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INS WARNS ITS EMPLOYEES ABOUT NEW BATTERED SPOUSE PROVISIONS
Under the new immigration law, in battered spouse/children permanent residency cases filed pursuant to the Violence Against Women Act ("VAWA"), employees of the INS and immigration judges are prohibited from making an adverse determination of admissibility or deportability using information provided solely by the abusive spouse or parent or other member of the household. The law also prohibits the release of any information relating to aliens who are seeking or have been approved for permanent residency status under VAWA. 
The INS has issued a memorandum to all of its employees informing them of the change and reminding them that a violation of either prohibition can result in disciplinary action or in civil penalties of up to $5,000. 
The INS reminded its employees that the prohibition on releasing information is broad and could include such things as verifying status or any other routine information. The exceptions to the rule include 
- disclosure to other Department of Justice employees for legitimate agency purposes 
- disclosure to law enforcement officials for legitimate law enforcement purposes 
- disclosure for purposes of judicial review in a manner protecting the confidentiality of the information 
- disclosure in such manner as census information may be disclosed by the Secretary of Commerce. 
Adults can waive the disclosure ban, but there is no statory provision allowing children to do the same. 
With respect to the ban on making adverse decisions based solely on the US citizen spouse's testimony, the INS advises INS employees to obtain independent corraborative information from an unrelated person before taking any action on that information. 
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