Abused Illegal Immigrant Wives Find New Hope

COSTA MESA — By Rosa’s own words, there really was no difference between her experience as a battered wife and that of countless other abused women.

Many times during her 11 years with her husband, the 40-year-old woman, who asked that her last name not be used, was beaten black, blue and bloody. She was called names, cursed at, told she would never make it on her own.

But perhaps most frightening if she left him, he told her time and again, he would take away the children and there would be nothing she could do.

With that final threat, the similarities between her and other abused women end. There really would be little Rosa could do. As an illegal immigrant, she could have been deported--without her four U.S.-born children--if authorities knew her status.

But Rosa and others no longer face a no-win dilemma of staying in an abusive relationship or being deported. Last March, the U.S. Justice Department adopted new guidelines that allow domestic abuse victims whose spouses are U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents to “self-petition” for residence status for themselves and their children.

Before the rule change, which does not apply if both victim and abuser reside here illegally, immigrants who were not legal residents or citizens relied on their spouses to sponsor their residency or citizenship applications.

“Everything was always so unpredictable because he knew how much power over me he had,” Rosa said. Her husband had petitioned for her to get a green card for legal residence, “but whenever we fought, he threatened to cancel it.”

She separated from her husband in July and has since applied on her own for a green card under the new guidelines that would grant her resident status, allowing her to work legally.

To date, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has approved more than 100 cases in Southern California under the self-petition regulations, which were enacted as part of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. The new rules went into effect only in March, after the Justice Department issued specific guidelines outlining how parts of the law dealing with immigration should be implemented.

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Some 40 other cases are still pending, and more are expected to be filed as the law becomes better publicized, said David Gulick, an INS official in Los Angeles.

To qualify for self-petitioning, the abused spouse must be of “good moral character,” convince immigration officials that she would face hardship if deported and provide documented proof of abuse such as police or medical reports or records from shelters.

The law, Gulick said, “prevents the U.S. citizen [and legal immigrant] spouse from holding the immigration status as a method of controlling or manipulating an alien spouse.”

Women’s shelter counselors, immigration lawyers and community activists applaud the new regulations, saying they are long overdue.

It is a truism that most victims do not report domestic abuse, but advocacy groups said that immigrants are even more fearful to do so because of fears of deportation if they report to police. Moreover, many are not proficient in English, do not have friends or relatives in the U.S. to help them, or come from countries where spousal abuse is accepted culturally.

“Before this law was passed, we had cases that we were pulling our hair out” over, said Jan Tyler, program director of Human Options, a shelter for battered women in Orange County. “Among the immigrant women that we’ve been in contact with, that is a very common threat. The husbands may say, ‘If you call the police, I’ll have you deported or I’ll have your children deported.’

“And until this law,” she added, “we couldn’t say, ‘No, that’s not true, your abuser can’t have you deported.’ ”

One 30-year-old abused woman, who left her husband last year, recalled living under the constant fear of being forced back to Mexico without her son, who was born here. Once an INS officer came to her apartment building and asked if she was aware of any illegal immigrant living on the premises. The officer left when, in her nearly unaccented English, the woman said she had no information.

“I was in the country illegally and I knew he could have me deported but not only that, he could have me deported without my child,” said the woman, who asked that her name not be used. She fears retribution from her husband, she said; further, she is not certain if she would ultimately qualify for the law since her husband “only beat me twice.”

After the second beating, the woman went through the phone book and called immigration lawyers for help. Many of the attorneys were not aware of the existence of the self-petitioning regulations, and they told her she had no legal recourse, she said.

“I called everyone and everywhere, and I was told there was nothing I could do,” the woman said. “They said, ‘You have to go through your husband, that’s the only way.’ ”

Then she was referred to Rosa M. Fregoso, a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles who works with abused women. With Fregoso’s help, the woman has filed a self-petition application, which is still pending.

Fregoso said she has a caseload of 50 to 75 immigrant women who may be able to use the protection afforded by the law.

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However, one weakness of the new regulations, Fregoso said, is that the guidelines in the law do not definitively grant a work permit to an abused spouse while the petition application is pending.

“There’s language in the legislation that gives her the power to apply for a work permit,” Fregoso said. “But in practice, we do not know of any jurisdiction that’s granting a work permit” to someone who is not a U.S. citizen or a legal resident.

To make ends meet for herself and her four children, ages 1 to 10, Rosa, the 40-year-old woman, has been cleaning houses. Because her application for a green card has not been finalized--the process can take up to six months--she is technically working illegally even though Fregoso said she is qualified for the self-petition.

“I want to be able to work legally, to do things the right way, to be able to take care of me and my children and give them a better life and not be afraid every day of my life,” said Rosa, who is now living in a shelter with her children.

“I think this law will allow me to do that,” she said. “Because without it, how do we run away from the beatings? Where do we go for help? It’s like an answered prayer.”