VAWA - A Solution to Immigrants in Abusive Relationships!
On January 6, 2006 the President signed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) into law. VAWA is a very powerful piece of legislation that has been successful in protecting abused spouses and children. Moreover, VAWA has very definite provisions to protect immigrants in abusive relationships from loosing their status in the United States or getting deported from the United States. This article is to be limited in scope and covers briefly VAWA as it pertains to immigration law only.
Who can use or benefit from VAWA?
Although VAWA stands for “Violence Against Women Act”, it applies to all spouses including abused men and children. A VAWA petition can be filed in situations where the spouse of the US citizen or Permanent Residence has abused the alien. Abuses do not always have to be physical. Abuse can be mental, psychological, physical, or a combination of all the above. In fact, many abuses are psychological and sometimes leave long lasting scars. For instance, Anita is Married to Ram who is a US citizen. Ram knowing that Anita is alone in the United States and depending on him to obtain a green card takes advantage of Anita. Ram will regularly make insulting comments to Anita. When Anita tries to answer the insult, Ram will be threatening on calling the Immigration Services on her. Note that Ram never hits Anita or physically abuses Anita. However, Anita is scared and humiliated. She stays in the relationship not only because she fears deportation but also that her family at home will not welcome her back as a divorcee. As time goes by Anita gets bitter and desperate. She feels she has no way out of this relationship especially because she will have to leave the United States if she leaves her husband. Anita gets more and more depressed and feels like committing suicide. This example is quite common in South Asian communities even if it might be an extreme example of psychological abuses. The question is whether Anita can leave her husband, go to a shelter and stay in the US? Well, the short answer is yes provided Anita qualifies for a VAWA self petition.
What are the requirements to qualify for a VAWA petition?
In simple terms there are three requirements to prove that you are eligible for a VAWA petition:
- You had a bona fide marriage, that is, you entered a marriage in good faith with a United States citizen or permanent resident (“green card” holder) spouse ;
- You were in an abusive relationship; and
- You are a person of good moral character.
You are highly advised to document every of the above and to contact a licensed attorney who practices immigration law and is familiar with such cases. Indeed, preparing a VAWA abused case especially if it does not involve physical abuses can be a daunting task. Note that VAWA petitions can be filed during or before removal proceedings (deportations). Our office has successfully processed many of such cases.
What will happen to a VAWA self petitioner if he/she files such a petition?
Many abused immigrant are afraid to file such petitions because they think that the abusive spouses are going to hurt them by reporting them to the immigration services when they find out. They are wrong because VAWA has very specific provisions to protect the abused spouses and children legally. First VAWA is a highly confidential matter. Any kind of investigation will be done very discreetly. Second, there are special provisions under the Immigration Laws that prevent information from the abusive spouses and their families to be used against the abused immigrant. There are few exceptions to this. In fact, it is an offense punishable by fine if an immigration officer crosses lines drawn by VAWA. Therefore, if you find yourself in a potential VAWA situation you are highly recommended to consult an attorney or an experienced organization which can help you. Remember you do not have stay in abusive relationship!
Removal of Conditional Residence based on abusive relationship
If Anita entered into a marriage obtained a conditional green card and then starts experiencing abuses, she is also eligible to remove this conditional residence based on the abusive relationship. The removal of conditional residence is removed among other ways by filing the form I-751 and selecting that you are removing the conditional residence based on an abusive relationship. In this case, the laws under VAWA will apply.
As we have pointed out earlier this article is limited in scope, there are actually other very important issues involved in a VAWA application. You are recommended to contact an experienced immigration attorney to help you with your application. Should you want more information, feel free to contact our office for a consultation.
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June 24th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Ping
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away
February 15th, 2008 at 11:33 am
A feminist immigration advocacy group called “Civil Society Helps” and attorney Martha J. Sullivan help perpetuate fraud against U.S. citizens and the United States of America for financial, ideological and political gain. Ironically, Civil Society Helps is funded by government programs such as VAWA ( Violence Against Women Act ). VAWA is frequently used as a business plan to bring funds to immigration advocacy groups and attorneys who specialize in immigration fraud to expedite a residency seeker’s immigration process. Can you say aiding and abetting?
With false accusations from an immigrant residency seeker, a stable American citizen can be reduced to living in poverty. All of your assets can be seized and given to the immigrant even if you are not found guilty. You will immediately be forced to surrender a portion of your income to the immigrant . The courts may also order you to turn your motor vehicle over to the immigrant even if the immigrant does not have a driver’s license or insurance.
Under VAWA and false accusations, your immigrant spouse becomes legal and you become illegal. The court system will abuse you and strip you of your rights while social programs that promote immigration fraud thrive.
The primary motivation for these advocacy groups is of course financial gain. However, the rabbit hole goes deeper and the “green” supports the “red” femi-nazi factor. Civil Society Helps sounds nice and peachy, but their ideology is skewed towards extreme feminism and socialism. Their goals of “equality” are achieved by unconstitutionally stripping a man of his possessions and home without due process or any finding of guilt. Their support for the immigrant community buys votes for the likes of Hillary Clinton who supports VAWA and immigration which supports the likes of the Civil Society. Are you starting to see the big picture now?
The immigration loopholes VAWA provides were purposely designed to appease the immigrant population which provides an unlimited supply and demand to fund groups like Civil Society Helps. VAWA is a billion dollar industry which oppresses men for financial, political and ideological gain. Immigration fraud is a federal crime. Groups that knowingly facilitate immigration fraud need to be held accountable.
Some of the Players in Minnesota
Attorney Martha J. Sullivan
Phone: 651.438.9992
1317 Vermillion St
Hastings, Minnesota 55033
Web: http://www.marthasullivanlaw.com/
Civil Society Helps
1st National Bank Building
332 Minnesota St, Suite E-1436
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101
Phone: 651.291.0713
Fax: 651.291.2588
Web: http://civilsocietyhelps.org/
Casa de Esperanza ( Hope House )
1515 East Lake Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55407
Phone: 651.646.5553
Web: http://www.casadeesperanza.org/
VAWA gives more rights to illegals than citizens
Carey Roberts Carey Roberts
September 18, 2007
Attention, ladies of the world: The U.S. Congress has now granted you the Keys to Kingdom that will unlock the door to U.S. citizenship, a good-paying job, and tons of free services. Here’s how it works.
First, get into the United States, anyway you can. If you’re going to do it legally, a Temporary Worker visa is the easiest way. But why bother with the paperwork, just walk across the border when they’re looking the other way!
Next, you need to find a man. Do it quickly before they can deport you. And preferably a guy who can’t afford his own lawyer — I’ll explain why in a minute.
Tell him you came to the United States to find a new life, to start over, whatever. Use your feminine wiles. Tell him how badly your previous boss or boyfriend treated you. Move in with him. If you can get pregnant or married, that much better.
Here’s where it gets a little dicey, but if you follow my instructions carefully, you’ll nail down that restraining order and hit the VAWA jackpot. Think of a time when he raised his voice, got angry, or told you to stop over-spending the bank account. In our abundant Land of Opportunity, all of those things are considered to be domestic violence!
Now all you have to do is go to a judge and say the argument you had last night made you feel afraid. If you can say it with a trembling lip or misted eye, that will work wonders. Or just accuse him of trying to “control” you. All this may sound unbelievable, but judges have been to lots of classes, and they know that domestic violence is all about power and control. If that doesn’t work, just make something up about him shoving or forcing you to have sex. But don’t claim he actually slugged you, or the judge might want to see the bruises — then you’d have some explaining to do.
Don’t worry about your illegal status, because amazingly the judge is not allowed to ask. Not only that, judges are instructed, “A denial of a protective order would be discrimination based on national origin which is specifically prohibited by law.” You can find that in the Arizona Domestic Violence Benchbook — right there on page 25: www.supreme.state.az.us/cidvc/PDF/DVBB.pdf .
That drive-through restraining order will get your husband or boyfriend kicked out of the house. Now the fun really begins.
First, claiming to be a battered woman (it’s better to use red-meat words like “battered” rather than “abused”) makes it almost impossible for the Citizenship and Immigration Service to deport you.
And now you can start to apply for a broad range of benefits — welfare, Medicaid, and child support. Remember, none of these programs need to know that you are an illegal immigrant — even if they ask, and don’t have to answer.
Then you can go to the Immigration Service and “self-petition” for work authorization, permanent residency, and eventual citizenship. Form I-360 says all you need is an order of protection — so the 15 minutes you spent at the courthouse is already reaping huge dividends.
At some point they might ask you if you are a victim of battery or extreme cruelty. Don’t worry, because if you look at the fine print, the law says your self-declaration is enough. That means whatever you say, they have to believe you. Didn’t I tell you this was going to be a blast?
And there are loads of websites that give step-by-step instructions how to work the system, like WomensLaw.org: http://www.womenslaw.org/immigrantsVAWA.htm#25
If you still don’t believe me how easy this is, then go to the website of the U.S. government: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=499a6c854523d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=828807b03d92b010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
So it all boils down to three simple steps:
1. Get into the country
2. Find a man
3. Accuse him of abuse
And remember the Violence Against Women Act guarantees you free legal help. But your husband or boyfriend won’t be eligible, so if he can’t afford a lawyer, you’ve already won the case.
Maybe you’ve heard of men who were falsely accused of abuse, how it ruined their reputations, emptied out their bank accounts, and destroyed relationships with their children. Don’t worry about those stories. Congress put these benefits into the VAWA law, so obviously it intended for you to take advantage of them.
You go, girl!
February 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Finally It Happens: New York City Lawyer Challenges VAWA in Federal Court
Jim Peterson
Finally It Happens: New York City Lawyer Challenges VAWA in Federal Court
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/02/21/finally-it-happens-new-york-city-lawyer-challenges-vawa-in-federal-court/#comment-59159
February 21, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Federal lawsuit charges parts of the Violence against Women Act are unconstitutional.
Attorney Roy Den Hollander filed on February 14th, a suit in the U.S. Southern District Court of N.Y. attacking sections of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and other U.S. statutes for violating the Constitutional rights of American men who marry alien females.
The defendants are the United States of America, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Executive Office of Immigration Review, No. 08 CV 01521. Roy Den Hollander is the sole plaintiff. Hollander has also sued in a New York State court to have Ladies Nights declared discriminatory in New York City nightclubs and bars.
The VAWA infringes American mens rights to freedom of speech, freedom of choice in marital relationships, right of access to deportation proceedings, procedural due process, and equal protection under the law in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The unconstitutional statutes, enacted at the behest of the feminist lobby, create a fast track to permanent U.S. residency and citizenship for alien wives or ex-wives of American husbands whenever the alien female alleges abuse. Once she mentions the magic words -battery- or -extreme cruelty-, the Government institutes secret, -Star Chamber- immigration proceedings to determine whether the citizen husband is responsible, and, if yes, grants the alien female permanent U.S. residency. The American husband or ex-husband receives no notice of the proceedings, has no opportunity to defend his name, and the Government’s findings of abuse are based almost exclusively on what the alien female says. The feminist lobby created the statutes in order to deter American men from looking overseas for wives. If a marriage to a foreign wife does not workout, the alien female can falsely and opportunistically accuse her American husband of -battery- or -extreme cruelty- and he will have no opportunity to prove his innocence. The husband is barred from the proceedings that are conducted behind closed doors and any evidence that the Government might receive from him is discarded. So not only is the husband presumed guilty, but he is not even allowed to prove differently.
Hollander says -the feminists did not create these statutes out of bleeding hearts for alien wives but to intimidate American men into shopping at home for wives. He notes that, if an American wife accuses her husband of abuse, he at least gets his day in court and the abuse has to fit specific legal definitions. But under the VAWA, a husband can be found guilty of -battery- and -extreme cruelty- for anything from an -offensive- remark to felony assault.
While the VAWA would not send an American man to jail or fine him…not yet anyway, his rights are violated with impunity and his reputation destroyed. Both his alien wife or ex-wife and certain feminist groups can release what happened in the secret proceedings, and in New York State, the husband will have no recourse to a defamation, false light or prima facie tort cause of action no matter how false or harmful the accusations against him. Hollander says that even terrorists have more rights than American men accused of abuse by their alien wives.
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Immigrants who abuse VAWA solely to secure U.S. residency in the absence of abuse should be ordered to pay a hefty fine. They could be granted temporary residency status regardless of the fraud until they repay the fine. This would be a better and more productive solution as it would give the residency seeker a chance to prove their new found moral character by being responsible and accountable for the fraud they attempted to commit against the United States of America.
My VAWA Story:
http://www.marthasullivanlaw.com
Regards,
Sean
July 10th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
It’s easy to you to say so about how people misused this VAWA petition. But for people like me, who get married in good faith with US citizen and having bad luck being abused, mentally and phisically by a husband who really knows he is the key of my staying in US, it is not a pleasant experience in life. I believe every person has right to pursuit their happiness, has right to be treated with respect by their spouse, is it an immigrant or citizen.
So IMHO, this VAWA is a very good petition to protect immigrant spouse’s right as a humanbeing.
July 10th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I agree with you Karina. I have seen many suffer because of fear of deportation. One of my clients are beaten up, raped with a baseball bat (several times), and forced to have with several other men. Another one, the spouse’s parents turned her into literally a “slave”. I have seen so many cases in my office that I cannot believe that most of them are lies.
Shah Peerally
Shah Peerally Law Group PC
510 7421 5887
July 10th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
I agree with you Karina. I have seen many suffer for fear of deportation. One of my clients was beaten up, raped with a baseball bat (several times), and forced to have sex with several other men. Another one, the spouse’s parents turned her literally into a “slave”. I have seen so many cases in my office that I cannot believe that most of them are lies.
Shah Peerally
Shah Peerally Law Group PC
510 7421 5887