Immigrants reporting more cases of violence

By Israel Saenz (Contact)
Sunday, May 4, 2008


Gonzales said some of the abuse victims are men.

CORPUS CHRISTI — Maribel Marroquin was willing to accept getting hit, she says. Her children being hurt, she said, was another matter.

"I couldn't do it anymore," said the 35-year-old Mexican immigrant from Tampico. "I know other women are going through the same thing."

A local immigrant advocacy group says Marroquin, divorced from her U.S.-born husband, represents a growing number of area immigrants who have come forward to seek protection under the Violence Against Women Act. The Coastal Bend Immigration Council, which serves 22 counties, says the number of immigrants who have come forward to seek protection from abuse has grown from fewer than 10 in 2001 to nearly 50 last year.

"Many of them still don't want to disturb their spouses -- the abusers," said Santa Gonzales, immigration legal assistant with the council. The council offers legal services to immigrants requesting help in various matters, but Gonzales said abuse victims are among the council's largest group.

She isn't sure if the increase represents growing abuse or increased awareness of the council's services.

Marroquin, who married in 2000, said her husband's drug use and physical and verbal abuse were part of her everyday routine. He managed to quit drugs temporarily, she said, but that did not last long.

She is seeking legal status without her husband's citizenship status. Citizens can request immigrant spouses be granted visas to live in the United States. According to the Violence Against Women Act, enacted in 1994, immigrants who are proven abuse victims do not have to rely on the spouse to sponsor their application for legal residency.

Legal assistance for such cases requires documentation of possible abuse, such as police reports or photographs.

"When people come to us we make sure they have made reports to the police department," said Edel Ruiseco, an attorney with the council.

The Violence Against Women Act does not only apply to women. Alain Njoh, a 38-year-old Cameroon native who married a U.S. citizen in 2005, sought help from the council when he said his marriage turned into an abusive relationship.

"We met in Houston at a church," he said. "She spoke a little French -- I'm a French-speaking guy, so that was the spark. She was so nice."

Njoh said the relationship changed when they moved to Corpus Christi, with his legal residency dependent on the marriage. He said she began exhibiting controlling behavior and resorting to physical violence, then using his residency status as a way to intimidate him.

"Knowing that, she would fight with me and expect me to keep my mouth shut," he said.

For Njoh, the turning point was when he said his wife attacked him with a hammer last summer. He saw Gonzales that same week.

Gonzales said about one in five abuse cases reported to the council involves men as victims.

Shirley Esparza, victim assistance coordinator with the district attorney's office in Corpus Christi, said child custody is another threat reported by immigrant spouses.

"I have many who tell me their husbands tell them they'll have them sent back to Mexico without their child," Esparza said. "That's the main reason they stay silent."

Marroquin, who has four children from two marriages, said she wants others to know about their options for legal assistance.

"I have a friend who is going through the same situation," Marroquin said. "She doesn't have papers, but she's with a man, and he hits her and everything. But she's afraid. I tell her she needs to do something."

Contact Israel Saenz at 886-3767 or saenzi@caller.com

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http://www.caller.com/news/2008/may/04/ ... ence-have/

She is trying for a Q visa.