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People v. Shoreque Villa (Ca. Oct. 16, 2020)
Excluding evidence about a victim’s immigration case upheld as not violating the defendant’s 6th Amendment rights.
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Ortiguerra v. Grand Isle Shipyard (E.D. La. June 7, 2024)
The Plaintiffs alleged that their employment involved violations of federal law, including the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The motion was granted in part and denied in part – ordering plaintiffs to provide some evidence of their T and U visa applications to the defendants (E.D. La. June 7, 2024).
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Molnar v. Margaret W. Wong Assocs. Co. L.P.A. (8th Cir. Apr. 22, 2021)
The Court of Appeals found that in cases in which a crime victim is seeking civil damages and where the victim obtained the U visa due to the underlying criminal activities committed by victims’ former attorneys against the victims as part of defendant lawyers’ egregious legal malpractice, defendant attorneys were entitled to obtain that information…
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Matter of Hranka (BIA Apr. 6, 1978)
Hranka’s case explains immigration officials’ discretion to admit a person when the person is deemed inadmissible due to a crime of moral turpitude. In such a case, the three factors to weigh are: (1) risk of harm to society if the applicant is allowed to enter, (2) the seriousness of the applicant’s prior immigration law…
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Matter of Menjivar (AAO Dec. 27, 1994)
The petitioner sought classification as a special immigrant juvenile pursuant to INA 203(b)(4) after entering without inspection. The appeals office held that where a juvenile court appointed a guardian for the beneficiary, the petitioner is not precluded from a finding that the beneficiary is dependent on the juvenile court. Since the court specifically found that…
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Luis Hernandez v. Ashcroft (9th Cir. Oct. 7, 2003)
In the case of Luis Hernandez v. Ashcroft, the immigration judge denied Hernandez’s VAWA suspension of deportation case because the court determined that she had not suffered extreme cruelty in the U.S., when her lawful permanent resident spouse abused her in Mexico, tracked her down in the U.S., convinced her to come back to Mexico,…
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Kumar v. Kumar (Ca. Ct. App. July 28, 2017)
Decision confirming that affidavits of support are enforceable by the sponsored spouse, in this case an abused spouse, in family court as part of a divorce proceeding. Immigrant victims of domestic violence also could not be required to “mitigate damages” that would have effectively prevented and abused immigrant wife from enforcing and affidavit of support…
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Judgment in Hawke v. DHS (N.D. Ca. Sep. 29, 2008)
Hawke v. Department of Homeland Security, a case of first impression on the issue of VAWA confidentiality. This was a case in which a victim filed a VAWA self-petition and then gained legal immigration status through another form of immigration relief. Hawke was awaiting trial on misdemeanor battery against his wife and he asked the court to…
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In re A-D- (EOIR May 22, 2017)
This case considers whether the petitioner, a native and citizen of the People’s Republic of China, timely filed her asylum application and whether there were any extraordinary circumstances that warranted an exemption from the general 1-year deadline for filing an asylum application. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) eventually decided that factors such as the…
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In re Idinyan (Huckfeldt) (BIA Jan. 20, 2006)
BIA decision addressing DHS’s appeal of a VAWA Cancellation of Removal grant. DHS challenged the respondent’s eligibility on several grounds, including the timing of her divorce, lack of credibility, insufficient evidence of battery or extreme cruelty, failure to show extreme hardship, and limited preparation time for DHS. The BIA dismissed the appeal, upholding the relief…
National Immigrant Women's Advocacy Project