After being undocumented for three years, Antonina was introduced to George who is a US citizen. After a short courtship they got married in a civil ceremony. The first year of their marriage was blissful. However, after Antonina gave birth to their daughter, George started becoming abusive. He would yell at her and throw things around the house whenever he gets upset. Antonina tried to bear with the abuses of George despite suffering severe emotional and physical pain.
Antonina did not work and was a full time housewife and mother. Whenever, George argued with her, she is reminded that she owes her life in the US to him. According to Antonina, his spouse wanted him to feel beholden to him for petitioning her to become a lawful permanent resident. The truth, however, was unknown to Antonina. Her greencard expired after two years and George never renewed Antonina’s greencard resulting in her being out of status.
Antonina never called the police to protect herself whenever her husband hurt her. George threatened her most of the time and instilled fear in her that if she called the police, she will be deported and will not see her daughter again.
In a sudden turn of events after a very serious argument with George, Antonina picked a knife and tried to kill George while the latter was asleep. George suffered injuries and the police arrested Antonina. She is now in trial for attempted murder and is prevented from seeing her daughter. If Antonina is found guilty, she will serve sentence before being deported back to the Philippines.
Choice to Abandon
In abusive relationships, the aggrieved party has the choice to abandon the abusive partner. It would have been easier to make a decision to leave an abusive spouse if there is no “immigration issue” that needs to be considered. Fear of deportation and of being arrested by the immigration authorities is a real threat to most victims of domestic violence who are undocumented. It is for this very reason that legislation was enacted many years ago to protect victims of domestic violence.
The Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA) gives protection to abused spouses from being deported. It allows the abused spouse to self-petition without the help of the abusive US citizen spouse. To avail of the benefits of this law, the first step is for the undocumented abused spouse to garner enough courage to make a firm decision to end the abuse by getting out of their bad situation.
Almost all of the abused spouses face real threats from their US citizen partners. There are many reasons why abused spouses are not able to freely relieve themselves from their predicament.
Although Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the US, there are still many areas in the US where the Filipino American population is very sparse. US citizen petitioners may be residing in areas where there is hardly any Filipino in the area. Thus, when a Filipino spouse is a victim of abuse, community resources are not readily available to get help. In places where there are organizations doing outreach to abuse victims, oftentimes the linguistic barrier becomes a problem. This prevents many Filipino abuse victims from freely expressing themselves and seeking assistance.
Another reason why there is strong hesitation on the part of domestic violence victims to report the crime to authorities is the unfortunate situation of “revenge arrests”. This happens when 911 is dialed during altercations between the spouses. When the police arrives, the US citizen who is usually the more articulate party may reverse the situation and say that the perpetrator is the undocumented abused spouse. This happened to an El Salvadoran national named Maria Bolanos. When the police arrived in their home as a result of a 911 call, instead of arresting the abusive US citizen spouse, Maria was the one arrested. When she was finally cleared of the charges, the immigration authorities to her into custody and placed her in deportation proceedings.
The Secure Communities Program of the Department of Homeland Security shares its database with local police. Homeland Security is alerted whenever a person is arrested even if there are no charges filed. If the arrested person is an undocumented alien, immigration authorities will take custody of the individual.
Family First
Victims of domestic violence are anxious about reporting to authorities for fear that they may be separated from their children. This is what actually happened in the case of Antonina above. She tried to bear her sufferings in the hands of her abusive husband until she lost control and became violent herself. According to her, she was concerned about the welfare of her daughter and did not want her family to be broken up. In hindsight, she should just have abandoned her spouse before she got herself into her deplorable situation. Now she is separated not just from her spouse, she is also separated from her daughter while facing criminal charges.
The law against domestic violence and the policies behind them are clear. It protects the rights of abused spouses. For those who are suffering in the hands of abusive spouses or those who knows of friends who are in this situation, it is important to point them to the right direction. We hope that there will be enough courage on the part of victims to relieve themselves from their unfortunate situation. For their relatives who are left behind in the Philippines, constant communication with your daughter, sister or mother abroad is key to show family support when it is most needed.
(Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 887 7177 or 721 1963)
