During the last decade, Congress has enacted special immigration provisions to assist the battered alien spouses (most of whom are women) and children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. To deter immigration-related marriage fraud, Congress, in 1986 had established a two-year conditional status for alien spouses and children who obtained permanent residence based on a recent marriage. In most cases, the alien and his or her spouse had to submit a joint petition at the end of the two-year period to have the condition removed. This requirement posed problems for battered aliens, who spouses often refused to cooperate in the filing of joint petitions. The 1990 Immigration Act created a special waiver of the joint petition requirement for battered spouses and children.
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 provided additional relief to noncitizen victims of family violence. It allowed them to file self-petitions for immigration preference status, rather than having to rely on their batterers to file initial petitions on their behalf. VAWA also established special requirements for battered alien spouses and children seeking relief from deportation.
In 1996, Congress enacted the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility ACT (IIRIRA), which contained strong measures to deter illegal immigration. Under IIRIRA, battered aliens were eligible for various exemptions. IIRIRA also amended the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which had placed restrictions on alien eligibility for federal benefits.
The 106th Congress enacted the Battered Immigrant Protection Act (BIWPA) as part of the VAWA reauthorization bill. The Act provides relief in various areas, including cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, and self-petitioning. BIWPA included language from several similar bills that proposed to expand existing protections for noncitizen victims of family violence. They include measures to prevent violence against women, as well as bills to provide economic security and safety for battered women and to provide protection for battered alien women.

On October 26, 2000, the President signed a five-year reauthorization of appropriations for the Violence Against Women Act, expired at the end of FY2000, together with an expansion of its programs (VAWA, Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, P.L. 103-322). On October 11, 2000, the Senate approved the conference report, H Rept 106-939, for the Sexual Trafficking Victims Protection Act (H.R. 3244/Smith, Christopher). Approved by the House on October 6, 2000, the measure contains language to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), as amended. The conference report notes that the bill reauthorizes through FY2005 the leading VAWA programs, and makes “targeted improvements,” such as authorizing grants for legal assistance for victims of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault, providing funding for transitional housing assistance, improving full faith and credit enforcement and computerized tracking of protection orders, strengthening and redefining the protections for battered immigrant women, and expanding existing grant programs to cover violence that arises in dating relationships.

Gender-based discrimination, harassment, and violence against women in the workplace and society generally have assumed new legal and political significance as a consequence of recent high profile proceedings involving alleged misdeeds by elected government officials, members of the military, public school teachers and students, and the private corporate sectors. This report reviews the judicial evolution of sexual harassment law, including a discussion of four recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that dealt with the issue of same-sex harassment and determined the liability of employers and school districts for harassment by supervisory employees and acts directed against public school students.