Legal worker Ellen Kemp is the National Immigration Project's primary source of legal support for attorneys and advocates helping undocumented survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking. Ellen continues to receive training on these issues from the Project's former Associate Director, Gail Pendleton, who is a leading expert on VAWA technical assistance and has played an instrumental role in shaping the polices and practices surrounding VAWA relief options for noncitizens.

Gail is currently serving as a consultant for ASISTA, a legal support project stationed at the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence which provides advanced level technical assistance on VAWA issues. ASISTA is funded in part by federal grant monies through the Office of Violence Against Women. For more information on ASISTA (including information on membership benefits and fees) visit www.asistaonline.org.

The National Immigration Project also urges all advocates and attorneys who work on VAWA issues to become members of the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women (there are no membership fees for joining the National Network).

Sample Comments to Proposed U Visa Form

(6/14/06) USCIS has extended the deadline to file public comments about the proposed U visa form until Monday, July 3, 2006. Federal Register (June 2, 2006, Volume 71, Number 106, Page 32117-32118).

• Sample U Visa Form Comments by National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
• Sample U Visa Form Comments by National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women

VAWA 2005 Reauthorization

• Text of VAWA 2005 ("Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005")

(12/17/05) Congress has passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2005 (VAWA 2005). The president is expected to sign the legislation soon. The VAWA provisions are contained in the Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2006-2009 (H.R. 3402). The final version of VAWA 2005 contains the controversial "Kyl Amendment" authorizing any federal government agency to collect DNA samples from people who are arrested or detained under federal authority in order for those DNA profiles to be included in the federal (CODIS) DNA database. The Kyl amendment was included as part of the final legislation, despite strong opposition by the National Task Force to End Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence, the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, privacy groups, immigration groups and practitioners, and members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Advocates were, however, able to defeat the proposed "King Amendment" that would have prohibited any person convicted of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, trafficking, elder abuse, or dating violence from sponsoring a visa applicant in the future, without regard to the complex issues this would pose for immigrant survivors of domestic violence.

• Analysis of VAWA 2005 Immigration Provisions
  Joanne Lin, Legal Momentum, organizational co-chair of the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women

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(3/19/07) VAWA Adjustments Denied for Being Present Without Admission.         The National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women and the National Immigration Project have sample materials available to challenge the unlawful denial of VAWA adjustment applications for VAWA-based applicants who are present without being admitted or paroled.  Pursuant to INA Sections 245(a) and (c), VAWA self-petitioners are eligible to adjust regardless of their manner of entry.  A handful of district offices have started to deny or hold in abeyance VAWA adjustment applications for people inadmissible under INA 'Section 212(a)(6)(A)(i) unless the entry was connected to the abuse.  If you have a VAWA client in this situation and need information or sample materials, please contact Ellen Kemp, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild or contact Joanne Picray, ASISTA.

VAWA Updates Listserv

Join the VAWA Updates listserv for the latest guidances, policy, and advocacy developments on the VAWA laws. The Project helps manage this list along with its cosponsor ASISTA, on behalf of the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women.

If you are already a member of the National Immigration Project and want to join, please fill out this form and mail or fax it to our office.  If you have any questions e-mail Ana Manigat. If you are not a member of the National Immigration Project, please contact the Joanne Picray, listserv manager for the National Network, for approval to join.

Policy & Practice Updates

On U Visas

U Visa: Deferred Action Memo (5/6/04). Allows the Vermont Service Center to assess deferred action requests for U Visa eligible nonimmigrants in removal proceedings.

Instructions for Completing the U Certification Form

On VAWA

Prima Facie Extension Memo (4/8/04) that contains more lenient public benefits access guidelines for immigrant domestic violence survivors and their children. See Other VAWA Resources for more public benefits info concerning VAWA-eligible noncitizens.

Rules for Requesting Birth Certificates for USC Spouses

VAWA 2000. An excerpt from the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act which outlines the most current language on VAWA (also including U Visas). Please note that a revised version of the VAWA law is expected to be adopted by Congress in 2005.

On Trafficking

Trafficking Reauthorization Memo (4/15/04) from the Vermont Service Center, clarifying adjudication issues for T-visa eligible noncitizen victims of trafficking.

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Significant Cases

(5/2/05) The First Circuit Court cited Immigration Law and the Family in its decision on Cho v. Gonzales (2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 6614, 1st Cir. 2005) which reverses an earlier BIA decision on good faith marriages as they pertain to the legal rights of battered noncitizens. This decision is a victory for attorneys and advocates working on VAWA issues. Former Associate Director Gail Pendleton and Iris Gomez, a Project member, submitted an amicus brief on this case, in partnership with several other nonprofits.

Rosalina Lopez's Appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. See links to three briefs (below) that are currently being submitted to the Ninth Circuit by the co-chairs of the National Network and their local partners. This case is significant because of the Ninth Circuit’s recent favorable precedent in Hernandez, and also because the case presented compelling examples of judicial ignorance and insensitivity towards VAWA, the dynamics of domestic violence, and to immigrant survivors generally. 

• Ninth Circuit Decision on LOPEZ-UMANZOR v. GONZALES (Rosa's Case)
• Amicus by National Immigration Project and Family Violence Prevention Fund
• Amicus by Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Legal Momentum
• Amicus by Catholic Social Services

Ninth Circuit Decision on Hernandez v. Ashcroft. This precedent-setting case marks the first time a federal court has addressed VAWA’s immigrant provisions. With this decision the Ninth Circuit Court reversed an earlier decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals which ruled that the abuse suffered by Laura Luis Hernandez at the hands of her husband did not qualify as extreme cruelty because, according to the BIA, this abuse did not occur on U.S. soil. The Ninth Circuit Court’s decision, in keeping with the arguments of Hernandez’s legal representatives, found that the behavior of her husband while on U.S. soil was part of a more extensive cycle of abusive behavior and, as such, did qualify as “extreme cruelty” as defined by the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

• Ninth Circuit's Decision in Hernandez v. Ashcroft
• Laura Hernandez Amicus Brief to Ninth Circuit Court (extreme cruelty argument, appealing an earlier BIA decision) (2002)

Extreme cruelty argument used to seek VAWA cancellation for noncitizen widow. Immigration Project member Bart Stroupe is the attorney of record on this case, which is seeking VAWA cancellation of removal for a noncitizen woman who is now subject to removal due to the tragic suicide of her US citizen spouse. She is seeking to adjust on the basis of an I-130 application that has been filed but was not approved before the death of the I-130 petitioner. Current law allows only a widow (or widower) whose marriage was more than 2 years old to file an I-360.

Bart's VAWA cancellation argument also introduces a new interpretation of extreme cruelty, building on the innovative interpretation of extreme cruelty that has already been accepted by the 9th Circuit in Hernandez v. Ashcroft (see above). For more information also see the media coverage on this case posted on our Press Room page (see "Husband's Suicide Leaves Former Nun Facing Deportation" under "Immigration Project Members in the News").

• Summary of Argument to the Immigration Judge
• Proposed bill that would modify eligibility standards for noncitizen widows

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Local Enforcement and Immigrant Survivors

Local Police Enforcement of Immigration Laws and Its Effects on Victims of Domestic Violence

Why Shouldn't Local Police Enforce Immigration Laws? (prepared by the National Immigration Forum)

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Judicial Training Documents

Ensuring Fairness and Justice for Noncitizen Survivors of Domestic Violence. In this article for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Gail Pendleton provides comprehensive, advocacy-oriented suggestions for civil courts that encounter noncitizen survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other crimes.

American Bar Association Position Paper on Courts and Noncitizens. This document, also written by Gail Pendleton, should be read as a companion article to the “Ensuring Fairness” article (above).

Local Police Enforcement of Immigration Laws and Its Effects on Victims of Domestic Violence

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Gender Asylum Resources

Domestic Violence and Asylum Listserv. We are no longer managing the DV/Asylum listserv, but the discussion group is still alive and thriving. To find out how to join, e-mail Stephen Knight at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies.

Seeking Asylum from Gender Persecution by Stephen Knight (Interpreter Releases, Vol. 79, No. 20 • May 13, 2002). Summarizes the recent history and developments in gender asylum cases including the Matter of R-A-.

For current information on gender asylum issues visit the Web site of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies.

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Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Resources

Field Guidance on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status Petitions (5/27/04) issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (DHS)

Also see the Immigrant Legal Resource Center's SIJS Resources.

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Other VAWA Resources

You may also wish to consult www.asistaonline.org (click on Legal Resources) for free materials on VAWA, U nonimmigrant visas, and T nonimmigrant visas.

Public Benefits Access for Immigrant Survivors of Violence. The National Immigration Law Center has produced a number of documents concerning public benefits access for immigrant survivors. These include documents which provide general overviews of immigrant access to benefits since the 1996 reform laws, information on benefits access for immigrant survivors of domestic violence in California, and information about the proposed WISH Act which will expand public benefits access for immigrant survivors.

Also see:

The Prima Facie memo listed in our policy & practice updates.

These public benefits access documents produced by Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund):

• Access to Programs and Services That Can Help Battered Immigrants
• Public Benefits Access for Battered Immigrants and Children
• Public Benefits Access for Battered Immigrants (brochure)
• Food Stamp Access for Battered Immigrants
• Medicaid Access for Battered Immigrants

Battered Immigrant Women Toolbox. A list of resources prepared by Family Violence Prevention Fund, a co-chair (along with the National Immigration Project) of the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women.

Immigrant Women Materials.  A list of publications (some free some for a fee) prepared by Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund). Includes materials on public benefits access for immigrant survivors of violence, steps for overcoming barriers in the self-petitioning process, general reviews of VAWA and related policy, and more. Legal Momentum is also a co-chair of the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women. Also see the Immigrant Women Program which outlines Legal Momentum's program work on immigrant women's issues.

VAWA Self-Petitioning Materials.  An assortment of free documents prepared by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center which give tips on document gathering for the self-petitioning process, initial discussions with clients, a general overview of the self-petitioning process, and outreach flyers translated in several different languages. Also see information on ILRC's VAWA program.

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