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VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT OFFERING PROTECTION FOR BATTERED IMMIGRANT SPOUSE (WIFE OR HUSBAND) AND CHILDREN

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), enacted as part of the "Crime Bill" (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994), provides alien self-petitioning rights to domestic abuse victims who are unable to leave the United States for financial, social, cultural or other reasons.

In a number of cases, immigrant women living in the United States have reported United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that their abusive spouses have threatened to have them deported if they do not comply with the abusers' wishes. Some abusers have refused to file the immigrant relative petitions that would allow their spouses and children to apply for permanent residence. Others have threatened to withdraw petitions already filed which remained under their control.

Victims of domestic violence should not have to fear deportation because of their relationship with an abuser. Under VAWA family members who would otherwise be eligible for permanent residency will no longer be forced to rely on an abuser to remain in the United States.

Bonnie J. Campbell, Director of the Justice Department's Violence Against Women Office, noted the importance of new protections in the Violence Against Women Act. "Unfortunately, some immigrant families live in constant fear of domestic violence. The new process will ensure that they do not have to suffer in silence," Mr. Campbell said. "No one should have to choose between abuse and deportation."

Abusers generally refuse to file relative petitions for their closest family members because they find it easier to control relatives who do not have lawful immigration status.

This regulation (VAWA):

1. Allows a spouse or child to seek immigrant classification by self-petitioning if he or she has been battered by or subjected to extreme cruelty committed by the citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. (A self-petitioning spouse's unmarried children who are less than 21 years old may be included in the parent's self-petition, unless the child has filed his or her own self-petition. The law requires a self-petitioning child to be unmarried and less than 21 years old.)
   
   
2. Also permits a spouse to seek immigrant classification if his/her child has been battered or treated extremely cruelly.
   

The spouse/child who is self-petitioning must:

1. Be living in the United States at the time he or she applies for this benefit;
   
2. Be eligible for immigrant classification;
   
3. Have resided in the United States with the citizen or lawful permanent resident; •Have been battered by or have been the subject of extreme cruelty committed by the citizen or lawful permanent resident during the marriage, or be the parent of a child who has been battered by or has been the subject of extreme cruelty committed by the citizen or lawful permanent resident during the marriage;
   
4. Be a person of good moral character;
   
5. Be a person whose deportation would result in extreme hardship to himself/herself, or his/her children.
   
6. Have entered into the marriage to the citizen or lawful permanent resident in good faith. "
   Extreme cruelty" under VAWA may include being the victim of any act or threatened act of violence. Acts of violence may include:
   
7. Any forceful detention which results or threatens to result in physical or mental injury;
   
8. Psychological or sexual abuse or exploitation, including rape, molestation, incest (if the victim is a minor) or forced prostitution; and
   
9. Acts that may not initially appear violent but are part of an overall pattern of violence.