Language Access: Complying with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

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Language Access Complying with Title VI of the
1964 Civil Rights Act

• Isela Arras
• Immigration Project Administrator
• KDVA
• [phone] ext. 21
• iarras_at_kdva.org

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Learning Objectives for 4.2

• 1. Define language accessibility
• 2. Explain the proper way to use an interpreter

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The Goal
All staff serve all persons. All persons receive
equal services. Agency Responsibility!
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Title VI

• Federal Fund Recipients
• Language National Origin
• Meaningful Access / Competent Language Services

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Responsibilities of FFR

• Meaningful Access
• Notice
• Policy / Procedure
• Periodic Training and Monitoring
• Multilingual Materials
• Competent Interpreters / Translators

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When to use an Interpreter

• Persons who cannot speak, read, write or
  understand the English language at a level that
  permits them to interact effectively with
  providers
• Persons who request an interpreter
• May understand more than speak
• May speak more than understand
• Language proficiency decreases in crisis

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Interpretation Options

• Telephone Interpretation Services
• Language Advocates
• Multilingual Staff
• Volunteer Interpreters
• Paid Interpreters

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Interpreter vs. Translator

• Interpreter
• Translator
• Language is important!
• Skill
• Linguistic ability

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Competent Interpreters / Translators

• Cost and Available resources
• Distinctions
• Code of ethics (Quality and Professionalism)
• Role of the interpreter
• Non-bilingual provider guidelines

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Who should NOT Interpret?
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Who should NOT Interpret? (Cont)

• Family member of a victim
• Family member of a perpetrator
• Friend of the family
• Interpreter used by the perpetrator
• Perpetrator

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Who Should Interpret?

• Someone who has a commitment to interpreter
  ethics.
• Received training in interpreter skills
• Proficient in both languages.
• Non Judgmental
• Adult

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The Role of the Interpreter
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Guidelines for Non-bilingual Staff

• Begin with a pre-session
• Speak directly to the person
• Do not permit side conversations
• Purposeful seating
• Maintain Control

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Three Presumptions
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Language Access and U Visas Serving Immigrant
and Refugee Victims Effectively

• Gretchen Hunt, Esq.
• Training Coordinator
• Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs

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Goals of workshop

• Become familiar with language access, cultural
  considerations and immigration protections as
  potential options for your clients
• Review the kinds of documentation needed for the
  immigration case
• Understand the process of applying for relief
  from Immigration (or why does it take so long?)

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Opportunities

• Provide more safety and stability to immigrant
  victims
• Strengthen ability of law enforcement to enforce
  laws
• Inform more victims of their rights
• Reduce power of abusers to use threats of
  deportation

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What are the barriers to immigrants and refugees
reporting sexual assault and domestic violence in
your area?

• Your Responses

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The Role of an Advocate

• To inform client of options
• To support client
• To connect client with attorney other necessary
  resources (e.g. counseling)
• It is not the advocates job to file the
  immigration case or contact immigration

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Cultural Considerations

• Culturally Competent premises in our work with
  survivors of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence
• All persons have the right to live free from
  violence.
• The perpetrator is responsible for the violence.
• All victims have the right to safety and
  self-determination, including staying.
• Domestic violence, sexual assault, and violence
  against women are present in all cultures,
  cutting across race, ethnicity, class, sexual
  identity, religion, etc.
• Culture is not an excuse for violence.
• All cultures are contradictory in that there is
  both widespread acceptance of domestic violence /
  sexual assault and traditions of resistance and
  empowerment.
• Each survivor is not only a member of his/ her
  community, but a unique individual with their own
  responses. The complexity of a persons response
  to domestic violence is shaped by multiple
  factors.
• Differences exist both between and within
  cultures.
• Just because we perceive someone to be of the
  same culture as ourselves does not mean we can
  make assumptions about their experience.
• All communities and individuals can take
  preventative action against domestic violence and
  sexual assault.
• Source Sujata Warrior

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National Origin Discrimination
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Sources of Law

• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act
• National origin discrimination includes language
  discrimination
• Executive Order of 2000 signed by President
  Clinton
• Department of Justice LEP Guidance of 2002
• Agency specific guidance and policy (e.g. DOJ,
  HHS)

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Title VI of Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Prohibits federal funding recipients from
  discrimination based upon race, color or national
  origin
• National origin discrimination includes
  discrimination based on language
• ALL AGENCIES THAT RECEIVE FEDERAL FUNDING ARE
  RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLIANCE

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Executive Order 13166

• All recipients of federal funding (including
  contract agencies) must provide language access
  to persons with Limited English Proficiency
  (LEP)
• Must ensure MEANINGFUL ACCESS to services
  applicants and beneficiaries.
• No difference in services
• No unreasonable delay in services

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What is LEP?

• Limited English Proficiency
• English is not primary language
• Limited ability to read, write, speak or
  understand English
• Language for LEP individuals can be a barrier to
  accessing  important benefits or services,
  understanding and exercising important  rights,
  complying with applicable responsibilities, or
  understanding  other information provided by
  Federally funded programs and activities. 
• Determination is by person, not by agency

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Policy Guidance 65 Fed. Ref. 50123

• The Department of Justice tasked with developing
  guidance for agencies
• Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act
  of 1964--National Origin Discrimination Against
  Persons with Limited English Proficiency Policy
  Guidance
• Spells out concrete requirements
• Offers tips and guidance to agencies

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Policy Guidance

• Must provide access to LEP individuals
• Agencies or entities conduct the following
  analysis to determine what is compliance
• Number or proportion of LEP individuals served or
  encountered in the eligible service population
• Frequency of contacts
• The nature and importance of the program,
  activity or services
• Resources available

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What is the Number or Proportion of LEP
Individuals in Your Service Area?

• Must include language minority populations that
  are eligible for programs or activities but may
  be underserved because of existing  language
  barriers.
• How determine number of LEP individuals?
• Census data, data from school systems and from
  community  organizations, and data from state and
  local governments.
• Community  agencies, school systems, religious
  organizations, legal aid entities,  and others
  can often assist in identifying populations for
  whom  outreach is needed and who would benefit
  from the recipients' programs  and activities
  were language services provided.

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What is the Frequency of Contact with LEP Persons
within your Agency?

• LEP persons contacting agency on a daily basis
  means higher responsibilities
• But even recipients  that serve LEP persons on an
  unpredictable or infrequent basis should have a
  plan to provide access
• EX being prepared to use telephonic
  interpretation services to obtain  immediate
  interpreter services.
• Recipients  should take care to consider whether
  appropriate outreach to LEP  persons could
  increase the frequency of contact with LEP
  language  groups.

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What is the Nature and Importance of the Program,
Activity, or Service  Provided by your Program?

• Will the denial or delay of  access to services
  or information have serious or even life-
  threatening implications for the LEP individual?
• Ex safety, law enforcement services or
  services that impacts rights vs. recreational or
  less urgent services

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What Resources Are Available?

• Cost is not defense to non-compliance, but
  programs can look to cost-sharing strategies
• Share resources with other community groups
• Train bilingual staff to act as interpreters and
  translators
• Use telephonic and video conferencing
  interpretation services
• Pool resources and  standardize documents to
  reduce translation needs
• Use qualified  translators and interpreters to
  ensure that documents need not be fixed'' later
  and that inaccurate interpretations do not cause
  delay  or other costs
• Develop formal use of qualified  community
  volunteers

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Oral vs. Written Options

• Recipients have two main ways to provide
  language  services
• Oral interpretation either in person or via
  telephone  interpretation service.
• Written translation, likewise, can  range from
  translation of an entire document to translation
  of a short  description of the document.
• Need to translate VITAL DOCUMENTS
• Example A police department in a largely
  Hispanic neighborhood may  need immediate oral
  interpreters available and should give serious 
  consideration to hiring some bilingual staff.

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Competency of Interpreters

• A COMPETENT INTERPRETER WILL    
• Demonstrate proficiency in and ability to
  communicate information  accurately in both
  English and in the other language
• Identify and  employ the appropriate mode of
  interpreting (e.g., consecutive,  simultaneous,
  summarization, or sight translation)    
• Have knowledge in both languages of any
  specialized terms or  concepts peculiar to the
  entity's program or activity
• Understand and follow confidentiality and
  impartiality rules
• Understand and adhere to their role as
  interpreters without  deviating into a role as
  counselor, legal advisor, or other roles 
  (particularly in court, administrative hearings,
  or law enforcement  contexts)
• FRIENDS OR FAMILY MEMBERS, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN
  ARE NOT COMPETENT INTERPRETERS !

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PEOPLE WHO SHOULD NOT INTERPRET IN DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE/SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES

• Children Putting a child in the middle of a
  parental conflict creates incredible pressure on
  the child, who is likely to feel torn regarding
  whom to side with the child may be fearful of
  the batterer and feel pressured to interpret in
  his failure children may not have vocabulary
  sufficient to translate legal information to the
  parent.
• Family member of the victim Despite the fact
  that a family member of the victim offers to
  volunteer, he or she may be blaming the victim
  for the abuse and not have a sufficient
  understanding of domestic violence to effectively
  provide support to the victim. The family member
  also might exaggerate the victims testimony in
  order to support her, which can lead to
  discrediting the victim-witness on
  cross-examination. Additionally, the family
  member might not have sufficient vocabulary to
  translate legal information to the victim.

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PEOPLE WHO SHOULD NOT INTERPRET IN DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE/SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES (Continued)

• Family member of the perpetrator/primary
  aggressor A family member of the
  perpetrator/primary aggressor could intentionally
  volunteer to interpret in order to control what
  the victim says or manipulate the victims words.
  A family member of the defendant might blame the
  victim for the abuse. The family member also
  might not have a sufficient understanding of
  domestic violence to effectively provide support
  to the victim.
• Friend of the family As with family members, a
  friend who offers to interpret may wish to
  control what the victim says, reporting back tot
  he family what the victim is saying or blaming
  the victim for the abuse. A friend might not
  have a sufficient understanding of domestic
  violence to effectively provide support to the
  victim. He or she also might not have sufficient
  vocabulary to translate legal information to the
  victim.
• Interpreter used by the perpetrator / primary
  aggressor A person who interprets for the
  batterer should not be asked or allowed to
  interpret for the victim. This would create a
  significant risk of replicating the dynamic of
  power and control that is used in a battering
  relationship. It could also inhibit what the
  victim is willing to discuss with the court and
  with court personnel.
• Source Cultural Considerations in Domestic
  Violence Cases. Family Violence Prevention
  Fund.1999

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Timeliness of Services

• Interpretation should  be provided in a timely
  manner.
• Language assistance  should be provided at a time
  and place that avoids the effective denial  of
  the service, benefit, or right at issue or the
  imposition of an  undue burden on or delay in
  important rights, benefits, or services to  the
  LEP person.
• In providing law enforcement, health, and safety
  services, and when important legal  rights are at
  issue, a recipient would likely not be providing 
  meaningful access if it had one bilingual staffer
  available one day a  week to provide the service
• In cases involving victims, timeliness is of the
  utmost importance !

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Implementation of Language Access Plan

1. Identifying individuals who have limited English
   proficiency and need assistance
2. Deciding on the ways to provide language
   assistance
3. Training Staff
4. Notifying persons with limited English
   proficiency
5. Monitoring and updating the policy

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Examples of Prohibited Practices

• Language Access Plan that provides only for
  services in Spanish (failure to adequately assess
  needs in area)
• Asking client to bring own interpreter
• Having a plan in place but failing in
  implementation (staff are not trained, do not
  know of policy, are not authorized to access
  interpreters)
• Providing unequal access (interpreter on site one
  day a week, Hispanic court day)
• Using children as interpreters for provision of
  services dealing with safety or rights

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Complaint Procedure

• Complaint form through Office of Civil Rights,
  Compliance and Review
• Department of Justice will look favorably on
  intermediate steps that recipients take given
  that compliance will take time

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Additional Legal Concerns

• Confidentiality
• Agencys own policy
• HIPPA
• Violation of other duties
• Ex Law enforcement in domestic violence
  situations has duty to provide information to
  victim about victim services and rights
• Crime Victim Bill of Rights

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Resources

• Know Your Rights brochures in different languages
• I SPEAK Cards to identify language
• www.lep.gov
• Policy guidance for specific agencies
• Demographic data
• Model programs

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Basic Access to Services

• Access to Services Necessary to Life and Safety
  All individuals present in the United States,
  including undocumented immigrants, are guaranteed
  access to services necessary to life and
  safety.
• Source ( Attorney General Order No. 2353-2001,
  Final Specification of Community Programs
  Necessary for Protection of Life or Safety Under
  Welfare Reform Legislation.)
• Among those services are access to EMS, police,
  fire, child and adult protective services,
  domestic violence and rape crisis programs, short
  term emergency housing, emergency medical care
  and vaccinations and treatment for communicable
  diseases.
• Agencies that deny such services risk violating
  civil rights and fair housing laws.

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Immigration Options for Victims

• Battered Spouse Waiver for conditional residents
• VAWA Self-Petitioning for Abused Spouses and
  Children of US Citizens/Lawful Permanent
  Residents
• U Visa for victims of serious crimes
  (rape/dv/trafficking)
• T Visa for victims of severe form of trafficking
  in persons
• Special Immigrant Juvenile petition for children
  who are in foster care/guardianship due to abuse,
  abandonment or neglect
• Gender Based Asylum

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Intake

• Screens for immigration history
• Identifies problem areas/red flags
• Identifies possible immigration remedies
• Should be faxed/sent to immigration attorney ASAP

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A Little Herstory

• Marriage Fraud Amendment (1990) Battered spouse
  waiver for conditional residents
• VAWA 1994 Congress created self-petitioning for
  spouses and children of abusive U.S. citizen or
  Lawful Permanent Resident spouses or parents
• Victims did not have to choose between staying
  silent in an abusive relationship and being
  deported.

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Conditional Resident Waiver

• Individual has married to USC for less than 2
  years
• When spouse petitions for non-citizen spouse, she
  receives conditional residency, good for two
  years.
• Husband and wife must jointly file to remove this
  condition and make her green card permanent.
• However, there are waivers of joint filing
  requirement
• if marriage was in good faith but was terminated
  due to divorce
• if spouse was subject to battery or extreme
  cruelty
• if non-citizen would suffer extreme hardship if
  forced to return to home country

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VAWA Self-Petitioning

• Some spouses and children of US citizens or
  lawful permanent residents, however, have never
  had anything filed on their behalf by the
  relative.
• Undocumented women and children who have been
  subjected to battering or extreme cruelty by a
  spouse or parent (USC or LPR) may self-petition
  for their permanent residency.
• If unmarried, but have child in common, may also
  be able to apply.
• Even if divorced, may apply within two years of
  the divorce.

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Elements of Self-petition

• Identity and that of their children (children may
  be included on mothers application)
• Identity and status of spouse
• Good Faith Marriage
• Residence with Abusive Spouse
• Residence in USA (or if outside, residence with
  military spouse)
• Battering and Extreme Cruelty
• Good Moral Character

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Battering and Extreme Cruelty

• Being the victim of any act or threatened act of
  violence, including any forceful detention, which
  results or threatens to result in physical or
  mental injury. . .acts of violence include
  psychological or sexual abuse or exploitation,
  including rape, molestation, incest, or forced
  prostitution as well as other abusive actions
  that, in and of themselves, may not initially
  appear violent but that are part of an overall
  pattern of violence.
• Actions against some other person or thing may
  also qualify if these acts were deliberately used
  to perpetrate extreme cruelty against the
  self-petitioner or the self-petitioning spouses
  child.

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Documentation

• Affidavit or history of client, detailing all
  incidents of abuse
• Affidavit of domestic violence counselor
• FAP records
• Military or other protective order
• Police Reports (need to use interpreter to get
  detailed information)
• Hospital Records
• Shelter Records (because of CISs strict
  confidentiality, batterer may never obtain
  records)
• Affidavits of friends and family members
• Diaries, photos of abuse and destruction of
  property

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Affidavit of Advocate

• Important tool in documenting abuse when there is
  little primary evidence (photos, police reports,
  hospital records)
• Includes counselors back ground in DV/SA
• Details counselors interaction with survivor,
  including assessment of credibility of client and
  of clients good moral character

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Good Moral Character

• Need to avoid mutual protective orders, findings
  of abuse or neglect, drug or alcohol abuse, and
  any arrests for criminal activity
• Waivers for good moral character problems and
  crimes of domestic violence may be available if
  applicant can show
• not primary aggressor and
• violation of protective order designed to protect
  heror
• acting in self-defenseor
• crime not result in serious injury

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Immigration Documents

• Form I-360 ( or fee waiver)
• Form I-765 ( or fee waiver)
• Form I-485 ( or fee waiver)
• After submitted, and prima facie notice is
  issued, eligible for public benefits
• May request additional documentation
• When approved, work permit is issued, and/or
  greencard

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U Visa A Long Road

• Created in 2000
• Regulations implementing the visa were not issued
  until 9/17/07 (effective date 10/17/07)
• Before regulations, victims could apply for
  interim relief of deferred action, which would
  enable them to apply for employment
  authorization. Ended 10/17/07
• A victim from Kentucky was one of the first to
  receive interim relief in the country!

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U Visa Requirements

• Alien is victim of qualifying crime/criminal
  activity
• Suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as
  a result
• Criminal activity occurred in US or violated US
  law
• Alien (or in case of alien under 16, parent,
  guardian or next friend) possesses information
  concerning criminal activity
• Alien (or child under 16, parent, guardian or
  next friend) has been helpful, is being helpful,
  or is likely to be helpful to federal, state or
  local authorities investigating or prosecuting
  the crime

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Direct Victim

• 8 CFR 214.14 (a)(14)
• Victim directly and proximately harmed by
  qualifying criminal activity
• Example Irena, a 22 year old undocumented
  housekeeper, was raped by her employer. She
  calls the police, goes for a rape exam and
  provides testimony leading to a plea deal by the
  offender.

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Indirect Victims

• 1) Parent, legal guardian or other family member
  of child under 16 may apply for principal U
  status
• Example Ivan Cano case in Louisville, KY, where
  mother of abducted four year old boy (who was a
  U.S. citizen) cooperated with law enforcement in
  his murder investigation and prosecution.
• 2) Bystander, unrelated to direct victim if
  witnessing the crime led to direct injuries
• Example Pregnant woman witnesses shooting and
  is so traumatized she suffers a miscarriage.

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Witness Tampering, obstruction of justice and
perjury

• Who is a victim of these crimes?
• Individuals who are harmed when a perpetrator
  commits one of these 3 crimes in order to avoid
  or frustrate the efforts of law enforcement
• OR individuals who are harmed when the
  perpetrator uses the legal system to exploit or
  impose control over them
• NOTE No nexus required with one of the other
  enumerated crimes

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Culpability of Victim

• A person who is culpable for the qualifying
  criminal activity being investigated or
  prosecuted is EXCLUDED from being considered a
  victim
• Does not exclude all individuals who have
  committed crimes
• Ex victim who agrees to be smuggled into the
  U.S. but then is held in involuntary servitude is
  still a victim

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Derivatives

• Can apply within the U.S. or from abroad at U.S.
  consulates
• If principal applicant is over 21, spouse and
  children are derivatives
• If under 21, spouse, parents and brothers and
  sisters (18 at age of filing principal petition)

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Crimes

• Rape Being held hostage
• Torture Peonage
• Trafficking Involuntary servitude
• Incest Slave trade
• Domestic violence Kidnapping
• Sexual assault Abduction
• Abusive sexual contact Unlawful criminal
• Prostitution restraint
• Sexual exploitation False imprisonment
• Female genital mutilation

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Crimes, continued

• Blackmail
• Extortion
• Manslaughter
• Murder
• Felonious assault
• Witness Tampering
• Obstruction of Justice
• Perjury
• Attempt, conspiracy or solicitation to commit any
  of these crimes
• or any other similar activity also encompassed
  by statute for related, non-enumerated crimes

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Occurred in U.S. or violated U.S. law

• Includes U.S. territories
• Includes Indian lands and military bases
• Crime may have occurred overseas and violated
  U.S. law with extrajudicial reach (ex sexual
  abuse of minor overseas)

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Possesses Information

• Has knowledge and details about crime of which
  the person is a victim
• If under 16, incapacitated or incompetent,
  parent, guardian or next friend may possess
  information
• Law enforcement may end up charging other crime
• Ex Victim of domestic violence calls 911 and
  reports crime to police. While there, police
  discover narcotics and charge perpetrator with
  drug crimes, rather than domestic violence.
  Victim can still be certified.

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Suffered Substantial Physical or Emotional Abuse

• Injury or harm to the victims physical person or
• Harm to or impairment of the emotional or
  psychological soundness of the victim
• Substantial refers to either severity of injury
  suffered by victim or the severity of the abuse
  inflicted by the perpetrator

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Substantial Physical or Mental Abuse (continued)

• Case by case approach using several factors
• Nature of injury inflicted or suffered
• Severity of perpetrators conduct
• Severity of harm suffered
• Duration of the infliction of the harm
• Extent to which there is permanent or serious
  harm to the appearance, health or physical or
  mental soundness of the victim
• Pre-existing physical or mental injury of victim
• Series of acts that occur over time--consider in
  totality
• NO SINGLE FACTOR IS A PREREQUISITE

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Certification

• Certifying agencies
• Local, state, federal law enforcement
• Prosecutor
• Judge
• Child Protective Services
• Equal Opportunity Commission
• Department of Labor

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Certification

• Certifying official
• Head of agency
• Designated supervisor
• What does the agency certify?
• Victim of crime
• Possesses information about crime or criminal
  activity
• Crime occurred in U.S or violated U.S. law
• Helpfulness

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Helpfulness

• Detection, Investigation or Prosecution
  (including conviction and sentencing)
• Has been helpful, is being helpful, or is likely
  to be helpful in investigation OR prosecution
• Victim may apply at different stages of the
  investigation or prosecution
• Prosecution may not be possible in all situation

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Ongoing requirement for helpfulness

• Victim cannot refuse to cooperate
• Recanting victim cannot apply (but make sure that
  another crime has not occurred, e.g. witness
  tampering)
• CERTIFICATE can be withdrawn and U Visa status
  revoked if victim does not cooperate

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Admissibility

• Applicant (and derivatives) must be admissible to
  the United States
• May seek waiver of grounds of inadmissibility
  EXCEPT the ground applicable to participants in
  Nazi persecutions, genocide, acts of torture or
  extrajudicial killings

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Waivers

• Form I-192
• Waiver available if in public or national
  interest
• Discretionary decision
• Balance adverse factors with social and humane
  considerations present
• Favorable discretion should not be exercised for
  waivers involving violent or dangerous crimes,
  except in extraordinary circumstances

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Victim Statement

• VERY IMPORTANT
• Should include
• Nature of criminal activity
• When the criminal activity occurred
• Who was responsible
• Events surrounding the criminal activity
• How the criminal activity came to be investigated
  or prosecuted
• What substantial physical or mental abuse was
  suffered as a result of having been the victim of
  criminal activity

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Additional Documentation

• Police reports, court records of disposition
• Protective orders
• Letters from counselors, friends, childs
  teacher, pastors
• Shelter records
• Photographs taken to document physical abuse
• News articles (if crime received media attention)
• Hospital records
• Other documents showing cooperation and abuse
  (ANY CREDIBLE EVIDENCE STANDARD)

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U Visa Application

• Form I-918 ( or fee waiver request)
• Supplement A (qualifying family members)
• Supplement B (law enforcement certificate)
• Fingerprinting
• Applicable waivers
• Victim Statement
• Other Supporting Documentation
• Filed at Vermont Service Center, VAWA Unit
• 10,000 cap each year (not include derivatives)

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If U Visa approved

• Non-Immigrant Visa for up to four years
• Authorization to work
• Can apply to adjust status in 3 years if in
  public interest, family unity or humanitarian

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Adjustment of Status

• After three years
• Application fee waivers
• Must not have unreasonably refused to provide
  assistance in a criminal investigation or
  prosecution
• Admissibility
• Discretionary decision
• Humanitarian grounds
• To ensure family unity or
• In the public interest

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T VISA

• Visa available for victims of severe form of
  trafficking in persons
• Need certification of law enforcement
• Must comply with all reasonable requests of law
  enforcement (if 18 or over)
• Present in US on account of trafficking
• Would face extreme hardship of an unusual nature
  if removed
• 4 year visa apply for permanent residency after
  three years of continuous presence person of
  good moral character
• Family members may be included

84
T VISA Process

• I- (fee or fee waiver request)
• I-485 adjustment of status application (after 3
  years)

85
Gender Based Asylum

• Door Opens for Battered Immigrant Women Seeking
  Asylum
• In a case involving a Mexican woman seeking to
  escape brutal domestic violence in her home
  country, Obama
• Administration officials have taken a position
  that may open a door to asylum in the United
  States for some victims of
• severe abuse. The Family Violence Prevention
  Fund, Center for Gender and Refugees Studies, and
  other advocates for
• victims of violence have long advocated this kind
  of move. The cautious position was laid out in a
  legal brief from the
• Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this spring
  in the case of L.R., a Mexican woman who
  requested asylum
• because she feared her common-law husband would
  kill her. The brief only recently became public.
  
• L.R. is a teacher whose husband repeatedly raped
  her at gunpoint, held her captive, stole her
  earnings, and tried to
• burn her alive when he discovered that she was
  pregnant. Local police dismissed her reports of
  violence, and a judge
• from whom she sought help tried to seduce her,
  the court papers say. DHS did not recommend
  immediate asylum for
• L.R., but in its brief government lawyers
  conclude that it is possible that L.R. and
  other applicants who have
• experienced domestic violence could quality for
  asylum. That may open a narrow path for some
  battered women to
• receive asylum in the United States. The brief
  argues that abused women who can show that they
  are treated as
• subordinates or property by their abusers, in a
  country where domestic abuse is widely tolerated
  and no institutions
• provide protection, should be granted asylum. The
  change does not affect women fleeing female
  genital cutting,
• whose cases have been accepted in the law since
  1996.

86
Gender Based Asylum (continued)

• At present, U.S. law requires that any applicant
  for asylum or refugee status demonstrate a well-
• founded fear of persecution based on race,
  religion, nationality, political opinion or
  membership in a
• particular social group. Victims of gender-based
  violence are often not persecuted for their race,
  
• religion, nationality or political opinion, so in
  order to win asylum they need to be recognized as
  
• members of a social group. When the government
  declines to find them to
• be social group members, they are denied asylum
  or left in limbo.
• One such person is Rody Alvarado Peña, who came
  to the United States from Guatemala in 1995 after
  
• suffering vicious abuse at the hands of her
  husband for more than a decade. At age 16,
  Alvarado
• Peña had married a career soldier who raped and
  beat her, broke mirrors over her head, caused her
  
• to miscarry, and beat her unconsciousness.
  Divorce was impossible without her abusive
  husbands
• consent, and with no shelters or other supports
  available, Alvarado Peña fled to the United
  States.
• She was granted asylum in 1996, but in the years
  since immigration courts have made conflicting
• rulings that left her in limbo.

87
Special Immigrant Juvenile

• Under 21 and unmarried
• Committed to state custody (foster
  care/guardianship) due to abuse, abandonment or
  neglect
• Eligible for long term foster care/no hope for
  reunification
• May apply for permanent residency
• Form I-360

88
Legal Services

• International Center
• 806 Kenton Street
• Bowling Green, KY
• [phone]
• Catholic Charities
• Office of Immigration Services
• 2911 S. Fourth Street
• Louisville, KY 40208
• [phone]
• Kentucky Refugee Ministries
• 969B Cherokee Rd.
• Louisville, KY 40204
• phone [phone]
• fax [phone]
• Legal Aid of the Bluegrass
• 859-233-4558

89
Additional Resources

• ASISTA, http//asistahelp.org/
• Family Violence Prevention Fund, www.endabuse.org
• Immigrant Legal Resource Center, www.ilrc.org
• Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human
  Trafficking, www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking

90
Immigrant Women Workers Resources

• Sexual Harassment http//www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/
  sexual_harassment.cfm (complaints, filing
  deadlines)
• Exploitation of Immigrant Women Workers
  Injustice on Our PlatesImmigrant Women in the US
  Food Industry, www.splcenter.org
• KY Labor Cabinet http//labor.ky.gov/Pages/Labor
  Home.aspx (wage and hour laws, filing a
  complaint)
• Language Access www.lep.gov (guidance,
  resources, filing a complaint)
• ICE Raids/Know Your Rights http//www.ilrc.org/f
  or-immigrants-para-inmigrantes/know-your-rights
• Immigration Protections for Victims
  www.asistahelp.org (technical assistance,
  resources)

91
Questions?

• Ghunt_at_kasap.org