New program aids illegal alien abuse victims
Posted on Monday, September 15, 2008
ROGERS — Veronica discovered her husband was having an affair shortly after she and her family came to Northwest Arkansas from Mexico in 1999.
She confronted him, he became aggressive and hit her while she was pregnant with the couple’s ninth child. The abuse continued until he kicked Veronica out of their home and she went to a women’s shelter for help.
“He knew I was scared because I didn’t have [residency ] papers,” Veronica said recently through an interpreter. “He knew I was afraid to call the police.”
There is help for women like Veronica who are abused and who came to the United States illegally. A growing number of women are obtaining federal immigration waivers that let them live and work in the United States as long as they help authorities investigate their abusers.
Catholic Charities Immigration Services in Springdale helps women obtain the waivers, called “UVisas,” from the which allow them to work and their minor children to stay in the country. U. S. Bureau of Citizenship and It’s one type of relief under Immigration Services. the Violence Against Women
A UVisa provides work au- Act that enables victims to thorization to the victim and eventually apply for permanent extends residency waiver to the residency. victim’s minor children. Maria Miller, coordinator of the Catholic Charities crime victims unit, said about 150 people — mostly domestic violence and sexual assault victims — have obtained UVisas in Northwest Arkansas.
The women are in the United States illegally, which can make them more vulnerable to being abused, Miller said.
Often the abuser threatens that if the woman tells authorities, the woman will be deported and separated from her children, creating pressure for her to stay in the relationship. Unable to speak English and without transportation or a job, the woman becomes further isolated, Miller said.
“Things change for the woman when she’s in a new country,” Miller said. “The man is working, out learning the language and is able to move around in society. She’s underground and scared, while he’s telling her she has no rights in this country.”
Arminda Ferguson, a Rogers immigration attorney, said Congress created the UVisa to encourage people to come forward and report crime without being afraid of being deported. A UVisa is not only for female victims of domestic abuse, but men and women who are victims of rape, sexual assault, robbery and other crimes.
To qualify, the victim must have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse, have credible and reliable information, and is likely to help the police investigation or with prosecution.
“You have to at the very least report the crime to police, although that’s not necessarily all,” Ferguson said. “But if you don’t do that, we can’t help you.”
Whereas women who are married to abusers who are citizens get almost immediate visa relief through the Violence Against Women Act, a UVisa, which is a part of the act, applies when the couple isn’t married and when the offender is in the country illegally.
The crime had to have occurred in the United States, but there’s no limit on how long ago.
Congress created UVisa eligibility in 2000, but rules for granting the status weren’t finalized until October 2007. In the interim, applicants were granted temporary UVisa status.
Ferguson is in the process of transferring status for clients who have temporary UVisas. She has about 75 clients applying for permanent UVisa status or similar relief through the Violence Against Women Act.
“People are becoming more aware and realizing that even though I wasn’t married to him or he isn’t a permanent resident or a citizen, I am still able to get this benefit,” Ferguson said. “Word is getting out, and the more people who apply, they tell others.”
The UVisa has another benefit: It allows the victim to apply for permanent residency after four years. In general, Ferguson said, the victim must show that being denied residency would cause hardship.
As of Oct. 1, 8, 000 UVisas were approved by U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Miller at Catholic Charities in Springdale said in the past five years about 120 victims applied for UVisas, while in the last eight months that number was more than 50. She attributes the increase mostly to the efforts of local domestic violence shelters and outreach programs.
Ira Mehlman, spokesman for Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the UVisa program isn’t large enough to cause major concern.
But generally the idea of the government using public policy to handle the private affairs of individuals is troublesome, Mehlman said.
“Obviously when you’re dealing with people suffering from domestic violence, there’s a natural tendency to be as empathetic as possible,” he said. “But these are not issues to be dealt with by U. S. immigration policy.”
The Peace at Home Family Shelter in Fayetteville helps domestic violence victims with the UVisa process.
Aurora Vicari, the shelter’s Hispanic advocate and assistant program director, said the agency helps victims get their GEDs, learn English and apply for public housing assistance. The shelter also helps the women improve their job skills, which Vicari said goes hand-in-hand with obtaining a UVisa.
Having a UVisa also gives the victim the ability to work to support her children, get a driver’s license and rent a home.
Getting a UVisa can take up to a year, and sometimes the wait wears on the woman and she returns to the abuser, Vicari said.
“To Hispanic women from a place like Mexico there is no such thing as a shelter for battered women,” she said. “Here, we give them support and teach them something new.”
In Veronica’s case, her lack of English hurt her ability to communicate with police during the UVisa process. It took several months in 2004 for Rogers police to issue a certification document she needed for the application. The certification verifies the victim reported the crime and is willing to cooperate.
Rogers police spokesman Lt. Mike Johnson said any lack of bilingual staff in 2004 has been corrected, and that the department works closely with Catholic Charities to help crime victims obtain UVisas.
“We express to each and every one of these domestic violence victims there are options they can follow with UVisas being one of them,” Johnson said. “We’re working very hard to educate these Latino women that there is help regardless of their legal status.”
Though Veronica’s husband was deported to Mexico, she asked that her last name not be used.
Vicari said getting a UVisa can be expensive, with a $ 545 standard fee and other costs for fingerprints and to apply for benefits for children, Vicari said.
Miller said cost doesn’t usually prevent people from applying, but sometimes it delays the process.
“They borrow the money from friends or relatives or have someone send the money from Mexico,” Miller said. “They find a way to pay the cost.”
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