Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

344 Lori Cohen
No. 103-322, 108 Stat. 1796 (hereinafter “VAWA”). For an overview of the
developments of protections to battered immigrant spouses and children,
see 5 Gordon, Mailman & Yale-Loehr, Immigration Law & Procedure
§ 41.05; § 42.05[2]; § 64.04[6] (2006).
8. The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies offers an extensive database
documenting abuse of women internationally at
http://cgrs.uchastings.edu/country/memos.php (accessed Aug. 12, 2006).
In March 2006, Amnesty International launched a monthly campaign to
highlight countries where domestic violence is either permissible under
customary law (e.g., Sierra Leone and Albania) or existing laws are not
enforced (e.g., France and Russia),
http://web.amnesty.org/actforwomen/dvexposed-080306-editorial-eng
(accessed Aug. 12, 2006). The US Department of State now includes in its
annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices a section on the status
of women and whether legal protections exist or are enforced to protect
them from domestic violence, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/ (last
updated Aug. 12, 2006).
9. Mayor Bloomberg signed an Executive Order that the NYPD not inquire
about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses, or others who
call or seek police assistance. Executive Order (Bloomberg) No. 41 (Sept.
17, 2003), http://www.nyc.gov/html/imm/downloads/pdf/exe_order_41.pdf
(accessed Aug. 12, 2006). This order, however, does not apply beyond the
boundaries of New York City, and anecdotal evidence within the city
suggests that it is not uniformly applied. For a more detailed discussion of
immigrant women’s fear of law enforcement, see Gail Pendleton, “Local
Police Enforcement and Its Effect on Victims of Domestic Violence,”
ABA Commission on Domestic Violence,
http://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/DVPage/
DVSA_CLEAR_Article.doc (accessed Aug. 12, 2006).
10. The definition for “crime of domestic violence” is found in the
Immigration and Nationality Act (hereinafter “INA”) § 237(a)(2)(E)(i).
11. Section 384 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”) Div. C of Departments of
Commerce, Justice, and State, and the Judiciary Appropriations Act of
1997, Pub. L. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (Sept. 30, 1996), 8 USC § 1367;
Memorandum from Paul Virtue, Acting Exec. Assoc. Comm’r, to all INS
Employees, INS File No. 96act.036, Non-Disclosure and Other
Prohibitions Relating to Battered Aliens: IIRIRA § 324 (May 5, 1997),
http://www.asistaonline.org/legalresources/policymemos/