Leslye Orloff, a D.C. attorney who has represented over 800 battered immigrant women, says the 1991 meeting was the catalyst for the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, or "VAWA." Through VAWA, a battered immigrant woman can now self-petition for a green card if she can prove that she has been abused, and that she is married to an American citizen or a permanent resident.
"In the '80s, there were a handful of us who either as family law or immigration lawyers started seeing these cases of battered immigrant women who were in limbo," says Orloff, who now works with NOW Legal Defense Fund's Immigrant Women Program. "But we were isolated from each other. The 1991 conference was the impetus for legislative reforms."
Paul Trapani
Mukta Sharangpani is often the voice of comfort on the phone when victims of domestic abuse call Maitri for help.
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And though the drafters of VAWA recognized the even more precarious situation of battered women on temporary visas like Pomeli, they knew that they had to sell the idea to a bipartisan Congress.
"We came to understand that politically, as a first step, we would be more successful if we started with spouses of legal permanent residents and citizens," Orloff explains. "We wanted to try, originally, to have a broader group of people protected, but we weren't able to forge bipartisan support for that."
"The focus has always been on giving relief to spouses of lawful permanent residents and citizens," says Bonnie Robin-Vergeer, staffer for Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Delaware). "I don't know if they thought to cover women on temporary visas. They're not permanent so the rationale to extend relief to them was not as strong."
Funding for VAWA needs to be reauthorized in the current congressional session, and domestic violence organizations and immigration attorneys have thrown their support behind Illinois Democratic Rep. Janice Schakowsky's and Maryland Republican Rep. Constance Morella's bills. Their bills would essentially continue funding for shelters and domestic violence programs nationwide, make improvements to VAWA, and soften the blow of the Immigration Reforms of 1996, which, among other things, make it harder for battered immigrant women to get help.
To address the temporary visa situation, Orloff, who helped draft Schakowsky's bill, has incorporated "T visas" into the legislation. T visas would allow battered women and other crime victims on temporary visas to stay in the country while they help the police prosecute their batterers.
Orloff says introducing T visas as a solution to the H-4 problem was a creative political move. "Until now, we have been unsuccessful in getting people to move beyond the provisions of VAWA," Orloff says. "What we decided to do is use the confluence of issues of the INS wanting to help crime victims, which the Justice Department is also interested in. Hopefully we can change the will governmentally of some people so we can try and deal with this group of immigrant women who are not covered by VAWA, but who could be covered by [the new legislation]."
But Marin, who has also been a leader in the legislative fight, says that though she supports the bill, she has reservations about T visas. "A lot of immigrant women will find it to be a problem because it brings in the criminal justice system as part of the deal to get some relief," Marin says, "and already, there is so much mistrust from the immigrant community of the criminal justice system."
Meanwhile, advocates at Maitri and other organizations say that the U.S. government should at least offer temporary work visas to battered women in this situation.
"They call the cops, and walk out and think their lives are going to get better," says Mukta Sharangpani. "But it doesn't. It's so hard out there that many H-4 women just put up with the abuse because at least then they'll know where their next meal is coming from. There should be some sort of provisional work permit so they can earn a living. If she had a work permit, she could work at Orchard Supply or do demos at Costco. Anything. Just some source of income."
"This is a really terrible situation," adds Sonya Pelia of Maitri. "This is one of the consequences of importing workers the way the U.S. is doing it. They haven't thought through this policy. The government has not thought through what it means to be in this situation. What are the impacts on the people? Every year we up the number of workers that we bring in, but human beings come with human problems."
The following links are provided to assist the victims of domestic violence:
Domestic Violence Organizations:
Maitri
http://www.maitri.org
Battered Women's Alternatives
http://www.civicbank.com/bwa.html
Narika
http://www.narika.org
Support Network for Battered Women
http://www.snbw.org/
Legal Help:
Bay Area Legal Aid
http://www.sfnlaf.org/
Asian Law Alliance
http://asianlawalliance-ala.org/
Nihonmachi Legal Outreach
http://www.nlo-law.com/projects.html
Legislation:
Family Violence Prevention Fund
http://www.fvpf.org
