an affair with another woman. He began
screaming at Celeste in front of other people, embarrassing
her and making her feel ashamed. When she tried to discuss
things with Ronaldo he would just tell her that if she
wasn't happy she should leave. During
an argument, when she was eight months pregnant, he hit her
for the first time. Celeste ran into another room crying.
Ronaldo came in apologizing and promised to never hurt her
again. Soon after the baby was born, Ronaldo came home drunk
one night and became violent. Celeste was holding the baby
and Ronaldo pushed them both into the wall causing her to
fall with the baby. Ronaldo left them both on the floor
crying. Celeste thought about leaving but was afraid to
because she was not in the country legally and feared for
her son's safety. Ronaldo had promised to file a visa
petition for Celeste when she came to the U.S. but then
refused to unless she paid him a lot of money. After
her son was born, Celeste began working in a factory to
support her child. This made her husband angry and jealous.
The insulting and verbal abusing continued, as did the
physical violence. When their son was about a year old, they
went to visit friends. Ronaldo became drunk and began
screaming vulgarities and insults at Celeste in front of
everyone. He then tried to hit her, but one of his friends
grabbed him and stopped him. Another time on the way to her
sister-in-law's house, Celeste asked Ronaldo to go to the
doctor's office because the baby was sick.. He became angry
and began hitting her in the car. She ran out of the car
into her sister-in-laws house with Ronaldo chasing her. Her
sister-in-law put her in a room so that Ronaldo could not
get to her. After that Celeste decided to leave Ronaldo.
With the help of her sister-in-law Ronaldo was persuaded to
move out of the apartment and stay with his brother. While
they were separated , Ronaldo would often call threatening
both physical harm and telling Celeste he would turn her
over to INS and she would loose her son. He would appear
without warning and take their son at times other than what
they had agreed upon. About
seven months after the incident at the sister-in-law's
house, Ronaldo began to change. He began attending meetings
at Alcoholics Anonymous regularly and his behavior toward
Celeste improved. He wanted to move back with Celeste. After
four months of improvement and sobriety, Celeste was
convinced that Ronaldo wasn't drinking. She decided to try
again and Ronaldo moved back in. Soon Celeste became
pregnant. As before, once she became pregnant, Ronaldo began
verbally abusing her again. Ronaldo decided to go to Mexico
for a couple of months. While he was gone, their son became
very ill. Celeste called Ronaldo many times asking him to
return to help care for their son. He responded by telling
her to stop bothering him. He ended up staying in Mexico for
five months. Later, Celeste discovered he had been
vacationing with another woman. When
Ronaldo returned from Mexico, he was drinking again, and the
abuse continued. When Celeste would try to call the police,
Ronaldo would disconnect the phone. One night, Ronaldo
returned home when Celeste was sleeping, and Ronaldo poured
a can of soda on her to wake her up. Celeste wanted to
leave, but didn't know how to with two small children and
without immigration papers. Several months later, Celeste
learned that the woman Ronaldo had gone to Mexico with was
pregnant. Celeste confronted him with this information and
asked him to leave. He lost control and began beating her.
He punched her in the face and began beating her all over.
Her body was covered with bruises. She left Ronaldo and
moved into an apartment with her two small children. Following
this incident, Celeste obtained a protective order and
learned that she can call the police if Ronaldo threatens
her or the children. Celeste wants to get a divorce and
demand the child support that she feels her children
deserve. She is afraid she would lose custody of her
American born children if she had to return to Mexico. She
also fears for her safety and their welfare if she were to
return to Mexico for any period of time. Her husband has
threatened to follow her to Mexico and harass her and even
take the children from her because he knows Mexican laws and
authorities will not protect her. Her children were born in
this country and she wants to be able to raise them here,
and to be able to receive child support that they would not
be able to receive in Mexico. This
case originated in Illinois. TAMARA Tamara
was born in Mexico in 1951. She and her husband, David, grew
up in neighboring towns. When she was sixteen they became
engaged. The following year, they married and moved in with
his parents. A year later, in 1969, David decided he wanted
to go to the United States. David did not want Tamara to go
with him because he wanted her to stay and care for his
parents. Tamara was pregnant and David was not with her when
their son was born. David became a lawful permanent resident
and would live in the United States most of the year,
returning to Mexico at Christmas for two or three months.
During the first few years, David would send money to help
support Tamara and the three children they now had. Then he
began sending less. In order to support her family, Tamara
sold things she had such as shoes and clothes. When David
learned of this he became angry and stopped sending money
altogether. When
Tamara became pregnant with their forth child she did not
want to have any more children, but her husband did. At the
time in Mexico, Tamara could not get birth control pills
without her husbands consent so they continued to have
children. Tamara
first visited David in the United States in 1986. She was
pregnant again and she came to the U.S. hoping to persuade
David to support her and her son during her pregnancy.
Tamara wanted to stay with her husband but he told her she
had to return to Mexico to care for his parents. Tamara
visited David in 1990, 1993, and 1994. Each time he insisted
she return to Mexico to care for his parents. In 1995, when
Tamara came again, David was even more abusive toward Tamara
and the children. On evening one of the children did not
want to take his medicine. David got angry and grabbed a
large metal spoon intending to hit his son. Tamara
intervened and David hit her in the face with the spoon
knocking her into the wall. Their son was so scared that he
hid under a chair in the kitchen. Tamara went to the phone
to call the police but was afraid what would happen if she
did. Tamara continued to stay in the house with David and
the children because she had no where else to go, but would
not sleep with him. Several weeks later David dragged Tamara
into the bedroom and raped her. This is how Tamara became
pregnant with their youngest child. Tamara
continued to live in the United States with her children.
David stopped supporting Tamara or the children. He would
leave for long periods. Several months ago he just left and
has not returned nor contacted anyone. The oldest sons help
support Tamara and the younger children. The youngest child,
who is an American citizen, was born with Downs Syndrome. He
requires physical therapy every week and is being treated
for developmental problems and hearing concerns. Tamara and
two of her daughters provide continual care for him at home.
All
of Tamara's children are living in the United States except
for the oldest daughter who moved back to Mexico to get away
from her father after he physically abused her. Three of the
eight children are United States citizens living in this
country. The two oldest boys have approved visa
petitions--the only family members David would petition
for--and plan to immigrate to the United States. Tamara
and her two daughters would suffer extreme hardship if they
had to return to Mexico for consular processing. The family
would be split apart. They have no place to live in Mexico
nor any way to support themselves for the period of time
they would be required to remain in Mexico to get their
lawful permanent residency status under VAWA. There no
family members who can help assist them. The only people who
would help them are family members of David, on whom she
cannot rely. Her youngest child, who has Downs Syndrome
would also suffer. His mother and sisters are his primary
care givers. If he returned with them, he would not be able
to get the care and services he needs which are not
available for him in Mexico. All the progress he has made
through the efforts of his mother and sisters and the
doctors and rehabilitation specialists would be lost. If he
remained in the United States while his mother and sisters
were forced to leave the country for visa processing, his
only source of care would be from public agencies. This
case originated in Illinois. NANCY Nancy
is the wife of Jesus, a lawful permanent resident of the
United States. They have five children together. They met in
Mexico in 1969 and were married two years later. Eight days
after they were married Jesus began physically abusing
Nancy. He would become angry and start punching her. When
she told her family of the abuse, her father responded that
it was the man who lays down the law and she had to stay in
the marriage. She
continued to live with Jesus until he went to the United
States to work. Nancy was three months pregnant at the time.
Jesus returned when he learned that Nancy was having a
difficult pregnancy and stayed with her until their daughter
was born. He then returned to the U.S. to work. Jesus would
stay in the United States most of the year returning to
visit once a year for a month or so. For the first few days
he would by happy, but then he would get angry and begin
beating Nancy. Nancy had another child.
When
their son was about one-and-a-half years old, Jesus beat
Nancy so severely that she lost feeling in her face. She
went to the Red Cross for x-rays and treatment. The Red
Cross provided her with documentation to take to court, but
the court in Mexico refused to provide any protection for
Nancy or to impose any type of penalty on her husband. Nancy
had tried to protect herself on this occasion. When Nancy's
family heard of this incident, Nancy's father reacted with
anger when he learned she had tried to protect herself. They
continued to live in this manner for years. Nancy cared for
the children in Mexico while Jesus lived in the U.S. When
Jesus was in the U.S., he rarely sent money to help support
the children. In order to support her family, Nancy took a
job as a house cleaner and her oldest daughter got a job at
a taco stand. Nancy
asked Jesus to submit petitions for herself and the children
so they could join him in the U.S. He responded that she
should not tell him what to do. Finally in 1994, he
submitted petitions for Nancy and their five children. In
1995, Nancy decided that either Jesus should live with the
family or that they should separate. The family moved in
with Jesus in Illinois. Jesus continued to beat Nancy, often
punching her in the face. In September 1997, Nancy obtained
an emergency protective order. The next month she had to
call the police because Jesus was threatening her and the
children. Three months later, Nancy again had to call the
police because Jesus was again harassing and threatening
herself and the children. Nancy's
oldest son is now in high school. He suffers from severe
depression as a result of the constant violence that has
taken place in his home. His father continues to abuse and
harass him on the phone in violation of the court order. His
father had always forbidden him from having any friends or
even leaving the home. He also feels the pressure to assist
his mother in paying the bills because his father refuses to
support the children. He has been diagnosed as being in need
of long term counseling for his depression. The other
children have also been severely effected by their father's
long term abusive behavior. They exhibit behavioral problems
and are also in need of long term counseling. Nancy
and her children would suffer extreme hardship if she had to
return to Mexico. She currently lives near her sister, a
lawful permanent resident and her brother-in-law. They have
supported Nancy and her children both emotionally and
financially throughout Nancy's ordeal with Jesus. Most of
Nancy's relatives live in this country. Her father and seven
brothers and sisters are all lawful permanent residents. Her
mother is in the process of immigrating to this country.
Nancy has no relatives in Mexico who can support her. If
they were forced to move to Mexico, Jesus could continue to
harass and abuse Nancy and the children with impunity. Nancy
has already tried to obtain protection from Jesus through
the courts in Mexico, but to no avail. In this country, he
consistently violates the protective order by making
harassing phone calls, but at least the physical violence
has abated. In Mexico, Nancy's children would not have
access to the counseling services they desperately need as a
result of their fathers abusive behavior. Additionally,
Nancy would be unable to get the court-ordered child support
that her children deserve from their father. This
case originated in California. MARINA Marina
is a 33-year-old woman from Mexico. She became a single
mother of two small children when she was widowed in 1986.
In 1992 she came to the United States seeking a better life
for herself and her children. She began dating Gerardo, a
lawful permanent resident of the United States, and the two
moved in together and eventually married in early 1997.
Marina and Gerardo went on to have two children together. When
Gerardo first asked Marina and her children to live with
him, she was surprised and told him she needed some time to
think. Gerardo demanded an answer on the spot. Marina
relented because he insisted that he would provide for her
and her children so that she could stay home and take care
of them. They moved into Gerardo's brother's house and lived
under very poor conditions. Marina thought it would only be
for a few days while they looked for a house of their own,
but they stayed for three years. Marina and the children
slept in the living room. There was no privacy, and
Gerardo's five nephews did not treat Marina's children well.
About
one week after they moved in together, Marina went to the
store with her children to buy detergent. Gerardo found out
and became enraged, saying Marina must never leave the house
without him. He threatened to beat her and her children if
they ever did it again. He also kept complete control of the
finances, and never let Marina have any money. Gerardo
purchased food, but refused to buy the children clothing or
other items they needed. He prevented Marina from having
friends and being a part of the community. She was forced to
stay in the house all day, constantly facing criticism from
Gerardo's nephews. They did not like Marina and told her
they preferred another woman with whom Gerardo had
previously lived. However, Marina did not leave because she
had become more and more frightened of Gerardo. Gerardo
took Marina out to his car when he wanted to have sexual
relations, because they did not have their own room. Marina
hated this indignity. He also forced her to have oral sex
with him, and to be intimate with him in ways she did not
like. He told her it was her responsibility because she was
his woman. Sometimes Gerardo would want to have sexual
contact while in the same room with the children, which made
Marina extremely uncomfortable. They
finally moved out of Gerardo's brother's house when his
eighteen-year-old nephew beat up Marina's thirteen-year-old
son. Marina's problems with Gerardo worsened when they moved
into their own apartment. Marina was not permitted to leave
the apartment, even to walk her daughter to school. The
children had instructions to come directly home after
school. Moreover, Gerardo began drinking heavily, and was
abusive on a daily basis. He insulted Marina and the
children using foul language, threatened to beat them, and
ran them out of the house. He beat Marina and her children
on several occasions. Gerardo first beat Marina when she
intercepted a blow intended for her son. He hit her twice in
the face with a closed fist. He frequently used his fists to
beat Marina and the children, and he also kicked them.
Marina's
children were miserable and pleaded with Marina to take them
away from Gerardo. The children did not have legal
immigration papers because Gerardo never filed for them. In
October of 1998, Marina's twelve-year-old daughter Consuela
confessed to her mother that her stepfather Gerardo had been
sexually molesting her. He began by spying on her in the
bathroom through a hole in the wall. This escalated when he
grabbed her from behind and pulled her shorts down. He did
this many times, instructing her not to tell anyone and
threatening to beat her if she did. Consuela said Gerardo
attacked her every time Marina left to do laundry. On one
occasion, Gerardo hit Consuela with a closed fist on the lip
and shoulder. He then pulled her by her hair into the
bedroom, threw her on the bed, and covered her mouth.
Consuela tried to fight him off, but she was only eleven
years old and her strength did not match Gerardo's. After
hearing this, Marina immediately reported her husband to the
police and cooperated with the investigation and court
process. In December, her husband was sentenced to sixteen
years in prison for committing two counts of forcible lewd
acts on a child. Marina and her children have taken
important steps to regain control of their lives. Marina and
Consuela are now in therapy, which is crucial to their
emotional well-being and ability to regain self-esteem and
healing following the physical and sexual abuse they
suffered. Consuela in particular cannot be separated from
her therapist for any period of time without suffering
additional unnecessary harm. Marina
has self-petitioned for permanent residence pursuant to
VAWA, and has included both of her children born in Mexico
in her application. Marina and her children would suffer
great hardship if forced to endure consular processing as
the only means of obtaining lawful permanent residency under
VAWA. Marina is the sole protector and provider for her four
children. If she must return to Mexico to obtain lawful
permanent resident status, her family will face hardship. If
she takes the children with her, she must uproot them from
their schools, activities, and therapy for an indeterminate
amount of time. If the process is slow, Marina may lose her
job while she is away. Yet leaving the children behind is
not a viable option, as she is solely responsible for their
care and well-being. The support and security that Marina
and her family have established in the United States should
not be jeopardized by requiring her return to Mexico. This
case originated in California. FATMA
Fatma,
a citizen of Bangladesh, met her husband Mohammed while
visiting her sister in California in June of 1997. Mohammed
is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, also
originally from Bangladesh. Fatma grew to like Mohammed, and
she found him polite, charming, and quiet. They were engaged
by the end of the month, just before she had to return to
Bangladesh. In September, Fatma resigned from her job as a
flight attendant, and came to the United States to be
married. Soon
after they were married, Mohammed's attitude toward Fatma
changed completely. He became possessive, controlling, and
abusive. He informed Fatma that she must do as he told her
and never question him, or else she would not be allowed to
leave the house, and he would make life very difficult for
her. He frequently called her obscene names, referred to her
as "crazy" or a "mental patient" and
made degrading remarks about women. Mohammed
then stopped Fatma from visiting her ill sister unless he
was present, and would not allow her to work or go anywhere
on her own. She was forbidden from talking to the neighbors,
using the phone, driving, and even knowing how to get to
their apartment. Fatma only left the house when Mohammed
took her to the grocery store. A college graduate, when
Fatma indicated she wanted to work, Mohammed told her she
could only work as a maid. He said that once he started a
business, she could work for him for $4 per hour. The
abuse escalated when Mohammed refused to allow Fatma to
religiously observe the anniversary of her father's death.
When she protested, he pushed her down in the bathroom,
where she hurt her arm. On at least three other occasions,
he grabbed her hair, lifted her up by her neck and choked
her, and threw her against the wall or to the corners of the
room. Often he would attack her sexually, forcing her to
participate in acts with which she was uncomfortable. Once
he squeezed her breast so hard that she could not lift her
arm or sleep on her side for over a week. One
morning, Mohammed complained Fatma was disturbing his sleep,
and he got up and threw her across the room. Fatma screamed
for Mohammed's mother who was nearby, and when she arrived,
she encouraged Mohammed to beat Fatma more. He grabbed Fatma
by the neck and slammed her against the wall. Then he threw
her across the room again and threw a chair on top of her.
Fatma suffered injury and bruising to her shoulder and ankle
and had trouble walking for several days. When Fatma
threatened to call the police, Mohammed laughed and said if
she even tried to touch the phone she would be dead, because
he would "cut her into little pieces." He said if
she called the police they would take her away because she
was not a citizen, and he repeatedly threatened to kill her.
Fatma was not aware that Mohammed's abuses against her were
illegal. Fatma stayed with Mohammed both because she feared
his violence and for the sake of the marriage. Furthermore,
due to the strict socio-cultural and religious practices
that Fatma was accustomed to, it was very hard for her to
decide to leave him or report him to the police. Fatma's
family also expected her to stay with her husband and try to
make the marriage work because it was expected of her as the
wife. Eventually,
Fatma left the house and fled to her sister's house.
Mohammed found her there and threatened to harm not only
Fatma, but also her sister and her sister's husband. Fatma's
sister helped her enter a battered women's shelter. Fatma
obtained a protection order and Mohammed was arrested on
three felony counts. Fatma filed for relief under VAWA, and
the couple is now divorced. She obtained equal work
authorization through VAWA, now has a full time job, and is
continuing her education in the United States. If
Fatma is required to return to Bangladesh to obtain her
lawful permanent residency under VAWA, the safety she has
found will be jeopardized. In Bangladesh, the police are not
called for domestic violence situations, and a man is never
punished for beating up his wife, whereas a woman is
severely ostracized by the society for leaving her husband
or taking any actions against him. According to the Islamic
law that co-exists with the government laws, a woman is
nothing but a property of her husband. In a male-dominated,
gender-biased, and religiously sensitive society, there is
no place for a woman who dares to leave her husband's house.
Even her own family members hesitate to give her shelter or
help her in any way. Such a woman is seen as an
embarrassment to her family and friends and is treated more
poorly than a prostitute. Mohammed's family members continue
to threaten Fatma's family members in Bangladesh, and they
plan to seek revenge on Fatma for getting Mohammed arrested.
Mohammed has applied for dual citizenship in Bangladesh to
have greater accessibility there, so that he could follow
Fatma to Bangladesh where she would not be protected by her
restraining order or by the law. In addition, Mohammed's
family is very powerful and influential in their country and
can manipulate government officials to act against Fatma.
His family members are in high ranking positions in the
police department, they are rich, own industries, and use
the laborers to do "anything and get away with
it," according to Mohammed. Fatma's family in
Bangladesh consists of her widowed mother, a very ill
sister, and two younger brothers, so they could never afford
a clash with Mohammed's powerful family. Finally, because of
the country's male-dominated culture, the society of
Bangladesh condemns Fatma for taking action against
Mohammed, and not even her own family will protect her or
provide her with shelter. For these reasons, it is extremely
dangerous for Fatma to be required to return to Bangladesh
as the only way to obtain lawful permanent resident status
based on her approved VAWA self-petition. This
case originated in California. MELISSA Melissa
and Javier met at a business school in Mexico. After dating
for a time, they decided to marry in 1983. Even in the
beginning of their relationship, Javier caused unhappiness
for Melissa. Twice Melissa became pregnant. Despite her
pleas to keep the child, each time Javier forced her to have
an abortion. The second time almost cost Melissa her life. Finally,
Melissa gave birth to a son. Soon after, she became pregnant
with a daughter. It was then that Javier migrated to America
and became a lawful permanent resident. Two years later, he
sent for Melissa. Almost immediately, she became pregnant
with another daughter. Javier was angry. He tormented
Melissa, blaming her and berating her bad judgment. Javier
drank a lot. This was the source of most of the problems in
their relationship. When he was drunk, Javier would hit
Melissa, even in front of her cousins. He also had affairs
with other women. One woman whom Javier impregnated suffered
a miscarriage. Javier's philandering left Melissa feeling
alone and humiliated. Melissa's
sense of entrapment and loneliness grew worse as Javier
began to exercise more control over her. He isolated her
from her family. He threatened to take the children because
Melissa's brother is gay. He forbade Melissa and the
children to leave the house unless it was with him. Since
Javier worked two jobs, these times were rare. The
psychological abuse escalated and Javier began to hit
Melissa more frequently. Then Javier threatened to divorce
Melissa. He threw her out of the house and furiously
vandalized the interior, breaking dishes and destroying the
TV. It was then that Melissa left. If
she believed she would be free of Javier, her hopes were in
vain. First he tried to coerce her into coming back by
giving her money. When this failed, he came to see Melissa
at her brother's house. Unaware that he was in a drunken
rage, Melissa opened the door. Javier demanded that she come
home with him. When she refused, he unleashed a furious
barrage of blows upon her. While her terrified children
called the police, Javier physically hoisted her and threw
her from the porch. Javier
is now in jail for domestic violence. But Melissa knows that
she and her children are not yet safe. If his past actions
of anger and vindictiveness are any indication, he will
certainly come after Melissa when he is released. In
America, Melissa has the advantage of shelters, police
protection, and restraining orders. If she is forced to
return to Mexico to get her green card, she will have no
such reassurance. Then Javier will once again have the upper
hand. Melissa knows there is no police protection in her
hometown. Here she has relatives to help her. Only her
elderly parents are in Mexico--she has nobody else to turn
to there. If she goes back, it will be much easier for
Javier to have his way with her. Worse yet, Melissa fears
that he will try to take her children away. Melissa
and the children have been living in America for nine years.
She has a restraining order and legal custody of the
children. The family's life, school, and church will be
disrupted and traumatized for an unknown period of time if
Melissa must leave to get her green card without her
children. Further, she fears that if she leaves without the
children, their safety could be jeopardized by their abusive
father if she is not here to protect them. If she is forced
to take the children with her, two of them will have a very
difficult time because they barely speak any Spanish. Javier
is a Mexican citizen who is very familiar with Melissa's
hometown and family in Mexico. Melissa is afraid he will
follow her to Mexico where he can harm her and take the
children without being subject to U.S. protection orders and
custody orders. In short, if Melissa has to go back to
Mexico, their safety in Mexico will be jeopardized, and they
will likely have to face an alcoholic, violent father with
no protection. This
case originated in California. PHILIPPA Philippa
is ethnically Hungarian, but a citizen of Romania. She met
her husband William in Los Angeles in April 1997. William is
a lawful permanent resident of the United States, also
originally from Romania. Less
than two weeks after they met, Philippa and William moved in
together and planned to get married. William had almost
$15,000 in credit card debts, so they began work in their
apartment complex, Philippa as the manager and William as
the maintenance man. A
week later they were married, and soon the nature of their
relationship began to change. William ignored Philippa's
daughter, Martina, and acted cold and distant toward his new
family. When Philippa considered leaving him and moving back
to Romania, William apologized and asked her to stay and try
to make the marriage work. Philippa agreed, and they soon
moved to a different apartment complex where Philippa could
have a larger apartment management position. The couple was
still deep in debt. In
August, William began an affair with his friend's
ex-girlfriend, who came to visit from Romania. He took his
girlfriend to the beach, the opera, and restaurants, while
he ignored Philippa and Martina. He became very secretive
and never told Philippa when he was going out or coming
home. He began to berate Philippa constantly, and forbade
her to answer the phone. In
September, William came home with a prescription to treat
crab lice, evidence that proved his affair to Philippa.
Philippa moved out of their bedroom and began to sleep on
the sofa. Soon William began to come to her in the night and
force her to have sex with him. She told him "No, I
don't want to do this!" but he forced himself on her
every week. He told her "This is part of the marriage
contract." In
November, the physical abuse began. When William was
preparing dinner, Philippa attempted to discuss apartment
complex repairs with him. He suddenly became angry and
threatened her with a knife, pointing it at her head.
Philippa did not call the police because she was ashamed of
what those in her apartment complex would think. In
December, after William returned from a trip to Romania with
his girlfriend, he informed Philippa he wanted a divorce, so
he could marry his girlfriend. He became verbally abusive,
and threatened to have Philippa deported. During
the preceding months, Philippa noticed that William had
begun to drink excessively with friends, and drive drunk. In
December, he began to drink alone, and during these times he
would become violent. One night at the end of December,
William came home drunk and was angry because the door was
locked. Once Philippa opened the door, he grabbed her by the
neck of her shirt and scratched her throat, leaving bruises
on her hands and neck. Martina rushed in and tried to
protect her mother. When Philippa told Martina to call 911,
William shoved Martina violently on the sofa, sending the
phone flying. He yelled at Martina "I am going to kill
you and your mother!" When William tried to attack
Philippa again, Martina began to call the police, but he
slapped her and threw the phone out of her hand. William
left the house, and later the police arrived. They asked
Philippa if they wanted him arrested, but she said no for
fear that he would lose his job. She said she felt sorry for
him. Philippa and Martina hid in Martina's room that night,
in fear of William and the rifle he kept behind his pillow.
William
soon moved out, taking everything from the apartment,
including all the furniture, amenities, and food. Philippa
filed for a restraining order, but never followed through
because of scheduling confusion, and for fear of a
confrontation with William. If
Philippa is required to return to Romania to obtain her
lawful permanent residency under VAWA, the law in Romania
will not protect her. Romanian police rarely intervene in
situations of domestic violence, and prosecution of spousal
rape is practically impossible. William has recently
traveled to Romania and has threatened to follow Philippa
and Martina to Romania and kill them. He said, "With
these two hands I will kill you; wherever in the world you
go, I will find you!" In addition, as a member of the
Hungarian minority in Romania, Philippa and Martina would be
subject to ethnic discrimination and oppression and denied
such things as rights to equal education and employment.
Philippa wishes to remain in the United States with her
daughter for the protection against ongoing abuse and
opportunities she could not receive elsewhere. To assure her
safety, she must be able to obtain her lawful permanent
resident status in the United States and must not be
required to return to Romania for any reason. This
case originated in the California. ANITA Anita
is a citizen of the Philippines whose U.S. citizen parents
brought her to the United States to escape her abusive first
husband. She met her current husband Ricardo in February of
1994 while in California. Ricardo is a lawful permanent
resident of the United States. The couple dated and finally
married in April of 1995. Throughout
their courtship and their first month of marriage, Ricardo
was good to Anita. Then he started abusing her physically.
In May, he threw a glass at her, calling her obscene names.
Anita's daughter called the police, but Anita refused to
have Ricardo arrested for fear that he would become more
angry. Ricardo began drinking excessively and smoking drugs. In
June, Ricardo hit Anita in the face, knocking her down. As
she tried to escape, he attacked her car with a metal bar.
Although Ricardo served seven days in jail for this
incident, he pressured Anita into refusing to testify
against him. When
Anita was 2 ˝ months pregnant, Ricardo hit Anita in the
face and she fell into the street. When she tried to leave
and remove her things from the car, he started the car and
dragged her down the street. Too scared to call the police,
Anita ran away to San Francisco. Each
time he would hurt Anita, Ricardo would cry afterwards and
beg her forgiveness. He promised to stop the violence, and
to stop drinking and using drugs. Ricardo found Anita in San
Francisco, and things were calm for a few months. In
May of 1996, when their son was 2 months old, Ricardo began
pushing and shoving Anita again. He also forced her to take
drugs, after which she usually passed out. She does not know
what was done with her during these times, but once she woke
up in different clothes. In
the next few months, when Ricardo would hit her, Anita would
call the police. In April of 1997, he was arrested and
served over a year for prior domestic violence and violation
of his probation. Anita
began to believe the terrible things Ricardo would say about
her and thought about suicide. She is now benefitting from
therapy, where she is learning how to break the cycle of
abuse. Anita fears having to return to the Philippines to
obtain lawful permanent residency of the United States. All
of her family members are in the United States. She has no
support system in the Phillippines. Further, Anita is afraid
that if she is forced to return to the Phillippines to get
her green card, she will risk being harmed again by her
first abusive husband who still lives there. She believes
Ricardo will find her there and harm her and her son, and
the laws there will not protect her. Anita must not be
required to leave the protection of the United States in
order to become a permanent resident. This
case originated in California. PAOLA Paola
is a citizen of Peru, who came to the United States in 1995
as a church volunteer. A mutual friend introduced her to a
lawful permanent resident named Esteban in October of 1995,
and the two dated and fell in love. After two months, they
agreed to marry and Paola decided not to return to Peru.
Paola and Esteban were married in January of 1996, and Paola
soon discovered she was pregnant. Esteban's
teenage daughter was unhappy about the marriage and jealous
of Paola's pregnancy. She tried to cause problems between
Esteban and Paola, and she assaulted Paola while she was
pregnant. Esteban did nothing about the behavior of his
daughter and considered leaving Paola because of his
daughter's unhappiness. Their baby was born in April of
1997, and things were calm for a few months. When
Paola found out she was pregnant again, Esteban demanded she
get an abortion. When she refused, Esteban became verbally
abusive and threatened to leave her. Esteban's daughter also
became physically and verbally abusive once again. Paola
made several trips to the emergency room during her second
pregnancy because Esteban and his daughter tried to hurt her
so she would lose the baby. Paola called the police but did
not press charges. One
day, Esteban and his daughter began to insult Paola and
beat, pushed, and pulled her until she lost consciousness.
Then they left the house, leaving her unconscious with her
eleven month old daughter. Paola
entered a shelter for a time, and then returned home. In May
of 1998, Esteban and his brother attacked her and tried to
take away her immigration papers. Esteban then filed for
divorce in hopes that Paola would be deported. Paola
now faces eviction because Esteban refuses to pay child
support for their two young children. If Paola were forced
to return to Peru to obtain lawful permanent resident status
for the United States, there is no indication of how long
the Peruvian government would detain her in Peru. This
creates a difficult situation for Paola, because if she
leaves her children in the United States, Esteban my be able
to obtain sole custody of them while she is gone. However,
taking them with her poses severe financial hardship,
especially in light of the fact that Esteban is not paying
child support. Paola should not be made to return to Peru
for any reason, and should be allowed to become a permanent
resident of this country without leaving it. This
case originated in California. MARTA Marta
came to the United States ten years ago to support her
starving parents and younger siblings who live in a rural
village in Mexico. In February of 1993, after a long
courtship, Marta married Carlos, a lawful permanent resident
originally from Nicaragua. Almost
immediately after their marriage, Carlos began treating
Marta abusively. He kept her isolated from her family and
friends, took all her savings, ran up her phone bill, and
treated her like a servant. He constantly yelled at her and
threatened to turn her in to the INS if she complained about
the abuse. Within weeks of their marriage, Carlos began
living with another woman, but he continued to bring his
dirty laundry home to Marta and required that she wash it
for him. Finally, he ordered Marta to leave their apartment.
He forced her into the car, drove her to her brother's
house, and dumped her on the doorstep. The
abuse Marta suffered at the hands of Carlos so devastated
and humiliated her that she attempted suicide. She has
needed psychological counseling to help her recover from the
trauma of the abuse ever since the suicide attempt. To make
matters worse, for more than two years following Carlos and
Marta's separation, Carlos continued to stalk Marta and
harass her by phone. He also threatened to call the INS and
turn her in if she refused to sign summary divorce papers. Marta
filed a VAWA self-petition in August of 1995, just before
her divorce from Carlos became final. The INS approved the
petition in July of 1996 and agreed to extend Marta's
voluntary departure and employment authorization each year
until her priority date became current, at which time Marta
would be eligible to apply for adjustment of status. When
the VAWA regulations were originally issued, INS offices
could provide work authorization for VAWA self-petitioners
with approved petitions by granting them either deferred
action status or voluntary departure. However, the new
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IRIRA),
which passed on September 30, 1996, harmed battered
immigrants like Marta who had received voluntary departure
status. The new law reduced the amount of time this status
could last and made it non-renewable. To address this issue,
in cases like Marta's, the INS district office was supposed
to grant Marta deferred action status before her voluntary
departure expired. Instead, the INS district office
incorrectly instructed Marta to overstay her voluntary
departure. As a result, if Marta is forced to return to
Mexico to obtain her green card under VAWA, the fact that
she has overstayed her voluntary departure could bar Marta
from reentering the United States for 10 years. When
the INS approved Marta's petition, it determined that Marta
would suffer severe hardship if she were forced to return to
Mexico. Marta would endure humiliation and ostracism by her
family as a result of her failed marriage and suicide
attempt. In addition, because of the lack of affordable
mental health care in Mexico, Marta would not have access to
the psychological counseling she has needed ever since her
suicide attempt following her abusive marriage. Marta would
risk losing her home, her job, her access to mental health
counseling, and the life she is building in the U.S. if she
were forced to return to Mexico as her only way to obtain
her green card under VAWA. This
case originated in California. VAL Val
came wide-eyed and hopeful to America from Thailand on a
tourist visa. Eager to learn about American culture, she
took a job as a bartender at a local bar. There she met
Ferdinand, a lawful permanent resident. He was funny and
charming, and he was willing to answer Val's eager questions
about American lifestyles. One
day Val got into an automobile accident. She was badly
injured. Not knowing what to do, she called Ferdinand
because he worked at a hospital. Ferdinand responded
immediately. He took her to his hospital, where he saw to it
that Val received a complete and proper examination. He also
helped her deal with the problem of the damaged car.
Ferdinand went on to care for Val, too, giving her
door-to-door service to the grocery store and wherever she
needed to go while she was recovering from her injuries. Val
was so impressed with his kindness, she fell in love. Ferdinand
continued to be gentle and kind as their relationship grew.
Val decided to move in with him and soon discovered that she
was pregnant. Val was torn--her tourist visa was soon to
expire, yet she didn't want to raise her daughter apart from
her father. Ferdinand came to the rescue. He wanted Val and
the baby to stay, and sincerely proposed marriage to Val. After
the marriage, Ferdinand began to change. Beforehand, he
would take her out when he went out. Now that she was well
into pregnancy, he would leave her home and not return until
4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. After she had the baby, this
pattern continued. Usually, he would come home wanting sex.
If she did not want to have intercourse with Ferdinand, he
would push her, slap her in the face, pull her hair, and
kick her in the chest. As
Ferdinand's lifestyle deteriorated, his attacks upon Val
became more frequent and unpredictable. He would have
friends over to their house, smoking, drinking, and using
illegal drugs. When Val complained that the smoke might be
dangerous to their baby, Ferdinand told her to leave the
house. More and more often, he would push and strike her in
front of his friends. Val wanted to call the police, but was
scared to for fear of what Ferdinand might do. When
Val's mother came over, Ferdinand got violent with Val
again. During the argument, he slapped her in the face. When
the mother pleaded with him to stop, he forced her to leave,
saying that it was none of her business and that she had no
right to tell him what to do. In another incident, he came
into the bar and struck Val in front of her customers.
Ferdinand also began hitting Val in front of the baby. In
addition to the pain and injury to Val, the baby would cry
and shake whenever she saw her mother being abused. One
night when Ferdinand's friends were over, the party became
so raucous that Val called the police. Ferdinand fled that
night. He later returned, but his behavior became even more
frightening. Not only did the beatings continue, but now he
threatened to kill Val. Val knew he owned a gun. She feared
for her life every single time he came home drunk. Over
all of this time, Ferdinand never gave Val and the baby any
financial support. He often left them alone for long periods
of time. One night, Val thought she heard somebody trying to
break in. Scared, she called Ferdinand. He did not return
for several hours, but when he did, he was drunk. He beat
her so violently that she called the police. He was arrested
for battery. Val
moved out with her daughter, but Ferdinand continued to
stalk her. She moved into an apartment building. One night,
Ferdinand buzzed her room, but she refused to let him in. In
fear, she took the baby to her neighbor's room. Ferdinand
got past the building security and pounded on her door,
screaming. Val had to call the police from her neighbor's
apartment.
Val
has since filed for divorce. Because of the domestic
violence, Val was granted sole custody of the child, but
Ferdinand was given visitation rights. He has already
violated his court order once by drinking while visiting
with his daughter. Then he refused to return her to Val. If
Val has to return to Thailand to get her green card, she
will not have anybody with whom she can leave her
two-year-old U.S. citizen daughter. Even if Val could find
somebody with whom to leave her daughter, the separation
could be devastating to such a young child. More
importantly, Val is worried that Ferdinand will snatch her
daughter again during visitation. Worse
yet, if Val has to travel back to Thailand, she (and her
daughter if Val must take her) will be exposed and
defenseless there, especially if Ferdinand follows her. The
Thailand Report on Human Rights Practices states that legal
and societal discrimination against women, violence against
children, and illegal child labor persist in that country.
It reports that domestic abuse is a serious problem and that
police do not enforce laws seriously. Furthermore, court
rules and procedures are severely slanted in favor of men in
domestic law. Val fears that she will become yet another one
of these reported statistics if she is forced to pursue her
green card in Thailand. This
case originated in California. ROSA Rosa
is a twenty-year-old woman from Mexico, who was brought to
the U.S. by her mother. Prior to coming to the United
States, Rosa lived with her father and her father's second
family in Mexico, where her stepmother and her stepmother's
brother subjected her to three years of both physical and
sexual abuse. Her step uncle sexually assaulted and raped
Rosa on a regular basis when she was between the ages of
seven and nine, until her mother's sister found out about
the conditions Rosa was subjected to in her father's house
and rescued her from this situation so that Rosa's mother
Carmen could bring her to California. Carmen had remarried
John, who was a lawful permanent resident of the United
States and John brought Carmen and Rosa to live with him.
Since 1993, Rosa has lived with her mother, Carmen, her
abusive stepfather, John, and her younger half-sister, Ana.
During this time, she has suffered verbal abuse and has
lived in continual fear of physical abuse. John
is an alcoholic, and when he comes home drunk and angry, he
insults and demeans Rosa and her mother, calling them sluts
and prostitutes, and telling them they are lazy because
Carmen does not work. He is controlling in the home, does
not allow Rosa or her mother to speak on the phone or to
have people over to the house, and requires that they ask
permission to leave the house. John
is a very violent man, and Rosa has witnessed his violent
behavior on many occasions. Once he found Carmen talking on
the phone and he proceeded to yell at her, grabbed the phone
from her, and threw her violently against the door. Rosa's
mother had a large bruise on her shoulder after this
incident, but she did not call the police because she
believed that John would have her deported. Another
time, he pulled a knife on one of Rosa's cousins,
threatening to kill him. John followed the cousin out into
the street, chasing him with a switch blade. When John
returned to the house, he slept with the switch blade under
his pillow. A month after this incident, Rosa was cleaning
the house and discovered her step-father's knife under the
mattress where John and Carmen sleep. Rosa fears that when
John is drinking and becomes violent, he will use the knife
on her mother or her. John's
threats are constant, causing Rosa to live in uncertainty
and fear. John's abuse of Carmen makes Rosa feel angry, but
also makes her feel hopeless, because she cannot do anything
to help her mother. She can only watch the ongoing abuse. John,
a lawful permanent resident, refused to help legalize Rosa
or Carmen's status in the U.S., so that they could work.
Instead, he threatens that he can call immigration and have
them deported. He says that he can get rid of them any time
he wants, so they had better obey him. He also threatens
that by having Rosa and Carmen deported, he will separate
their family by keeping Rosa's half-sister, Ana, who is a
U.S. citizen, with him. Despite
the abuse that Rosa has experienced, she believes that her
life in the U.S. holds more for her than her native country.
She has learned English, graduated from high school, and
hopes to go to college. She has also begun therapy to
overcome the years of severe physical and mental abuse by
John and by her step family in Mexico. This type of
counseling for victims of rape and domestic violence would
not be available to Rosa if she were to return to Mexico,
where there are also not the same protections of women's
rights. Rosa
needs to obtain her lawful permanent resident status without
being forced to return to return to Mexico, where she would
be separated from her mother and her younger sister, her
only close family who have been her support system. The
family she does have in Mexico, her father's second family,
physically and sexually abused Rosa during the years she
lived with them as a child. Contact with these family
members upon return to Mexico would present very real
dangers to Rosa. This
case originated in California. PAMINA Pamina
is a 40-year-old woman from Mexico who has been married to
Jorge, a lawful permanent resident, since 1995. Pamina had
one daughter by him, Jessica, who was born in 1992, and has
two previous children, Evelyn and Manuel, who also live with
them. Jorge's
abuse began in 1992, when Pamina became pregnant with their
daughter, Jessica, a few months after they began living
together. Jorge drank more and verbally abused Pamina when
he came home intoxicated, calling her a slut and telling her
she was trash and worthless. The almost daily abuse ate away
at Pamina's self-confidence and caused her to become nervous
around Jorge. He was also very controlling, forbidding her
to go out, prohibiting her from seeing her family,
interrogating her when she did leave, and asking the
neighbors to inform him when she left the house. Fearing
yelling and threats, Pamina never left the house except to
buy food. Jorge did not allow Pamina to speak on the phone,
and soon, she lost almost all contact with her family and
old friends. Pamina
stayed with Jorge because she still loved him and hoped that
their relationship would still work out. Jorge's abuse
mainly occurred when he was drunk, and the next day he would
apologize and promise to change. Pamina forgave him and
stayed with him, as she did not want her daughter to grow up
without a father. In 1995, Pamina and Jorge were married. After
their marriage, the abuse worsened as Jorge's drinking and
drug use increased. Jorge brought two switchblades home, and
put one into a drawer in the kitchen and the other under the
mattress of the bed. He said that they were for protection,
but since that day, Pamina did not feel safe in her own
house. Once, he used a switchblade to threaten his brother's
wife who was staying with them, shouting that she had to get
out of the house or he would have her taken out in a box.
Pamina had never expected that Jorge would use the knife to
threaten one of his own family members. His loss of control
terrified Pamina and she could not sleep that night. On
another occasion, he pulled the knife on Pamina, ordering
her to tell the guests at their daughter's birthday party to
leave the house. One
time Jorge came home reeking of alcohol when Pamina was
talking on the phone. He became angry and began shouting,
and he took the phone and threw it at Pamina. Then he
brutally pushed her into the door, causing bad bruising on
her shoulder. Pamina was terrified that Jorge was going to
beat her, or that he would go and get his knife. Another
time, Jorge came home drunk while Pamina was listening to
the radio. He ripped it out of the wall and threw it,
shouting that he was going to destroy the radio and that he
would destroy Pamina along with it. He began throwing her
things around the room, calling her a slut and shouting at
her to get out of his house. For
years now, Pamina has lived in constant fear of Jorge's
violent temper, which is worsened by alcoholism and drug
abuse. His controlling behavior has isolated Pamina from her
family and friends, and Jorge has used violence to control
her. He has done things to her such as throwing a telephone
at her, badly bruising her by slamming her into a doorway,
and threatening her with the switchblade he keeps in the
kitchen drawer. Since Pamina and Jorge got married, Jorge
has steadily become more paranoid and violent. Pamina fears
for her life and the lives of her daughters. Pamina
has been trapped in this relationship of verbal and physical
abuse, knowing that, without legal papers, she can not work
to support herself and her family alone. Jorge has
continually used the threat of deportation and of taking
their daughter, to frighten and control Pamina.
If
she were to return to Mexico as the only avenue to obtain
her green card based on her approved self-petition, Pamina
cannot leave her U.S. citizen daughter Jessica with her
abusive father. Pamina also does not want to subject Jessica
to the traumas of uprooting her from her school and
community fro an unknown period of time. Jessica speaks
Spanish but has never been to Mexico. Further, Pamina is in
counseling for abused women. This program provides her
tremendous psychological support which she will be severed
from if forced to return to Mexico to obtain her green card.
The family Pamina has in Mexico will not support her because
they believe it is a married woman's duty to stay with her
husband. Pamina cannot be assured of how long she will have
to remain in Mexico to get her visa, and fears that her
children will not be safe from Jorge if she leaves them in
the United States alone for an indeterminate amount of time. This
story originated in California. PATRICIA Patricia
is an 18-year-old woman from Mexico, who came to the U.S. in
1988 with her mother, Eugenia, and her younger brother,
Marcos, to join their father. After their father's death, in
1992, Patricia's mother remarried Martino, a U.S. citizen,
in 1993. Martino's
abuse toward the family began after Eugenia and Martino's
baby, Carlos, was born in 1993. Often, Martino struck
Carlos, sometimes with his open hand, other times with a
belt, a sandal, or a shoe. Once, Martino flew into a fit of
rage, and he hurled a shoe at the baby. On another occasion,
Patricia tried to intervene to protect the baby, and Martino
yelled at her and struck her on the hand. Martino
would also get irrationally angry at Patricia for minor
things like making too much noise when she washed the
dishes, or not keeping the baby quiet. Martino verbally
abused Patricia, calling her a bitch, a slut, and a
prostitute. He controlled Patricia's life, making her come
home right after school to do housework and to sell tamales
on the street that Martino had forced Eugenia to make.
Patricia was not allowed time to do her homework or to see
her friends. Patricia's brother, Marcos, suffered the same
abuse. Patricia
watched her mother, Eugenia, suffering physical and
emotional abuse continuously. In August of 1997, Martino
used violence in an argument with Eugenia. He ordered
Eugenia to take the children and leave the apartment.
Eugenia refused to leave until she could talk with the
landlord and get her name off the lease so that the landlord
would not come after her if Martino did not pay the rent.
Eugenia's refusal angered Martino, and he raised his fist as
if to punch her in the face. Instead, he brutally kicked her
in the stomach. The bruises were so severe that they lasted
for two weeks. He then threatened to kill them all with his
machete. Eugenia told Patricia to hide the machete and all
the other big knives in the house. Patricia hid the knives
that night, and when Martino found that the machete was
missing, he went out of control and ransacked Patricia's
bedroom, searching for the machete and destroying the room.
At that point, Patricia began to realize that Martino might
actually carry out his threat of killing them. A
week later, Eugenia and Martino got in another argument over
the rent money, which she had hidden so that he would not
spend it before the rent was due. Martino threatened to call
the police, who he said would have Eugenia and her older
children deported. He said he would take their American born
baby away from them. Then he screamed that once he found his
machete, he would chop Eugenia into little pieces and send
her into the dirt to lie with her dead husband. Eugenia
threatened to call the police, but Martino said that he
would be released in three days and come back and kill them.
Eugenia called nonetheless. Martino then began to panic,
apologizing and begging Eugenia to tell the police ti was a
mistake. But the police did not come right away, and Martino
began to think they would never come. He got angry again and
taunted Eugenia. He grabbed her by the arm and was about to
hit her when the police pulled up. The police took
photographs of the bruises still on her stomach from the
previous beating and arrested Martino. After
Martino's arrest, Patricia moved with her mother and brother
into hiding, fearing that he would find them and carry out
his threats to kill them. They obtained a restraining order
protecting them against Martino. Martino was criminally
tried, convicted, and sentenced to jail for the abuse he
inflicted on them. Martino
has since been released from prison. Patricia must return to
Mexico to obtain her lawful permanent residency under VAWA,
but her protection order will not protect her from him once
she crosses the Mexican border. Patricia has grown up in
Southern California since she was eight years old, and
considers the U.S. her home. Her entire support system, her
close family, including her grandparents, and friends, live
in the U.S. as well. If she were forced to return to Mexico,
she would leave this support network and have to leave her
baby brother with her mother, who, alone, may not be able to
protect him from Martino. Here, Patricia is in counseling
for abuse, an opportunity she would not have in Mexico. She
plans to continue her studies and hopes to be a
photographer. After all that she has gone through, she
should be able to obtain relief under VAWA without having to
return to Mexico. This
story originated in California, moved to Utah, and is
currently in California. LINA
Lina,
a 22-year-old native of El Salvador, came to the U.S. when
she was 14 years old. In April of 1995, she met Juan, a U.S.
citizen. In the beginning, they were happy together. One
night, Juan proposed marriage to Lina. She was very happy
and accepted. She looked forward to their coming marriage.
Juan got a job, and Lina stayed home and took care of the
house. Both Juan and Lina were very excited about getting
married and having a baby. In 1996, they were married in a
civil ceremony in Utah which was attended by some of their
close friends. Juan's abuse began later that year, after the
birth of their son, Enrique. He would act violently towards
both Lina and Enrique, later promising to her that he would
change his behavior. In
1997, Lina and Juan returned to California seeking better
job opportunities for Juan. There, the violence escalated.
One particularly violent outburst occurred one night in
September of 1997, when Juan became irrationally angry at
the baby for crying. He tried to take Enrique from Lina's
arms, but she didn't let him, fearing that he would hurt the
baby. Juan tried to grab the baby again, hitting the baby
very hard when he ripped him from Lina's arms. He threw the
screaming baby into his crib and hit him several times in
the face and head to make him stop crying. Juan's
anger then turned toward Lina. He grabbed her and pushed her
down on the bed. Lina could not move because Juan had pinned
her down underneath him. Juan started punching her with a
closed fist, punching her in the left eye several times.
Lina struggled to get Juan off of her, and he beat her even
harder, hitting her on the back of her head, in her chest,
and in her ribs. He gave her a black eye, and the beatings
caused bumps on her head and several bruises. On
the following day, after seeing the black eye and hearing
the story of the beating, Lina's mother called the police.
Juan was arrested and served three months in prison for
child abuse. Since Juan was released from jail, Lina has had
very little contact with him. She is still afraid of Juan,
and she does not want Juan to hurt her or their baby. Juan
comes to visit a few times a month, but Lina does not let
him being alone with the baby because she is afraid that he
might hurt him or take him away from her. Lina
has lived in the U.S. for nine years and has the support of
family and friends living in this country who provide the
support she now needs to keep herself and Enrique safe from
Juan's ongoing abuse. Lina is afraid to return to El
Salvador to obtain her green card under VAWA because she
fears that if Juan finds out she has left the U.S. he will
follow her there, where she would have no protection against
his violence. This
case originated in Maryland. ELISE Elise
is a 29-year-old woman from Nigeria. In 1995, while working
in Lagos, Nigeria, a friend of Elise mentioned he knew an
American man named Raymond who was hoping to settle down and
wanted to meet her. The friend gave Raymond Elise's address,
and he began writing to her. He requested her phone number,
and soon began calling her every day at work. He then
traveled to Nigeria for a three week visit, and the two
enjoyed meeting and spending time together. Three months
later, Raymond visited again. He
continued to call Elise at work almost every day, telling
her to go straight home after work and not to talk to
anyone. Elise believed Raymond's interest in everything she
was doing was a sign of love. In the summer of 1996, Elise
and Raymond were married in Nigeria, and shortly thereafter
Elise realized she was pregnant. Later
that year, Elise moved to America to live with Raymond.
Elise worked with Raymond at his business, and things went
well for the first few weeks. Elise then began to experience
hostility from an office manager at the business, and at
first thought little of it. Then one morning this woman
called their home and hung up upon hearing Elise's voice.
When Elise mentioned to Raymond she thought this was odd, he
flew into a rage, screaming that anyone could call him any
time about anything. Elise tried to clarify what she said,
but Raymond would hear nothing of it, and continued to
curse, slam doors, and accuse Elise of trying to ruin his
business. Elise was saddened and depressed when Raymond
became angry, but this only made him angrier. He said she
had no right to be depressed and that he did not care about
her feelings. He would not permit Elise to look sad or to
frown. After this incident, Raymond forbade Elise to pick up
the phone. Raymond
frequently forced sex upon Elise, and consistently wanted to
have sex in positions with which Elise was uncomfortable.
When she mentioned that he was hurting her, he would get
angry and curse at her. He would also yank her head down and
force her to give him oral sex. She was never allowed to say
no. Elise
learned that Raymond was in relationships with several other
women. Often these women would call during the day and she
would speak with them. When Raymond came home and found out
that Elise had answered the phone and had learned of his
affairs, he hit her hard on her face with the back of his
hand. He said one of the women would kill Elise, and he
would get in trouble for it. Elise began to cry, but this
only made Raymond more angry. Throughout
her pregnancy and afterwards, Raymond discouraged Elise from
making friends and talking to anyone, even his family. He
accused her of trying to get people to like her more than
they liked him. Raymond also stopped bringing Elise to work;
because her pregnancy often made her tired and sick, he
claimed she was no good and useless. She was not allowed to
go anywhere without Raymond, and was forbidden to find a job
of her own. Elise was a lawyer in Nigeria, but Raymond would
not let her take the bar exam in America. He also disparaged
her pregnancy by saying he could not sleep at night because
it was disgusting to sleep with a pregnant woman. He had
demanded Elise have an abortion, but she refused. When she
suffered from morning sickness, he would yell at her, saying
she made him sick. During
a routine prenatal exam, Elise received a precautionary HIV
test and was horrified to discover it was positive. When
Raymond arrived, he refused to be tested. When he took Elise
home, he acted sweet and tender to her, explaining that a
former girlfriend claimed she was HIV positive, but he had
not believed her. He told Elise not to worry, and that he
would take care of her. Their
daughter was born in 1997, in a C-section procedure. When
Elise's stitches became infected, Raymond would not take her
to the hospital, claiming he had better things to do. Often,
Raymond would not pick up Elise's HIV medication in order to
punish her for not obeying him. In
July of 1997 they moved to Maryland, where Raymond started a
new branch of his business. When Elise began to become
concerned about her immigration status, Raymond lashed out
at her. He hit her repeatedly with a closed fist, and then
began kicking her, knocking her onto the bed on top of the
baby. Elise picked up the baby to protect her, hoping
Raymond would not attack her while she was holding the baby.
He tried to grab the baby back, and Elise gave her to him
because she did not want him to pull on the baby's body.
Raymond accused Elise of marrying him for her green card. He
then put the baby on the bed and yanked Elise by the hair
into the bathroom. When Elise accidentally scratched his
face in self defense, he made her kneel on the floor. After
this incident, Elise was in so much pain that she could not
get out of bed for two days. By
January of 1998, Elise began to become desperate for the HIV
medication Raymond was withholding. She was also concerned
about her immigration status, and mentioned to Raymond that
she heard an immigration law was changing that month.
Raymond became angry and violent, hitting Elise with the
back of his hand and pushing at her face. He said he would
have her deported and maybe kill her. He said one night that
he was going to shoot Elise in her sleep. She was afraid to
mention immigration papers again. She considered calling the
police, because Raymond's family had warned her that he had
been jailed for beating a girlfriend before. However,
Raymond told Elise she was stupid, and that his family was
just manipulating her to get his money. Raymond
began traveling for extended periods, meeting with other
women around the world. When Elise dared to confront him
about this, he became enraged. He left, and soon after Elise
began to receive threatening phone calls from his family.
Later he and a few family members showed up to force Elise
to apologize for her indignance. Intimidated, depressed, and
trying to placate Raymond for the sake of the baby, Elise
apologized. Later that night, Raymond came upstairs and
began yelling for Elise to take her clothes off. He yelled
that she was an idiot, and grabbed her mouth and twisted it.
When he started pulling and punching Elise, the baby started
to cry. Elise tried to lay down with the baby to comfort
her, but Raymond continued to pull off her clothes. Elise
got up and ran to the door, but Raymond grabbed her and
pulled her panties down, trying to assault her from behind.
He then yanked her into the bedroom and started to hit her.
Neighbors heard the commotion and called the police, but
Raymond assured the police it was only a small domestic
matter. The police informed Elise that she could take
Raymond to court, and the next day she went to court and
obtained a protective order. Elise
wishes to remain in the United States to raise her daughter,
who is an American Citizen. If she were forced to return to
Nigeria to become a lawful permanent resident, she would
face extreme hardship. Raymond, who has significant contacts
in Nigeria, could easily follow her to there, where her U.S.
protective order would not protect her. Under Nigerian law,
since Elise is Raymond's wife, he would be able to control
her in any way he saw fit including perpetration and abuse,
and there would be no one she could turn to for protection.
Raymond is also bound by court order to stay away from
Elise, to obey the order granting her custody of the child,
and to financially support Elise and their daughter. During
the time Elise and their daughter are detained in Nigeria,
her protection order is not enforceable. Further,
Elise is now receiving ongoing treatment for her HIV
infection here in the United States. Raymond transmitted
this HIV infection to her. While her daughter shows no signs
of being infected yet, she must continue to be monitored
medically. Neither Elise nor her daughter would be able to
receive the medical care they require while in Nigeria. It
is necessary for Elise to obtain her green card without
leaving this country, as this is the only way to ensure her
the rights and safety. This
case originated in Arizona. PALOMA Paloma
is originally from Mexico. She has a thirteen-year-old son
from a prior marriage named Tomás and a seven-year-old
daughter from her current marriage named Margarita. Paloma's
current husband is named Pedro. Paloma and Pedro met and
fell in love eight years ago. Pedro is originally from
Mexico, but he is now a lawful permanent resident of the
United States. Paloma,
Pedro, and little Tomás settled in Arizona several years
ago. A little while after Paloma and Pedro married, Pedro
started abusing Paloma. He would hit Paloma repeatedly. He
would insult and demean her often. On one occasion, Pedro
struck her with such force on the side of the head that she
lost her hearing for an entire day. The beatings were
regular and severe. Pedro also physically abused Paloma's
son Tomás from the time the boy was five years old. Pedro
would beat Tomás with a belt as punishment whether or not
Tomás had done anything wrong. He imposed arbitrary rules
on the child and would punish him severely if the rules were
ever broken. He would also impose grueling physical torture
on the boy for the smallest acts of misbehavior. For
example, if Tomás ever displeased Pedro by talking too
loudly or leaving a toy on the floor, Pedro would punish the
child by making him kneel against the wall holding heavy
books in each of his hands. Tomás would have to raise the
books over his own head and hold them there for long periods
of time. If the kindergartner ever let his arms droop down
from the weight of the books, Pedro would increase the
length of the punishment. Paloma
soon became pregnant with Margarita. While she was pregnant,
Pedro continued to physically and emotionally torment her.
Once, he placed a sharp kitchen knife against Paloma's
pregnant stomach and threatened to kill her. He whispered in
her ear that if he killed her, no one would ever find out.
Paloma believed his threat: she had no friends or family to
whom she could turn for help in the U.S. She was completely
dependent on Pedro for food and money for her son and new
baby. She felt helpless and trapped in the abusive
relationship. After
Margarita was born, Paloma decided to save herself and her
two children from Pedro's violence. Since she had no support
or family in the U.S., she and her children fled to Mexico
to seek solace with her parents. She believed she was
finally safe from Pedro. Unfortunately, though, Pedro
followed her across the border. When Paloma was hospitalized
briefly with an illness, Pedro seized the opportunity to
kidnap Margarita from Paloma's parents' home. Pedro crossed
back into U.S. territory and then filed for divorce and sole
custody of Margarita. Paloma
was frantic at the thought of losing her daughter to her
abuser. It took Paloma six months to apply for and receive a
visitor's visa to reenter the U.S. and begin defending
against Pedro's motion for custody. She had to leave Tomás
in Mexico with her parents when she returned to the U.S.,
and she has been separated from her son ever since.
Meanwhile, the custody battle between Paloma and Pedro has
dragged on, and the court has ordered Paloma to keep to a
particular schedule for visiting Margarita. Pending final
resolution of the case, she has shared custody with Pablo.
However, if she misses even a day of visitation, Paloma
believes that Pedro will report this to the court and move
for termination of her custody and visitation with
Margarita. Paloma
has received approval of her VAWA petition for residency. If
she is forced to return to Mexico as the only way to get her
green card under VAWA, Pedro has already demonstrated his
willingness and ability to follow her there. If she is
forced to go to Mexico, she may never see her daughter
Margarita again. One of two things will probably happen.
Either Pedro will petition the court for termination of
Paloma's custody and visitation rights on the grounds that
she abandoned Margarita and returned to Mexico, or he will
simply kidnap Margarita again and disappear with her
somewhere in the U.S. Paloma wants nothing more than to be
reunited with her two children and build a safe, happy life
for them away from Pedro's abuse. She risks all of this by
returning to Mexico to get her green card. This
case originated in Arizona. SUSANA Susana
is originally from Mexico. She met her husband, Manuel, in
Mexico six or seven years ago. Manuel is a lawful permanent
resident of the United States originally from Mexico. The
two married after four years of dating and courtship. They
later came to live in the United States and eventually had a
child, who is a U.S. citizen. Susana also has two children
living with her from a prior relationship. Throughout
their marriage, Manuel subjected Susana to severe physical
and emotional abuse. Susana did not report many of the
beatings to the police because she was afraid that Manuel
would treat her more cruelly in retaliation. Susana's fear
of Manuel continued to grow throughout the two years of
their marriage. Eventually, her fear of Manuel overcame her
fear of calling the police. As
soon as Susana began calling the police to help her, Manuel
found himself facing charge after charge of domestic assault
and battery. Susana called the police and had Manuel
arrested after he held her at gunpoint in their home for an
entire day. On another occasion, Manuel set fire to the bed
while Susana and her sister were sleeping in it. He was
charged with arson soon afterwards. The violence and fear in
Susana's household reached breaking point when Manuel
subjected Susana to an intense, bloody, and horrible beating
for which he was later convicted of domestic assault and
battery and placed in jail. Following this beating, Susana
attempted suicide. She was so depressed and fearful of
Manuel that she saw suicide as the only way out of the
constant beatings, threats, and violence. Susana
finally decided to flee the U.S. and Manuel and return to
her family in Mexico. She escaped with her children to her
sister's home in a small Mexican town and attempted to
rebuild her life there. Manuel followed her. He had been in
jail in the U.S., serving out his sentence for domestic
violence against Susana. The moment Manuel received a
temporary work release from jail, he seized his opportunity
to immediately cross the border to Mexico find Susana. He
knew exactly where she lived. Once he located Susana in her
sister's home, he attacked and injured both Susana and her
sister and trashed Susana's sister's house. Susana called
the Mexican police, but they did nothing to protect her. The
police did not even take Manuel into custody. Realizing that
the only country with laws to protect her from domestic
violence was the United States, Susana and her children fled
back to Arizona. There, Susana obtained an enforceable
restraining order against Manuel. Susana
consulted a lawyer when she returned to the U.S. and filed a
VAWA self-petition for residency. Though her visa petition
has been approved, Susana remains fearful about the next
step in getting her green card. Under the current law,
Susana will be forced to return to Mexico as the only way of
getting her green card. Once she returns to Mexico, Susana
has no doubt that Manuel will follow her and hurt or kill
her. Susana knows from experience that the Mexican police
will not protect her from Manuel's violence and abuse.
Therefore, the only place where Susana can be protected from
injury, torture, and death at the hands of Manuel is the
United States. Outside U.S. borders, Susana's restraining
order is unenforceable, and Susana faces grave danger, and
possibly death if she is forced to leave. This
case originated in Arizona. ELENA Elena
is originally from Mexico. At a young age, she met and
married Pablo, also a Mexican citizen. Pablo subjected Elena
to years of physical and emotional abuse and terror. She
tried to get police and family members to help her, but no
one could keep her safe from Pablo in Mexico. Police never
arrested Pablo for constantly beating her, and the laws of
Mexico did not hold Pablo accountable for spouse abuse.
Eventually, Elena divorced Pablo. This did not end the
violence, though. Pablo continued to stalk Elena even after
the divorce, and he attempted to kill her on one occasion.
Fearing that Pablo would kill her in Mexico and knowing that
she could not be safe in that country, Elena fled to
Arizona. In
Arizona, she met a man named Kevin, who was a United States
citizen. After two years of dating, she and Kevin married.
To Elena's shock and dismay, Kevin soon began to mistreat
her. He had a drinking problem that continued to worsen. He
would lose control and go into rages of destruction and
violence. Along with damaging household property and
shouting threats and obscenities at Elena, Kevin also
attacked her. He would pull her hair, grab her wrists, and
chase her out of the house. Once Kevin violently attacked
Elena when Elena was in her seventh month of a delicate
pregnancy for which she had spent the previous month
hospitalized and bedridden. Luckily, the baby was not hurt
following Kevin's violent assault on Elena. Elena
called the police more than once during her marriage to
Kevin. She ultimately succeeded in obtaining a restraining
order against him, granting her legal custody of the child
and allowing her to separate from Kevin. Now that she has
completed her VAWA petition for residency, she faces the
horror of returning to Mexico as the only way of obtaining
her green card under VAWA. Elena
originally entered the U.S. because she was fleeing her
violent, abusive ex-husband, Pablo. This man stalked her for
years, and he attempted to kill her. He is still waiting in
Mexico for her to return, and he knows exactly where she
would stay if she returned to get her green card. Elena
knows that the Mexican police are ineffective at protecting
battered women from their violent husbands--their
ineffectiveness forced Elena to leave Mexico in the first
place, since she was not being protected there by the
Mexican government. Elena left Mexico alone, without
friends, family, or money, out of sheer terror. She fled in
order to save her own life. She has made friends in Arizona
and has a support system of friends and service providers
helping her and her young child. Now, if she must return to
Mexico, the laws of the United States will not protect her,
and her life will be in peril once more. This
case originated in Arizona. MERCEDES Mercedes
is originally from Mexico. She married Scott, a United
States citizen whom she met in Mexico. Scott brought
Mercedes to live with him in the United States. Scott seemed
like a charming, loving person when Mercedes dated and fell
in love with him. After they got married though, Mercedes
discovered that Scott had a serious substance abuse problem
and an inability to control his temper. He began physically
and emotionally abusing Mercedes. Scott
kept Mercedes isolated in their home. He monitored her
movements very closely, refusing to let her leave the house
without him. She was not allowed to talk with others on the
telephone or make friends of her own. She wanted to work to
help support the family, but Scott refused to file a
petition to obtain Mercedes's legal immigration status and
work authorization. Consequently, Mercedes was left alone in
the house, completely dependent on Scott for all her
necessities. Because of Scott's drug and alcohol addictions,
he was often fired from jobs. During the three years of
their marriage, Scott and Mercedes were frequently homeless,
with Scott unemployed and hooked on drugs, and Mercedes
unable to work because Scott would not file for her
immigration status. Scott
and Mercedes had a child, Alison, who brought much joy to
Mercedes's life. Otherwise, Mercedes was absolutely
miserable in her marriage. Scott had begun punching,
slapping, and kicking Mercedes on a regular basis, and she
was very afraid of him. He would go into rages, beating her
severely and destroying furniture within their home.
Whenever Mercedes would try to call the police, Scott would
threaten to have her deported and to take Alison away from
her. Nevertheless, Mercedes reported Scott's abuse to the
police three times. Each time, the police intervened, and
Scott was jailed and prosecuted for domestic violence. Mercedes
fled her home and entered a battered women's shelter after
Scott brutally raped and beat her one evening. She consulted
with attorneys about initiating a VAWA self-petition. Once
her petition is approved, she will have to return to Mexico
as the only way of getting her green card under VAWA. This
would pose a very grave danger and hardship to Mercedes and
her daughter. If
Mercedes is forced to return to Mexico, she will have no one
with whom to leave her daughter. She is very afraid that
Scott will try to take Alison away from her, either by
filing with the court for custody or by kidnaping the little
girl. Mercedes cannot afford to make the trip to Mexico, but
if she had to return, she would have to take Alison with
her. Scott
knows where Mercedes would be staying in Mexico, and she is
afraid that he would follow her and take their child away
from her. He is a U.S. citizen, so he can enter and leave
Mexico easily. He has done so in the past. Mercedes feels
that if he found her in Mexico, he could have the
opportunity to physically assault her and then take their
child. Mercedes would not be safe from Scott's abuse if she
were forced to return to Mexico to get her green card. This
case originated in Arizona. MARIA Maria
is 41 years old, originally from a small village in Mexico.
In Mexico, Maria was a single parent. Her daughter's
biological father never took interest in providing emotional
or financial support for them. Maria, who has a degree in
veterinary medicine, worked for a cooperative farm. She went
to Arizona eight years ago, when her daughter was eleven
months old, to visit a brother who lived in Nogales,
Arizona, and her sister and father, who owned property and
lived in Tucson. At a gathering at her sister's house, she
met Jim, an American citizen. Maria said Jim "seemed
real nice," and when they started dating, he
"treated me and my daughter so nice." She said,
"I felt so special. I never thought things would
change." Two
months after their wedding, the abuse began. The couple
lived with Jim's parents for the first four months of their
marriage. Jim and his family drink excessively. When Jim was
not drinking, Maria found him to be in a bad mood. During
their first argument, Jim grabbed Maria by the neck. His
parents pulled him away, but his aggression toward Maria
only intensified after this incident. While Jim assured
Maria when they married that he would help her file for
immigration status, he soon changed his attitude. Jim did
the initial filing, but was too drunk to attend the
interview meeting. He also began to accuse Maria of marrying
him for her papers. Whenever Maria has attempted to call the
police or involve his family in their private affairs, Jim
has threatened to report her and have her deported. Maria
is a veterinarian, but Jim has forbidden her from working in
her field. She now cleans hotel rooms to make ends meet.
Maria's young daughter Rosa stays with Jim during the night
while Maria is at work. Often Jim wakes Rosa up in the
middle of the night to go out and buy alcohol for him, or to
make him something to eat. Maria
is subject to many types of abuse from Jim. A large and
powerful man, he abuses her physically and has flung her
across a room into a wall. He insults and threatens her,
refuses to support the family financially, and forces her to
perform sexual acts against her will. Rosa, now eight years
old, has been witness to it all. Maria
often takes refuge at her sister's house, but Jim always
finds her. He has threatened to kill her if she attempts to
leave again. She is afraid to enter a shelter, because she
would have to change jobs in order for Jim not to find her.
This is impossible due to her current immigration status. Now,
four years into the marriage, Maria has been diagnosed with
depression and anxiety and is under medical treatment. When
she speaks of her experience, she cries and her body shivers
as in a trance. This handsome, charismatic man double her
size is so different from the man she originally met. Rosa's
behavior has also been affected due to her witnessing the
abuse of her stepfather. Recently, the situation has begun
to worsen for Maria and Rosa. Jim has begun to experience
blackouts and Maria has had to drag him into the apartment
on several occasions. Because of his large size and her fear
of being seriously injured from an attack, Maria has made
arrangements with a neighbor who will call the police when
she hears fighting. Although
Maria has filed a self petition without Jim's knowledge, she
is unable to return to Mexico to obtain her green card. Jim
monitors her whereabouts and will not let her leave; he has
threatened to find her anywhere and kill her if she leaves
again. In addition, Rosa came to this country as an infant,
and it is the only home she knows. Maria cannot uproot Rosa
from school and activities for an unknown amount of time to
return to Mexico. However, she is, of course, afraid to
leave Rosa with Jim. Finally, because she only works as a
maid and is the sole supporter of the family, she cannot
afford a trip to Mexico. She may have to be there for
several months, and has no family, friends, or support
system there. For these reasons, Maria should be allowed to
obtain her green card here in the United States. Once she
has obtained it she will possess the power necessary to
leave Jim and end his abuses. This
case originated in Iowa. AYESHA Ayesha
is originally from Lesotho, a kingdom surrounded by South
Africa. She fled to the United States along with her three
children after her husband, Omari, was murdered by the head
of a counterfeiting gang. The gang had been harassing Omari,
who was the paymaster of a mine, for over a year. They had
wanted him to switch the real currency of the mine with
counterfeit currency. After a year of threats and
intimidation, Omari still refused to switch the currency,
and the gang shot and killed him in the street. After his
murder, police asked Ayesha to assist them in catching those
responsible for the crime. As a result, the gang leader and
his supporters discovered that Ayesha knew about their
schemes. They threatened her life and her children's lives
and forced them to seek refuge in the U.S. While
living in the U.S. and taking classes at a state university,
Ayesha met Todd, a lawful permanent resident of the United
States. Todd helped Ayesha deal with the pain of losing her
husband and leaving her country. Soon, Todd and Ayesha
became friends and started dating. They later married and
settled in Iowa. Just
after they were married, Todd started treating Ayesha and
her children cruelly. He would insult the children and
scream at them, and most often he would simply neglect them.
He would also push and slap Ayesha whenever he would get
angry at her. This violence only escalated throughout their
marriage. Todd's
alcoholism soon affected his ability to work. He quit
working full-time, and Ayesha was forced to assume all his
work responsibilities and entirely support the family. She
and her children were treated as slaves by Todd, always
doing the cooking and cleaning for him. As time passed
Todd's behavior only grew more violent and erratic. On one
occasion, he punched Ayesha in the face as she was driving
the car, causing her to lose control of the car and veer off
the road. On other occasions, Todd would wake the entire
family up in the middle of the night, ordering all the
children to gather around him and listen as he insulted
their mother and called her "an awful whore." In
May of 1998, Todd unleashed his rage on Ayesha for the last
time. He kicked her leg repeatedly, causing a deep wound and
an infection called "cellulitis." Ayesha still
limps to this day and suffers leg pain as a result of Todd's
abuse. Following this incident, Ayesha called the police and
received a no contact order from the court, requiring that
Todd stay away from Ayesha and the children. Todd eventually
plead guilty to the charge of domestic violence for
attacking Ayesha. A month later, he was arrested again for
violating the no contact order by calling Ayesha's daughter
and threatening Ayesha and her family with physical
violence. He has threatened to kill Ayesha for having him
arrested. After
separating from Todd, Ayesha consulted an attorney and filed
her VAWA self-petition for residency. Now she must return to
South Africa as the only way of getting her green card. Such
a return to South Africa will put Ayesha and her children at
serious risk of injury or death for several reasons. First,
the counterfeiting gang that murdered Ayesha's first husband
is eager to retaliate against Ayesha for assisting the South
African police in the investigation. They have threatened to
kill Ayesha and her family. Second, there is a current
political crisis in Lesotho, accompanied by a military
invasion from South Africa, which has contributed to
instability in the region. Because of the instability,
Ayesha and her family are even more vulnerable to terrorist
attacks by the counterfeiting gang. Third, Ayesha fears that
Todd will travel to South Africa and try to hurt her or kill
her. Law enforcement in South Africa does not believe it is
their job to intervene to protect victims of domestic
violence, and will do nothing to enforce Ayesha's no contact
order. Further, there is a general lack of resources
available for battered women in Lesotho. Because of all
these reasons, forcing Ayesha and her three children to
return to Lesotho as the only avenue to obtain her green
card under VAWA puts her at risk of torture and death. This
case originated in Iowa. ALLEGRA Allegra
is originally from Mexico. She came to the United States
with her family when she was in high school. Just after
graduating from high school, she met Diego, a lawful
permanent resident of the United States. The two courted and
dated for a year-and-a-half, and then they married in a
church before family and friends. It
was only a week after the wedding that Diego began to
change. He became very possessive and would not allow
Allegra to see her family. Allegra found herself completely
isolated from the outside world. She was not allowed to have
visitors come to visit or speak to people she knew at
church. Eventually Diego forced her to move with him to
another state where she knew no one. They stayed at his
sister's house where she was often denied food. In time,
Diego began sexually abusing her, making her have sex with
him against her will. He would rape her so brutally that she
suffered bleeding and internal injury. After one of these
incidents, Allegra fled to her brother's house, and Diego
followed her. He threatened her brother's life, and he told
Allegra that unless she came back to him, she would never
see her brother again. Someone in Allegra's family called
the police to the scene. When they arrived, the police only
spoke with Diego, since he was the only English speaker in
the group. To Allegra's amazement and horror, the police
left without arresting Diego. A few
months later, when Allegra was pregnant with their first
child, Diego almost killed her. Allegra was sick with a high
fever and the flu. Diego had refused to take her to a
doctor, telling her that since she did not have a social
security number, she would be deported if she sought medical
treatment. As the night wore on, Allegra became cold and
asked Diego to turn up the thermostat in the house. When
Diego refused to do this, Allegra got up and tried to do it
herself. That was when Diego pushed her back to the bed and
began to suffocate her. He picked her up by her neck and
punched her repeatedly. Then he slammed her head against the
door. There was no phone in the house, so she could not call
for help. Allegra screamed loudly, and Diego threw her back
on the bed and covered her mouth forcefully with his hand,
until he drew blood from her mouth. Finally, he raped her
and left her there on the bed. The
next day, Allegra miscarried their child. All that day, she
begged Diego to take her to the hospital, as she was
bleeding profusely and was sick with fever. He told her to
stay in bed and responded, "our problems are private
ones." Towards the evening, though, Diego finally
called Allegra's parents, who came to pick her up and take
her to a doctor. Allegra has not had contact with Diego
since that day. Allegra
filed a VAWA self-petition for residency on the basis of her
abusive relationship with Diego. She has been receiving
mental health counseling since her separation from Diego,
and she is trying to rebuild her life and make plans for
attending college. She wishes to become a teacher.
If
Allegra is forced to return to Mexico to get her green card
under VAWA, she will face serious danger. Diego knows her
address in Mexico and has already called her family members
in Mexico, threatening to hurt Allegra if she returns.
Allegra knows that Diego has a gun and would not be afraid
to use it to kill her. She is certain that Mexico lacks the
laws and services to protect her from Diego's abuse. She is
also terrified that if she returns to Mexico, Diego will
follow her there and finally kill her for leaving him. This
case originated in Iowa. MARISIA Marisia
is a citizen of Mexico. She met her husband, Nicolo, in
Mexico when he was visiting his family there. Nicolo was
living in California at the time and was a lawful permanent
resident of the United States. Nicolo and Marisia began a
long-distance relationship which lasted for the next six
years. At the end of that period, Nicolo proposed to
Marisia, and the two married in Las Vegas the next year. After
the wedding, Marisia noticed Nicolo's behavior changing. He
was almost never home, and he forbade her from leaving the
house or making friends. Marisia was required to stay in the
house at all times, so if there were no food in the house,
Marisia would not eat. In fact, she lost 20 pounds in the
first month of their marriage. She was incredibly depressed
and lonely, and she was also entirely dependent on Nicolo
for all her necessities. When
Nicolo did come home, he was usually drunk or high on
marijuana or cocaine. He would yell insults at Marisia and
demean her in front of others. When she was pregnant, he
would not allow her to see a doctor for check-ups. He also
became physically abusive when angry, often pushing her or
grabbing her roughly by the arms and leaving welts and
bruises on her skin. |
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