Immigration Law

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Immigration Law

• Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants
• Joe McDoulett
• Catholic Charities
• 1501 N. Classen
• Oklahoma City, OK 73106
• [phone]

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Overview of Immigration and Immigration Law
• Barriers to Immigration in General
• Barriers to Victims of Violence
• Additional Barriers to Immigrant Victims of
  Violence

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants
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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants
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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Immigration Overview
• According to the National Academy of Sciences
• 1997- 50 billion surplus from taxes paid by
  immigrants
• Average immigrant contributes 1800 more than
  receives in benefits

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Immigration Overview
• According to U.S. Census
• In 2000, foreign born population accounted for
  12.4 of the total civilian labor force

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Immigration Overview
• Children of Immigrants vs. Children of Native
  Born
• More likely to be poor (24 vs. 16)
• More likely to be uninsured (22 vs. 10)
• More likely to have no usual source of medical
  care (14 vs. 4)
• More likely to no to have a steady source of food
  (37 vs. 27)

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Immigration Law Overview
• Non-immigrants
• Temporary or provisional status
• Permanent status

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Non-immigrants
• In U.S. for a specific reason
• Temporary status

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Temporary or provisional
• Refugee
• Asylee
• Temporary Protected Status

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Permanent
• U.S. born citizen
• Naturalized citizen
• Legal Permanent Resident (green card)

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Who can immigrate (obtain permanent status) to
  the United States?
• Immediate Relatives spouses, children or
  parents of U.S. citizen
• Preference (Quota) some other relatives of U.S.
  citizens and spouses and children of permanent
  residents
• Violence Against Women Act battered spouses
• Employment Based Immigration through an
  employer
• Refugees/asylees
• Other special programs (e.g. Cubans or Hmong
  Veterans)

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Barriers to Immigration in General
• The Law
• The Language
• Geography

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• The Law
• Complicated
• Statutory Code second only to the Tax code in
  length
• Three separate agencies deal directly with
  immigration issues
• Vulnerability to Unauthorized and sometimes
  unscrupulous practitioners
• Dangerous consequences of improper applications
• Constant struggle with incorrect information

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• The Language
• Most practitioners do not speak the language of
  the intending immigrant
• Most INS personnel have a limited ability in
  languages other than English

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Geography
• Oklahoma is a principally rural state
• Few practitioners
• Difficult intending immigrants to travel to where
  assistance is available
• Drivers Licenses
• Expense of travel
• Difficult for practitioners to travel to
  immigrants

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Barriers to victims of violence
• Fear
• Control of abuser
• Simple economics
• Victims feelings of Embarrassment/Shame/Guilt

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Specific Barriers to Immigrant Victims of
  Violence
• Lack of knowledge and misinformation about the
  legal system
• Fear of the Police and the Judicial System
• Fear of Deportation
• Fear the Abuser will be Deported
• Language Barriers
• Cultural and Religious Barriers
• Economic Barriers

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Lack of Knowledge and Misinformation about Legal
  System
• The abuser misinforms the victims about her right
  to protection under U.S. civil and criminal laws
  and her right to apply for immigration status in
  the U.S.
• The abuser says he will get custody of the
  children under U.S. laws or will take the
  children to a country where she cannot go.
• The legal system in the victims home country
  doesnt have laws or doesnt enforce laws against
  domestic violence.

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Fear of the Police and Judicial System
• In the home country the police and the judicial
  system assist only those with money or influence
  or are instruments of repression.
• In the immigrant community, police have a
  reputation for not responding to crimes in poor
  areas, areas where people of color live, or areas
  where immigrants live.
• A police force (or the court system) may be
  viewed by immigrants as racist and/or
  anti-immigrant because of its composition or
  because of well-publicized events that raise this
  concern.
• Immigrant communities will not trust a police
  department that they believe will turn them over
  to INS.
• Joint enforcement efforts with INS will undermine
  trust.

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Fear of Deportation
• Abusers often threaten to report victims to INS.
  A victim may be unwilling to call the police or
  cooperate with law enforcement if she believes
  that the abuser will report her to INS.
• A victim may not access the system because she
  fears that the police, a judge, or a public
  benefits administrator will report her to the
  INS.
• A victim may fear deportation because her home
  country does not have laws that will protect her
  from domestic violence.

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Fear the Abuser will be Deported
• Fear that the abuser will take the children with
  him.
• Fear that she will lose child support payments
  from the abuser, causing her to be unable to
  financially support herself.
• Fear that she will lose financial support for her
  family in the home country.
• Fear that she may be ineligible for legal status
  without the abuser.

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Language Barriers
• The police do not speak her language
• Court personnel do not speak her language
• Benefits administrators do not speak her language
• All of these systems lack adequate translators

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Cultural and Religious Barriers
• A victims culture or religion may disapprove of
  challenging domestic violence or male domination.
• A victims culture or religion may prohibit the
  severance of a marriage. Divorce or separation
  may violate social mores or bring shame to family
  or community.
• The victims family and community may ostracize
  her if she leaves the marriage or makes public
  the domestic violence.
• Shelters and domestic violence programs may not
  provide culturally and linguistically appropriate
  services.

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Economic Barriers
• An immigrant must obtain work authorization to
  work legally in the United States.
• Even with work authorization, she may only be
  able to find low-paying jobs with no child care.
• Even battered immigrants who are qualified to
  receive public benefits find it very difficult to
  obtain them because of ignorance and antagonism
  of benefits administrators. (practitioners may
  call the Immigrant Womens Project of NOW Legal
  Defense and Education fund for assistance at
  [phone])

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• What can a battered immigrant do?
• VAWA based immigration
• U Visa
• Asylum

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• VAWA based immigration
• Married or has been married to USC or Permanent
  Resident within past two years
• Victim of abuse during marriage
• Person of good moral character
• Otherwise admissible

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• VAWA benefits
• Work authorization until eligible to become
  permanent resident
• All public benefits except for SSI and Food
  stamps
• Ability to become permanent resident

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• U Visa
• Victim of violent crime
• Domestic violence
• Rape
• Kidnapping
• False Imprisonment
• Human Trafficking
• Possesses information concerning the crime
• Is being, has been or is likely to be helpful to
  the investigation or prosecution of the crime
  (requires a law enforcement declaration)

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• U Visa benefits
• Currently unavailable pending regulations
• Prima facie determination allows victim to be
  paroled into the United States and be granted
  work authorization and public benefits
• Once available will provide a means to become
  legal permanent resident

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• Asylum
• Some court cases and a proposed regulation
• Victim of domestic violence
• Country unable or unwilling to protect the victim
  from the abuser

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Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

• What should advocates and caregivers do when
  helping a battered immigrant?
• Put the immediate needs of the battered immigrant
  ahead of immigration advice, i.e. safety, housing
  and care.
• Seek help from an immigration law expert.
• Encourage all non-citizens to seek advice from an
  immigration expert, especially before leaving the
  United States for any reason.

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Immigration Law

• Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants
• Joe McDoulett
• Catholic Charities
• 1501 N. Classen
• Oklahoma City, OK 73106
• [phone]