Immigration Law

1. Immigration Law Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants Joe McDoulett Catholic Charities 1501 N. Classen Oklahoma City, OK 73106 (405) 523-3001

2. 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

3. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

4. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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%)

8. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants • Immigration Law Overview • Non-immigrants • Temporary or provisional status • Permanent status

9. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants • Non-immigrants • In U.S. for a specific reason • Temporary status

10. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants • Temporary or provisional • Refugee • Asylee • Temporary Protected Status

11. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants • Permanent • U.S. born citizen • Naturalized citizen • Legal Permanent Resident (green card)

12. 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)

13. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants • Barriers to Immigration in General • The Law • The Language • Geography

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants • Barriers to victims of violence • Fear • Control of abuser • Simple economics • Victim’s feelings of Embarrassment/Shame/Guilt

18. 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

19. 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 victim’s home country doesn’t have laws or doesn’t enforce laws against domestic violence.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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

24. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants • Cultural and Religious Barriers • A victim’s culture or religion may disapprove of challenging domestic violence or male domination. • A victim’s 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 victim’s 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.

25. 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 Women’s Project of NOW Legal Defense and Education fund for assistance at (202) 589-0511)

26. Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants • What can a battered immigrant do? • VAWA based immigration • U Visa • Asylum

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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)

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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.

33. Immigration Law Access to Assistance for Battered Immigrants Joe McDoulett Catholic Charities 1501 N. Classen Oklahoma City, OK 73106 (405) 523-3001