VAWA Victory
Last week an immigration judge granted our client, Maria, permanent residency due to the cruel treatment she had experienced at the hands of lawful permanent resident husband. When Maria first came to our office, we could see immediately the effects of years of abuse in her marriage. Maria was despondent and cried throughout most of the initial consultation. She came to us feeling completely hopeless due to the fact that all the other immigration attorneys she had met had told her that there was no remedy for her case. Maria had already divorced her abusive husband. She had suffered minimal physical abuse, mostly consisting of aggressive pushing. The bulk of her mistreatment had come in the form of incessant verbal and emotional abuse. For those reasons, many thought she was ineligible for any form of immigration relief, including the special provisions under the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”). More than a year and a half after first meeting Maria, she walked out of the Immigration Courthouse in Miami with a grant of permanent residency in hand, winning her VAWA Cancellation of Removal case. A true victory for all women who have suffered from domestic violence.
Maria’s journey was not an easy one. She came to this country from her native Colombia to study English in the hope of validating her profession as a Dentist here in the United States. When she met her ex-husband, she became immediately enamored by his charm and positive attitude. The couple married six months later. Shortly after their wedding, Maria’s ex-husband convinced her to give up her valid student visa and file for residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. He encouraged her to give up her legal status even though he already knew that he had been placed in deportation proceedings for a prior conviction for cocaine possession. Maria’s ex-husband purposely failed to disclose any of this information to her. Once Maria had forfeited her legal immigration status, she became completely at the mercy of her ex-husband. One of his favorite forms of emotional abuse was to hold her immigration status over head, often threatening not to attend any immigration interviews with her.
Shortly after getting married, Maria began to discover all the secrets that her husband had been keeping from her. She soon found out that he had a suspended driver’s license, a huge amount of overdue bills and debts, a conviction for cocaine possession and that he was at risk of losing his residency due to his criminal behavior. Once Maria discovered the truth, she began to hire attorneys to help resolve her husband’s legal issues. She worked tirelessly attempting to pay all the bills and debts he had accumulated. When Maria began confronting her ex-husband about his issues, the abuse became insufferable. Her husband would call her offensive and degrading names on a daily basis. He would tell her that she was worthless and not useful for anything. He would yell and scream at her everyday. Maria became extremely depressed and would often spend hours crying everyday. She began to isolate herself from friends and family and her performance at work suffered.
As time progressed the abuse worsened. Maria’s ex-husband completely dropped the guise he had put on at the beginning of the relationship. He began consuming drugs in their home. He tried to force Maria to take drugs too, telling her she wouldn’t be so boring if she did. Maria would lock herself in the bedroom while he would take drugs with his friends, terrified that the police would come at any moment and that she would be implicated in his criminal activity. As his drug use and drinking increased, Maria’s husband became more aggressive. He would often come home intoxicated and force Maria to have sex with him. Sometimes he would cover her mouth so he wouldn’t have to hear her cry. Maria began to show terrible physical manifestations of the abuse. She had a drastic weight gain, her hair began to fall out, she suffered from back pains.
Finally, after more than three years of an abusive marriage, Maria got the strength to leave her husband and ask for a divorce. At this point, her residency application through her husband had been denied because his residency had been taken away from him in a deportation proceeding. Maria did not want to stay married to him just to appeal the case. Instead, she opted to apply for Cancellation of Removal under the VAWA provisions for women who have suffered from domestic violence. For Maria to prevail she had to show: 1) three years of physical presence in the U.S. prior to her deportation proceedings; 2) extreme cruelty at the hands of her U.S. resident ex-husband; 3) extreme hardship if she were deported back to Colombia; and 4) her good moral character. Despite suffering minimal physical abuse, Maria was able to demonstrate extreme cruelty through the severe verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse she suffered.
Maria has been in therapy for a year now to deal with the depression and anxiety she has as a result of the abuse she suffered. She is learning to love herself again and is putting the pieces of her life back together. Now that she has received her permanent residency, she will be able to remain here in the U.S. with her sister, her main support throughout her abusive marriage, and continue her therapy with her trusted psychotherapist. We congratulate Maria on her success in the courtroom as well as her success with her treatment and we hope that Maria’s story will serve as an inspiration for other immigrant women who feel they have no hope or options.