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The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) allows those victims of domestic violence who are married to U.S. Citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents to "self-petition" for lawful status. To be approved under VAWA, the self-petitioner must prove, among other things, that her marriage was bona fide. This Note examines the practical difficulties that battered immigrants face in producing primary evidence of bona fide marriage and discusses the perverse incentives this requirement creates. Specifically, VAWA petitioners' abusive spouses often destroy the documentation of bona fide marriage, never include the immigrant spouse's name on the documents to begin with, or threaten further abuse if the immigrant spouse tries to obtain the documents. Because these issues are only amplified in a short-lived marriage, battered immigrants have perverse incentives to stay with their abusive partners longer, to marry their abusers, and to have children with them. As a possible solution, this Note argues that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services should give greater weight to affidavits as qualitative proof of bona fide marriage, which allows VAWA petitioners to explain any documentary gaps and to tell their own stories.
I. Introduction
Jane1 met her husband, a U.S. Citizen, while traveling to the United States on a J-1 student visa. They dated for two years, and on the second anniversary of their first date, he proposed to her over a romantic dinner. She happily said yes and looked forward to their life together. They got married in a small, informal ceremony with just a few friends present, largely because Jane's family was back in Russia, her home country.
It was only after the pair was married and moved in together that Jane's husband began to abuse her. He kicked her, choked her, pushed her down a set of stairs, called her derogatory names like "whore," accused her of sleeping with their neighbor, watched her through cameras, took her personal belongings (including her immigration documents), and forced her to pay all of their expenses. After three months, Jane decided that she could not put up with this abuse any longer - she left her husband and began filing for divorce.
Jane is eligible2 for immigration relief under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA),3 a federal law allowing victims of domestic violence who are...