Jackie + Frank VAWA is a federal law meant to protect undocumented immigrant survivors of domestic abuse by allowing them to apply for immigration relief without the assistance of their abusive spouse. Jackie’s ex-husband, Frank, abused her physically, sexually, verbally, and psychologically for nearly 20 years. Jackie was born in Mexico, but moved to […]
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These Are Times That Try Men
“These are times that try men’s souls.” -Thomas Paine Those words were penned by Thomas Paine during the American Revolution. There are eras where people’s characters are tested and this seems to be one of those times. When you look back at history, you see many examples of people who went against […]
Read MorePresident Obama Supports VAWA
During last night’s State of the Union, President Obama spoke about the importance of the Violence Against Women Act and the need for it to be reauthorized. He said: “Today the Senate passed a strong bipartisan bill to reauthorize and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act. This important step shows what we can do when […]
Read MoreIn VAWA Vote, Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Violence Against Women Act
WASHINGTON — The Senate easily passed its Violence Against Women Act reauthorization bill on Tuesday, officially punting the issue to the House, where Republican leaders still haven’t signaled how they plan to proceed. The bill passed 78 to 22. It already had 62 cosponsors, which ensured its passage, but it picked up additional support from […]
Read MoreVAWA Reauthorization: House Republicans Urge Boehner, Cantor To Pass Bipartisan Bill
WASHINGTON — More than a dozen House Republicans sent a letter to their party leaders on Monday night urging them to “immediately” reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act with a bipartisan bill — something the House failed to do in the last Congress. “Now is the time to seek bipartisan compromise on the reauthorization of […]
Read MoreA Fact-sheet On VAWA 2013
Senate Bill S.47 is the bipartisan bill for the reauthorization of VAWA (Violence against Women Act), which was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Michael Crapo (R-ID). Below is a fact-sheet about S.47, which was written and compiled by the Immigration Committee of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. […]
Read MoreHRI Calls on Congress to Pass VAWA early in 2013 Session
The following post was written by HRI’s Legal Director Chris Mansour. Last year I represented a woman named Sheila who had recently escaped her marriage to her abusive husband, Joe. She met him college and fell in love, but soon he became controlling, mean and violent. Sheila tried to have them attend marriage counseling, but […]
Read MoreHRI Advocates for VAWA Reauthorization in DMN
Below is an opinion piece featured in today’s The Dallas Morning News, written by our Legal Director Chris Mansour and our Executive Director Bill Holston on the importance of the reauthorization of VAWA. Chris Mansour and Bill Holston: Time running out for Violence Against Women Act One of our immigrant clients at Human Rights Initiative, […]
Read MoreInternational Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
Our client Dana, a Honduran native, was physically, mentally and emotionally abused by her partner throughout their relationship and her pregnancy. She is just one example of the cases we see at Human Rights Initiative, which deal with violence against women. Yesterday, November 25th, was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. […]
Read MoreVAWA National Day of Action
Below is a guest post written by our Legal Director Chris Mansour about the importance of VAWA reauthorization. Our client Lisa was raped by her stepfather for over a year, starting when she was nine years old. When he was finally caught, she courageously told the police what he had done to her, even though […]
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