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INS’ TREATMENT OF BATTERED WOMAN CRITICIZED
Dora Garcia is a native of Mexico who has lived in the US since 1986.  She has an 11 year-old US citizen daughter.  She was the victim of severe domestic abuse, which caused her to flee her husband.  After she left him, he reported her to the INS.  The INS then took Garcia into custody where she has remained for two and a half years.  
She sought to avoid deportation by applying for cancellation of removal, which, under the VAWA allows battered immigrants to legalize their status in the US without depending on their abusers.  Despite the merits of her case, her application was rejected by an Immigration Judge.  He found her misdemeanor convictions – for a DUI after fleeing her husband, and for battery after defending herself against her husband – proof that she lacked good moral character.  Moreover, the Immigration Judge found her failure to miss a court date for one of these cases (after moving out of her husband’s home, which is where the court sent the notice of hearing) sufficient evidence to rule that she was a flight risk.  He set bond at ,000, far more than she can afford.  The Board of Immigration Appeals found that while the judge was in error in determining that she could not show good moral character, deportation would not cause extreme hardship to either her or her daughter. 
Recently, the Board granted a motion to reopen.  Such motions are rarely granted, and require strong evidence, evidence of the sort Garcia presented.  She presented compelling evidence that her US citizen daughter had been sexually abused by her stepfather, Garcia’s husband, after Garcia was placed in detention.  Her bond was also lowered to 00, but it is still more than she can afford.  So she will wait in detention until her case is heard again by an Immigration Judge, this time hopefully one who is more sensitive to the realities of spousal abuse. 
Those who are interested in helping Dora Garcia can send a fax voicing their opinion to the following INS officials: 
Edward Stubbs, Officer in Charge, Krome Detention Center, fax no. 305-530-7070 
Robert Wallis, District Director, INS, Florida, fax no. 305-530-6070 
Doris Meissner, Commissioner, INS, fax no. 202-514-3296 
More information on Dora Garcia’s plight can be obtained from the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, which can be reached by phone at 305-573-1106.