Published: November 12, 2009 01:34 pm      

Speaking out: Domestic violence victims share stories

Local advocacy group looks to shed light on violence at home.

For people in the community who have fallen victim to domestic violence, there is help. That is the message Cheryl Gee of the local branch of the Farmworker Legal Services of New York is trying to get out to the community. To do that, she has teamed up with people who have gotten out of abusive lifestyles and found ways to better their lives.

The following story is an excerpt from the U Visa/interim relief declaration of one of the clients of the Farmworker Legal Services of New York’s Victim Resource Center. This testimonial is being published with the client’s permission on the condition that all identifying details are changed to protect the privacy of all parties involved.

“My name is Julia C. and I am 28 years old. I was born and raised in Mexico. I first met my husband, Victor, in 1994. He was abusive since the very beginning of our relationship, but I stayed with him because my dad wanted to marry me off.

“While we were in Mexico, he beat me regularly — often in front of his brothers, who would cheer him on. It was humiliating. He also raped me frequently. I knew if I called the police, they wouldn’t help me. In Mexico, the police don’t care if a husband beats up his wife. It’s a family matter, they say.

“Victor told me that he was going to the United States and that he wanted me to go with him. In 1999, Victor, my daughter and I got to New York. Because I didn’t speak English and didn’t know anybody, I was even more isolated here than in Mexico. I worked in the apple fields with Victor, and he made sure that I couldn’t talk to or be alone with anyone else. He always watched over me. Every pay day, he took my check and wouldn’t give me any of the money. He did whatever he wanted to with the money that I earned and I had to ask him for food and other necessary items.

“I didn’t know who to turn to for help. I didn’t have any friends because Victor wouldn’t allow me to, and I didn’t want to call the police because I didn’t speak English. I didn’t think I had rights because I was illegal, and I thought the police here didn’t care about domestic abuse, either.

“In 2003, I finally told a worker at the migrant clinic about what was going on at home. I was pregnant with our third child at that time, and the abuse had gotten much worse. Victor had told me that while I was giving birth to our baby at the hospital, he would run away with our two older children and I would never see them again. I believed he was capable of doing that.

“The worker at the clinic introduced me to Cheryl and Maria from Farmworker Legal Services. Since Victor almost never let me leave the house, the clinic arranged for me to meet with Maria and Cheryl by telling Victor that I had a checkup. Cheryl and Maria talked to me about domestic violence and told me about my rights and different options that I had. They introduced me to some people from the Victim Resource Center who discussed with me in more detail what legal help I could get.

“In February 2004, I finally gathered up the courage to ask the court for a restraining order against Victor. Going to court was very scary, especially since the judge asked me about my immigration status. My lawyer told me that in family court, the judges aren’t required to ask about that, but he did anyway.

“I told him the truth — that I was illegal.

“He told me that while he wasn’t going to report me to Immigration, it was still possible that Immigration could find out about me. He asked me if I wanted to go ahead with the petition, knowing that there was potential for me to get in trouble with Immigration, and I told him yes, that I had to continue so that I could be safe from Victor.

“The judge gave me a temporary order saying that Victor had to stay away from me and the children. Eventually, the order was changed so that Victor could visit the children, but that he had to stay away from me. We also went to court for child support, but he was only ordered to pay me $45 a month for all of our three children combined.

“At first, Victor obeyed the court order of protection, but then he stopped. He was eventually arrested and charged with a couple of different crimes, but he was turned over to Immigration before the District Attorney’s Office could prosecute him. By that time, my advocate at the Victim Resource Center had told me about the U Visa and that I might be able to stay here legally if I cooperated with the police and the district attorney about the crime.

“I filled out a form from the DA’s office about the impact the abuse had on my life and I had my advocate call them regularly to get updates on the case and see if they needed me to testify. When my advocate asked the DA to sign a form for my Immigration case stating that I was willing to cooperate in the prosecution, he said no. He said he wasn’t going to sign anything to help me stay in the U.S. if his office wasn’t even going to prosecute the case.

“Victor was in the Immigration jail for several months before he was deported. The whole time he was there, he sent me letters and called me all the time, threatening to have me deported. Toward the end of the year, Immigration agents showed up at my house early one morning. They handcuffed me in front of my daughter and took me away. They let me go later that day, but said that I had to go back to their office the next week.

“I went back the next week with my advocate from the Victim Resource Center and my lawyer from the International Institute. My lawyer told the Immigration officer that I was going to be applying for the U Visa and that we were going to start getting paperwork to put together an application packet. The officer let me go with something called an Order of Supervision and told me I had to report every month to his office.

“We started getting together police reports, statements from my doctor, and other evidence to be used to support my case. The hardest part was getting a statement from the DA or the police stating that Victor did commit a crime against me, and that was helpful in the investigation. Finally, after several months of trying, the Victim Resource Center was able to get someone from the local police department to sign it. In June, we got all of the paperwork together, and the International Institute submitted my application to Immigration.

“In the meantime, even though Victor had been deported back to Mexico in February, he called me at least once a week to insult me, threaten me, and tell me that I would see him again when I least expected it. I had heard rumors that he was back in town in May. He started calling me and said that he was back and I would be seeing him soon.

“One day I returned home and discovered my house was broken into. Nothing was stolen, but all of my things were thrown around. I called the police. They checked around to make sure it was safe, but said they couldn’t make any arrests. Over the next several months, Victor would come over to my house late at night and try to get in, or just stand there staring at the house for hours. I called the police all the time, but they never arrested him because he was always gone by the time they got there.

“I think they finally realized that Victor wasn’t going to stop, so they listened to me and tried to find him. He went to jail for a few weeks and then was deported again.

“I hope that he gives up and doesn’t try to come back again.

“I still struggle every day with what Victor did to me and our family and I still worry that he might return and start abusing me again. I’m having a hard time making ends meet, but I know that I’m better off without him. I just found out that my U Visa application got approved, which means that I will get to stay legally in the U.S.

“I feel hope for the future and grateful for all of the help that I have received.”

This is the first article in a two-part series. The second part will appear in Friday’s edition.