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Barriers for Foreign-born Survivors
FOREIGN-BORN SURVIVORS ARE:
Women who were born outside of the United States and have experienced some form of violence. They may be immigrants, refugees, asylees, citizens, non-citizens, or undocumented.
BARRIERS TO ACCESSING SERVICES:
Foreign-born survivors often experience unique barriers to accessing services and are thus left without adequate resources to address their needs.
The following are common barriers faced by foreign-born survivors:
- Lack of knowledge and misinformation about the legal system
- Fear of the police and judicial system
- Fear of deportation
- Fear the abuser will be deported
- Language barriers
- Cultural and religious barriers
- Economic barriers
- Barriers to participating in prosecution
TACTICS OF POWER AND CONTROL USED AGAINST FOREIGN-BORN WOMEN:
- ISOLATION: Not allowing her to learn English or be around anyone who speaks her language
- EMOTIONAL ABUSE: Lying to her about immigration status.
- ECONOMIC ABUSE: Threatening to report her if she works without proper documentation.
- SEXUAL ABUSE: Calling her a prostitute or "mail order bride". Alleging she has a history of prostitution on legal papers.
- USING CHILDREN: Threatening to take her children away from the U.S. Threatening to report her children to Immigration and
Naturalization Services (INS). - THREATS: Threatening to report her to INS to get her deported. Threatening to withdraw the petition to legalize her immigration status.
- USING CITIZENSHIP OR RESIDENCY PRIVILEGE: Failing to file papers to legalize her immigration status or threatening to withdraw papers filed for her residency.
- INTIMIDATION: Hiding or destroying her passport, ID cards, health cards. Destroying her only property from her country of origin.
IMMIGRATION PROVISIONS UNDER VAWA
Some foreign-born survivors may be eligible to self-petition for a change in their immigration status. There are three types of applications, the VAWA Self-Petition, U-Visas, and T-Visas. These applications were designed to provide immigration relief to noncitizen survivors of domestic violence, sexual or extremely violent assaults, or trafficking survivors.
VAWA SELF-PETITIONS: allows noncitizen survivors to obtain lawful permanent resident status without the help of the abusive spouse.
Eligibility:
- The survivor must be or have been married to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
- Or be the abused child of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
- Or be the parent of a child abused by the citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse.
U-VISAS: allows noncitizen crime victims who have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse and have agreed to cooperate with prosecution to obtain immigration status.
Eligibility:
- The survivor must show she has suffered "substantial physical or mental abuse"
- possess information concerning the criminal activity
- AND must provide certification from the proper authorities that she has been or is likely to be helpful to the investigation or prosecution
T-VISAS: allows noncitizen survivors of sex trafficking or other severe forms of trafficking to obtain immigration status.
Eligibility:
- Must have experienced trafficking
- must be willing to help an investigation or prosecution of trafficking
- must show extreme hardship if removed from the U.S.
Before perusing any of these applications, always solicit the help of a qualified immigration attorney or trained advocate.
Notify noncitizens of their immigration rights:
- The right to speak to an attorney before answering any questions or signing any documents
- The right to a hearing with an immigration judge
- The right to have an attorney represent them at that hearing and in any interview with INS
- The right to request release from detention, by paying a bond if necessary.
Never refer noncitizens to Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS).
NATIONAL RESOURCES FOR ASSISTING FOREIGN-BORN SURVIVORS
Leslye Orloff
NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund
1522 K Street, N.W. , Suite 550, Washington, D.C. 20005
(202) 326-0040 Phone, (202) 589-0511 Fax, iwp@nowldef.org
Gail Pendleton
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyer's Guild
14 Beacon Street, Suite 602, Boston, MA 02108
(617) 227-9727 Phone, (617) 227-5495 Fax, nipgail@nlg.org
Leni Marin
Family Violence Prevention Fund
383 Rhode Island Street, Suite 304, San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 252-8900 Phone, (415) 252-8991 Fax, leni@fvpf.org