By Kasey Husk
For many of Eagan's clients, violence has been a part of their lives for as long as they can remember. They have often suffered horrific abuse throughout their lives at the hands of their parents, siblings, husbands, wives, and even their own children. This is not a mere coincidence. People who are abused in childhood are statistically more likely to end up in abusive relationships. One study found that 51 percent of child abuse victims also suffer from domestic abuse in adulthood.
At Eagan Immigration, we hear too many stories of people who believe that the way their life has gone so far is how it will always be. However, we have a message for you: It doesn't have to be this way.
Abusers use many tactics to keep their victims under their thumbs, and when one partner has status in the United States and the other does not, that power differential often becomes a powerful weapon for abusers. All too often, the abuser uses threats of using the legal system against their undocumented partner. They convince them that reporting the abuser's crimes will be futile because they are undocumented, or that the court will always award child custody to the person with status. They offer or withdraw offers to petition for their spouse depending on their mood. When they get angry, they threaten to deport the undocumented partner.
That is where Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitions come into play. The VAWA self-petitions allow spouses of abusive US citizens or LPRs or of abusive adult US citizen children to apply for status in the United States without their abuser knowing. Want to know more? Check out our previous blog posts here and here.
VAWA self-petitions are one of Eagan Immigration's main areas of expertise. Since 2014, we have filed more than 1,500 VAWA petitions for our clients. New approvals for our clients arrive in the Eagan Immigration mailbox every week. Today, we would like to share one of our most recent victories, a client we will call “Jazmín.” * Jazmín's bravery in seeking help in the face of terrible threats and extreme violence means that, as of today, both she and her young son are lawful permanent residents of the United States.
*Names and some details have been changed to protect the privacy of our client.
The story of Jazmín
When she looks back on her life, 30-year-old Jazmín cannot recall a time when the people around her did not hurt her. She was born in El Salvador. Her mother, a single mother, was an abusive woman who regularly beat her, taking out her life’s frustrations on her young daughter. Her mother’s cruelty meant that when Jazmín’s brothers began abusing her as a child, she felt she had no one to turn to. Three of her brothers sexually assaulted Jazmín repeatedly until she ran away from home at age 15.
Jazmín was robbed of the chance to finish her education by a teacher who tried to rape her and forced her to run away from school. As a result, she struggled to support herself after leaving home. She was alone and destitute. She thought her life had changed forever when she met “Nelson,” a man who promised to love and care for her if she stayed with him. For the first time in her life, she felt loved. However, Nelson soon showed his true colors. He regularly beat Jazmín and frequently raped her. Most terrifying of all, Jazmín found out that Nelson was a member of a violent gang operating in her community. When she confronted Nelson, he threatened to cut out her tongue if she ever spoke of it. Jazmín, newly pregnant with her first child, was trapped and terrified. Her son, “Ricardo,” was born when she was 20, but Nelson’s abuse only intensified. Jazmín soon realized she had no other choice: she took Ricardo and fled to the United States, where she prayed they would be out of reach of Nelson’s gang.
In the United States, Jazmín began to build a life for herself and Ricardo. She struggled financially and to adapt to her new country, but she enjoyed going to sleep at night without fear for the first time in her life. When she met the man who would become her husband, Johnny, she felt like everything was falling into place. Johnny was affectionate and respectful during the first few months of their relationship. And when Jazmín and Ricardo unexpectedly had to find a new living situation, Johnny became her knight in shining armor and swooped in to offer her a place to live. She was swept off her feet.
However, once Johnny had Jazmín under his control, history repeated itself. Johnny became very jealous and constantly accused Jazmín of encouraging other men's interest in her. When he was drunk, he called her horrible names and accused her of being a prostitute. He demanded to know where she was at all times and refused to allow her to leave the house without permission. He checked her phone regularly, and when he found a greeting from someone he assumed was a man, he ran over her phone with a car. However, Jazmín had no experience with healthy relationships. When Johnny broke down and told her that he only acted that way because he loved her so much, she believed him. Jealousy, to her, seemed like a sign of love.
However, in the months that followed, Johnny's “love” became increasingly terrifying. She saw no one without him and spoke to no one without him speaking. If he demanded sex, she gave in because the alternative was being accused of not being interested because she had another lover. He hit her for the first time about six months after they got together. Jazmín immediately thought of leaving, but she had no friends or family, so she had nowhere to turn. When Johnny apologized, she believed him. He swore he wanted to marry her. Johnny even told Jazmín that he would help her find a lawyer to file an asylum application, which she believed would allow her and her son to stay in the United States, far from Ricardo's terrifying father. She stayed and hoped that better days would come with Johnny.
The following year, Johnny continued his endless cycle of affectionate behavior and horrific cruelty. He played mind games and punished her not only for defying him, but also for failing to understand exactly when he wanted her to do the opposite of what he said. He terrified her by taking her son and hiding him for an entire day, leaving her terrified that he was doing something horrible to Ricardo, but overwhelmed with gratitude when the boy came home the next day, happy and oblivious to his stepfather’s threats. He regularly beat and slapped her, or dragged her across the room by her hair. Before long, he had begun to lash out at Jazmín and choke her when he was angry. Once he strangled her until she lost consciousness and then left her lying on her bed. Yet, amidst incidents that made her fear for her life and that of her son, he professed great love for her. He even convinced Jazmín to marry him and start trying to have a baby. Jazmín convinced herself that making that final commitment to each other would put an end to Johnny’s jealous behavior and turn him into a better man, just as he had always promised. They got married. Jazmín became pregnant shortly afterward. The abuse got even worse.
Like many abusers before him, Johnny used Jazmin’s lack of status as a way to control her. He constantly told her that she had no rights in the United States, and told her that he could have her deported if she made him angry enough. For Jazmin, this was terrifying because it meant that both she and her young son would be at the mercy of Nelson and his gang. Deportation felt like a death sentence. He also told her that the police would never believe her if she reported his abuse. Her only option, she believed, was to appease Johnny while she waited and waited for her asylum case. Then, one night, Johnny came home drunker than ever and began to beat Jazmin. He screamed that he was going to kill her. Then, he put a knife to Jazmin's throat and ordered her to contact her lawyer and cancel her asylum petition. He was only interrupted by the sound of the landlord coming to check on things. He took her phone and fled. The knife left a cut on her neck from where he held the blade against her throat, just inches away from ending her life. Jazmin knew that he would want to keep her undocumented and powerless for as long as he could.
This is where Eagan Immigration came into play. The firm was already working with Jazmín on her asylum petition when Jazmín confided in them that her relationship was not in a good place. Eagan Immigration let Jazmín know about the possibility of filing a VAWA self-petition without her husband knowing, an option that could be a faster and safer route to obtaining status. While the asylum documents would continue going to their shared residence, Eagan would provide a secure mailing address and carefully drafted communications to make sure Johnny never knew what was happening. Jazmín, knowing she had to protect her son and herself from being deported to her home country, agreed.
With Eagan's staff assisting and advising her every step of the way, Jazmín secretly filed a VAWA petition with her son as a derivative in 2019. It was approved less than two years later. Recently, she received the most exciting documents of all: green cards for herself and Ricardo. For the first time, she no longer has to fear going to the police or being sent back to her home country. The United States will be home forever for her, her son, and her new baby.
Are you or someone you know in an abusive relationship? Please know that you do not have to live like this. Eagan Immigration is ready to help you not only resolve your immigration issues, but also direct you to resources that can help you safely leave your situation.
Not sure if you qualify for VAWA? Not all abuse is physical. Financial, psychological, or sexual abuse may also qualify you for a VAWA self-petition. The expert attorneys at Eagan Immigration can help you determine if you may qualify for this or another type of visa.
Call us at 202-709-6439 o click here for a consultation directly with attorney Lauren Eagan.
This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.