"He Has Me Tied with the Blessed and Damned Papers": Undocumented-Immigrant Battered Women in Phoenix, Arizona

Human Organization, Summer 2004 by Salcido, Olivia, Adelman, Madelaine

So I lived with him June, July, August, and September and in October I got married. In that time that I lived with him, "Oh no, you saint! Where should I place you so that you may not break?" But...as soon as I married him, in November he turned the coin around, and he didn't even want to let me come to the [community] center or even to Mass, and the problems started.

Nevertheless, Chave resisted Arnulfo's efforts to control her whereabouts:

I have never been one to allow [aman to mistreat me].... Oh no, I'm going to go to Mass. To the point he told me, "You love God so much, then you can stay and sleep with him in church." [I said to him] Of course I love him more because I met him before I met you...here I have my house...here I am your wife and I entered this house because you brought me. I am not an intruder and now you have to put up with me because I am going to stay.

In the meantime, Chave tried to achieve economic independence. Like other immigrant women who lack a work permit, driver's license, reliable transportation, or LPR, Chave made small advances toward this end. She found that her conditional status, combined with Arnulfo's abuse, constrained her efforts. Chave works part-time at a fast food restaurant earning minimum wage, $5.75 an hour. With no benefits, her income covers English classes, clothing, food, and infrequent visits home, when Arnulfo lets her travel. Chave also makes and sells tortillas and tamales from home. "Every day, he starts, 'There you go again making tortillas for others' and 'You need to turn that stove off.'" Her son-in-law and his wife who live upstairs also complain, but Chave now gives them tortillas so that even if they do not take her side, at least they "do not feed the fire."

Chave knows LPR will enhance her mobility and autonomy. So, despite Arnulfo's monitoring of her whereabouts by tracking the car's mileage, Chave obtained legal advice about leaving Arnulfo and traveling to Mexico and stored documents with a friend for safekeeping. But English-speaking INS staff, incompetent lawyers, and her husband have thwarted Chave's pursuit of LPR and caused her to break conditionalstatus travel rules. As a result, Chave has fallen in and out of legality, risking the loss of her conditional status and ability to qualify for permanent residence.

When he hears the mail coming he jumps up to get it, and he takes everything. That is how he hid that [INS] envelope [requiring a response within 90 days]...when I returned [from Mexico] after...breast surgery, he showed it to me and I said "Oh, now I can go...get the adjustment." It turns out the papers came out wrong because the famous envelope had arrived since March, almost a year ago!

Arnulfo, she argues, "He messed me up! I used to get around very well with my passport. I used to come and go as I pleased before he ruined me."

I was de hiievos, possessed a strong will, and de armas tomar, took the bull by the horns, when my first husband decided to leave and told me to move aside... and left me with my [seven] children. Well, I made a complete change. I am mother and father; I am the head of this household. I am the chief and commander of this home-I provide and support it. I work. So I [focused] on myself, everything by myself and for myself and always myself...last year since I got stuck here, you would not believe it, but I have become another [person], but I don't want to...it cannot be that now I stop and go backwards.... I do not want to return defeated...not for what others might say, only because I do not want to feel defeated.... I have seen everything go wrong, and I would like to be able to take off, but...I cannot leave. I can't take off. He has me tied with the blessed and damned papers.