Nonprofit legal group stops in Northeast Texas to reach immigrant victims of abuse

By LYNDA STRINGER - Tribune City Editor
Thursday, December 4, 2008 11:19 AM CST

Lindsay Morris is the East Texas Circuit Rider for the Austin-based nonprofit group Texas Civil Rights Project's Violence Against Women Act department. Morris, who is a legal advocate for immigrants who are the victims of domestic violence, held a training session for area CPS workers in Pittsburg. TRIBUNE photo by Lynda Stringer


PITTSBURG -- Austin is long way from Northeast Texas , but Lindsay Morris made the trip in what her nonprofit organization calls a Circuit Ride to reach out to immigrant victims of domestic abuse in rural areas of the state.

Morris, whose official title with the Texas Civil Rights Project is East Texas Circuit Rider, is a legal advocate in TCRP's Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) department. TCRP is a nonprofit law office that offers free legal help to people whose civil rights have been denied. They handle traditional cases, such as freedom of speech issues or racial discrimination.

However, Morris' office specifically handles cases involving abused documented and undocumented immigrants to start the process of helping them gain legal status in the United States .

Under VAWA, which is a federal act, immigrant victims of domestic violence who meet qualifying criteria are eligible to apply for legal resident status and valid work authorization, which gives them the ability to work and support themselves and their children independently of their abusive U.S. citizen or legal resident spouses.

"We are nonprofit, so the people we work with usually can't afford to hire a lawyer to do the immigration paperwork," Morris said.

Ninety percent of the clients they work with are immigrants from Mexico ; however, they also work with immigrants from Central America , Russia , Korea and Viet Nam .

Morris said documented and undocumented immigrants could qualify for assistance under the program.

"Some clients may already be legal residents, but through VAWA, they can remove the conditions of their residency to become permanent legal residents," she explained.

Morris held a training session for Child Protective Services workers in Pittsburg Wednesday to help them better understand the services that TCRP offers, so they in turn can help their immigrant clients.

Morris also met with Lisha Arredondo, the bilingual legal advocate for SAFE-T in Mount Pleasant, to go over some casework.

"A couple of times a year I come out and give presentations and training to get the word out that this program is out there to help immigrant survivors of abuse," Morris said. "This time I am meeting with smaller groups and sometimes that one-on-one conversation can have more of an impact."

Jessica Tillman, a CPS worker in Mount Pleasant, arranged the training session with Morris for her and her colleagues.

"This has really helped me a lot. I don't know that much about immigration laws, so it is another resource that we can use for our clients," Tillman said.

Tillman said it is not only a resource for the women and children they deal with who are facing extremely difficult circumstances.

"I had one case where I had a battered woman, she was illegal and her husband got deported. She is here by herself with no way of working and making money for her and her child," Tillman said.

Arredondo said in many of the domestic abuse cases she has worked on involving immigrants, the victim's immigration status is used against them.

"If they are married to a citizen or a legal resident and they are illegal, they are scared to go to the police and scared to look for help," Arredondo said. "VAWA gives them a way to get out of the relationship and if they prosecute and meet certain criteria, they can get their immigration status approved."

She said at least five women she has referred to Morris have received their work permits in the two years she has been with SAFE-T.

"All of the five that I know of have received their work permits, so they are legal now and they are working on the final process of their immigration status," she said.

Playing devil's advocate for a moment, some might wonder whether the program could be an avenue in which some illegal immigrants could abuse the system to gain legal status in U.S.

"That's always an issue when you have a pathway to citizenship or legal permanent residency," Morris said. "In our training here, we talked about how much documentation is necessary for someone to apply. Our office will never send an application [to the Immigration and Naturalization Service] unless we feel totally comfortable with it. We will end up knowing a client for six months to a year before we ever send anything in."

She also said the INS would not approve anything until they have solid documentation.

"That's why the evidence, the police reports, the protective orders, the documentation of the abuse is so important. If you don't have documentation, you can't prove that it happened and immigration is probably not going to approve you," Morris said.

If approved, the initial step would be to receive deferred action status, which is not the same as legal residency.

"It is protection from deportation, which gives them permission to work legally. It is only valid for a year and has to be renewed. Immigration doesn't want just anybody being approved for these. The idea is that while immigration is processing the application there is a protection from deportation," Morris said. "It is not an open door policy. Just because somebody gets approved initially does not mean they will be approved for permanent legal residency."

Morris said the ultimate goal of VAWA and her TCRP office is to give people options and provide them with the ability to become self-sufficient.

"People remain in abusive relationships because they don't feel that they can survive on their own. They don't have the ability to work and support their children. The idea behind VAWA is provide the support and the pathway for a person to realize there is another option than staying in an abusive relationship," she said.

Tillman and Arredondo agreed that the work that Morris' office does is a vital need in Texas.

"I do not know how we would get along in some cases without them," Arredondo said. "They help us with our illegal immigrant abused women and they are outstanding. The need is very great."

Tillman said many times, their referral is a lifeline for the victim.

"It makes my heart swell when you have an answer for them.. When you look in their eyes and you know you can't help them, it hurts. This is an answer that I can give them," Tillman said.

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