Angela's* Story
I distinctly remember one evening when I woke up startled by how loud the television volume was. It was the middle of the night. I went out of my bedroom to find my husband, Patrício*, in the bathroom and my 13-year-old daughter, Laura*, still awake. She had a lost look in her eyes. I knew something was wrong.
I met Patrício when I was 19 years old at a community dance in Argentina, where we are both from. We fell in love and dated each other for about a year before we decided to get married. A few years later, we had two daughters, Laura and Julia*. Once they were born, Patrício and I bought our first home, and I began to study nursing. Patrício always seemed to be a supportive and loving father and husband. Our life during this time was modest, but filled with happiness. We had each other and two beautiful daughters.
When Argentina was hit with a severe economic crisis in 2000, however, our family was devastated. Our finances deteriorated so fast that we could no longer make ends meet—we were simply bankrupt! With great pain, we made the difficult decision to leave our home, country, and friends and come to the United States in search of work and better lives. When we arrived in the United States, Patrício and I, along with Laura and Julia, shared one rented bedroom in a house. Over the next two years, we lived in various rented rooms until we were able to save up enough money to buy our own condominium. During this time, I was working very hard. I took English classes and worked two jobs. Patrício had one full-time job that allowed him to be at home when Laura and Julia came home from school. Despite these hardships, our life in the United States was still better than the one we left behind in Argentina.
Six months after we moved into our home, I took one week of vacation and decided to spend it with my daughters at home. It was during this time that I first noticed that Laura was not sleeping well at night. She was frequently nervous and jumpy during the day. Ironically, that week we watched a talk show together about child molestation. I told both my daughters to tell me if anything like that ever happened to them. Then, later in the week, I woke up to the loud television volume and found my Laura still awake. When I first spoke to her, she did not respond to me. When I got closer to her, without looking me in the eye, Laura told me that her father had been touching her private parts. I started trembling, crying, and finally shaking as I was holding my daughter.
My heart was broken. I couldn’t believe that Patrício would hurt our daughter in such a way. I sobbed for the next three hours. Then I packed the girls up and locked them in the car while I confronted Patrício. He admitted to me that he had molested Laura. I demanded that Patrício leave the house at once, which he did. At first, I was afraid to call the police. Would they deport us all? Would we lose our home? I was too exhausted to think through the details.
Then, two days later, Patrício called and threatened to kidnap the girls when I was at work. I put my fears aside and immediately called the police. My daughters’ safety was more important than anything else to me. It was only after a thorough police investigation that I found out Patrício had molested both our daughters. Laura, in particular, had suffered his abuse for the past six years. Patrício stole my daughters’ childhood. To this day, I still do not know all the details of Patrício’s actions since my daughters try to protect me as much as possible. For now, I have turned my attention to giving my daughters the childhood Patrício stole from them.
So many people have helped my daughters and I. Due to a successful police investigation and prosecution, my husband was put in jail for 20 years. The judge promised me that when Patrício gets out of jail, he will be deported and will never harm my daughters again. Thanks to the efforts of the police, my daughters and I were able to get counseling from the Center for Multicultural Human Services. Finally, the Tahirih Justice Center helped us secure our work permits through U visa interim relief, which allows me to work legally in the United States and provide financially for my daughters. Life is still very hard and I know I can never get those six years of Laura’s childhood back, but I continue to fight to provide my daughters with the best childhood experience they can possibly have.
Unwritten U Visa Regulations and Implications
The 2000 Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) created a new visa for non-immigrants called the U visa. The “U visa” or “U non-immigrant status” is intended for non-citizens who have suffered substantial mental or physical abuse as a result of being the victim of a criminal activity that took place in the United States.
Although the VTVPA created the U visa five years ago, the actual visa is not available because the Department of Homeland Security still has not written regulations for its issuance. Absent the availability of the visa, for the past five years, "U visa interim relief" allows for “deferred action” and work authorization. This means that a victim can receive temporary authorization to work while his or her immigration status remains unresolved, leaving the final outcome ambiguous until the regulations are finalized and published. Outrage over the five-year delay in issuing regulations has been brought to the federal courts. A coalition of civil rights organizations and individual plaintiffs filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff challenging the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) failure to adjudicate U visa applications and issue U visas to eligible immigrant applicants.
Learn more about the U visa and the controversy around the delay of its regulations.
*Names have been changed to protect privacy.