responsible leaders - inMotion Inc.

volunteer profile
PROTECTING BATTERED IMMIGRANT WOMEN
Luis Rodriguez, Jr., Esq.
Growing up in a Latin American and Caribbean immigrant community in Crown Heights, Luis Rodriguez saw first hand the mistreatment and struggles
of undocumented immigrant families. Shortly after establishing his business law practice in Manhattan, Luis began to look for meaningful ways
to positively impact immigrants living in New York City. Drawn to inMotion’s diverse and supportive pro bono program, Luis enrolled in a Continuing
Legal Education (CLE) training seminar to learn how to help battered immigrant women self-petition for legal residency under the Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA).
My practice serves the derivative
transactional needs of banks and
slowly gained her trust and began to gather the facts of her case and build a
timeline of events.
brokerage firms, as well as the
The biggest challenge in preparing Marcella’s VAWA self-petition was
transactional needs of small businesses.
gathering the evidence required to prove abuse. The only witnesses to
Like many attorneys who work
her pain and suffering were her husband’s family and they were unlikely to
primarily for corporate clients, I began
doing pro bono work because I wanted
to feel connected to an individual—to
make a difference in someone’s life
and my community. For attorneys like
myself that want to do public service
but whose busy schedules prohibit them from taking on pro bono cases that
require a great deal of time in court, inMotion’s immigration program is an
attractive volunteer alternative. And for those without experience in
immigration law, inMotion’s training programs and supportive staff, who are
always available to answer questions and review documents, make it easier
for attorneys to take on these types of cases.
support her allegations. With very limited documentation available, I
petitioned the New York Police Department (NYPD) for a copy of a 911 call
she made early in her marriage which I hoped would provide dramatic and
powerful evidence of abuse. I was disappointed to find that the NYPD erases
these tapes after a short period; only a microfiche with the bare facts of the
call remained on record. InMotion recommended that Marcella see a
domestic violence counselor who could then provide a supporting letter to
the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to attest to her
emotional state as a victim of domestic violence and sexual assault, and as
evidence of mistreatment and abuse by her husband.
I filed Marcella’s VAWA self-petition, status
Over the past two years, I have helped two
adjustment and employment authorization
battered women self-petition for legal
“Once, I was afraid and ashamed to tell
applications in March of 2004. Within a month,
residency. My second inMotion client, anyone what was happening in my marriage.
we received a prima facie letter from the USCIS
Marcella*, was only 17 years old when she And though I am still afraid of men touching stating that they believed her case was credible.
left her family in Guatemala to find work in
America. Two years after arriving in the U.S.,
me sexually, I have learned that there are
times that you must reach out to others and
While the prima facie does not guarantee that the
application will receive final approval, it was a
she met and fell in love with her future
to speak out against domestic violence.” very positive sign and it enabled Marcella to apply
husband. Shortly after the wedding, her
Marcella for important public benefits for herself and her
husband began to drink heavily and became
son pending the agency’s final decision.
increasingly possessive of Marcella. He refused
to let Marcella see her friends, learn to drive or to take English lessons—
reasoning that she only wanted to learn to speak English to flirt with other men.
The USCIS approved Marcella’s employment authorization in October
2004. With no support from her husband, she had been forced to work very
hard for very little in the City’s underground economy. Receiving her work
After the birth of their son, Marcella’s husband promised to stop drinking,
authorization was especially important to her. It made her feel, in a very
but like many times before, his promise was short-lived. He regularly stayed
tangible way, that she was making progress in her life. Then, just nine
out drinking all night. When he returned home drunk, he often demanded
days later, we received notification that Marcella’s VAWA self-petition was
sex—and if Marcella refused, he would hit her and force her to have sex. On
approved. Marcella was overjoyed! Marcella had her status adjustment
one occasion, he beat her face so severely he broke her nose. He then
interview just a few months ago. She was extremely nervous about the
stopped giving Marcella money for household expenses and she became
interview. Marcella was shocked when the USCIS agent asked her only three
entirely dependent on his parents for rent, food, diapers and milk.
mundane questions and then stamped her passport. On June 6th, Marcella
Eventually, he moved out of their apartment, only returning when he was
became a legal permanent resident of the United States.
drunk and wanted sex. His sexual assaults became more violent; he once
raped her in front of their then four-year-old son. Like so many battered
Latin women, Marcella was too ashamed to tell her family or friends about
the abuse and humiliation she was suffering in her marriage.
Since becoming a legal resident, Marcella is more confident and selfassured.
She has told me of her ambitions to further her education and
employment skills. She recently returned to Guatemala with her son to visit
her family for first time since coming to America 10 years ago. I am very
I was assigned Marcella’s case in July 2003. At our first meeting, Marcella was
happy for her and to have had this opportunity to help her build a safer and
not comfortable speaking about the domestic violence in her life with a
more secure life for herself and her son.
male—especially a Latin male. I interviewed Marcella several times and
*Client name has been changed to protect her identity.
6