Introduction
VAWA stands for Violence Against Women Act, which was adopted by the US government in 1994. The purpose of the Act was to provide blanket protection for women against violence, including not only US citizens but also legal and illegal migrants as well (GAO, 2019). One of the provisions of the act allows for undocumented migrant spouses or divorcees to self-petition for VAWA protection, providing the means of legally staying in the country, along with many other protections enabled by the law (Hacking Immigration Law, 2021). However, self-petitioning has been associated with significant risks of removal and deportation. This paper aims to evaluate those risks in the scope of existing legislation.
Objectives of VAWA Petitioning
Documented and undocumented migrants to the US often find themselves in a vulnerable position in regard to their citizen spouses. They can potentially jeopardize the woman’s position by disclosing her to authorities or limiting her staying rights. VAWA self-petitioning allows women to obtain legal migrant status and, eventually, LPR, by reporting violence against them to the authorities (Hacking Immigration Law, 2021). Violence is not restricted to physical attempts and also incorporates sexual, financial, psychological, and verbal abuse, resulting in extreme cruelty towards the victim. Contrary to popular belief, a police report is not required in order to petition for VAWA protection (Hacking Immigration Law, 2021). Despite the acronym, male spouses are also eligible for protection under the VAWA statute, effectively extending it to both genders to reflect the policy’s egalitarian nature.
Problems and Risks with VAWA Petitioning
One of the biggest problems with VAWA petitioning involves the provision of hard evidence for spouse abuse. While extreme cases of physical violence have multiple means of obtaining evidence (injury recordings, medical logs, witnesses, etc.), psychological and psychological abuse have fewer means of doing so (Hacking Immigration Law, 2021). If the fact of abuse is not proven, the self-petitioning for an illegal migrant leaves them in a precarious position where they have exposed their illegal status to the authorities. Without VAWA protection, victims could be deported, and without evidence of abuse committed against them, they could not rely on the Act to protect them (GAO, 2019). It is what puts so many women in a lose-lose scenario – either stay with the abuser or get removed from the country.
Even if the evidence against the abuser is present, there is also the issue of proving that abuse was an act of extreme cruelty toward the victim. Definitions of what constitutes extreme cruelty are vague and vary from state to state, meaning that the results of court hearings are inconsistent (Hacking Immigration Law, 2021). Failing to prove the presence of acts of extreme cruelty would lead to the deportation scenario described above.
Finally, the biggest risk for VAWA self-petitioners lies in the fact that for the duration of the petition being pending, no deportation protection is being offered to the victim. Exposing oneself to the authorities to file the petition, thus, may bring about a legitimate risk of deportation until VAWA is approved (“Immigration,” 2021). A lawyer may slow down or entirely stop the deportation procedures, but their help would result in additional expenditures that the petitioner often cannot afford.
Conclusions
While VAWA seeks to offer protection to illegal immigrants against domestic violence, in practice, it is an imperfect system that can endanger the victim. There are several crippling issues that prevent the Act from being effective. These include the risks of departure during the pending process, the concerns associated with not providing hard evidence, and the differences in what constitutes extreme cruelty from state to state. The dangers victims are exposed to explain why the number of petitions against abusers is low, despite violence against women being a significant and widespread issue.
References
Government Accountability Office (GAO). (2019). Immigration benefits: Additional actions needed to address fraud risks in the program for foreign national victims of domestic abuse.
Hacking Immigration Law. (2021). Overcoming common hurdles in VAWA applications. TheVisaFirm.
Immigration. (2021). WomensLaw.