The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)’s self-petition process serves as a vital form of protection for undocumented survivors, allowing battered spouses, children, and parents of United States citizens or lawful immigrant abusers to independently petition for lawful immigration status—provided they prove their “good moral character” under the law. In recent decades, immigration law has increasingly adopted a securitized framework that mirrors criminal law enforcement, giving rise to what has been coined “crimmigration,” or the convergence of criminal and immigration law that classifies undocumented immigrants as “criminally alien,” and therefore, deserving of detention, incarceration, or expulsion. The emergence of America’s draconian and retributive crime policies, crimmigration, and the VAWA self-petition has created significant challenges for those with prior criminal histories, arrests, or convictions in demonstrating their “good moral character” (GMC), a requirement imperative to the self-petition process.
As it exists, the VAWA self-petition is not adequately structured to provide formerly incarcerated or convicted immigrants with a viable success path towards lawful immigrant status. While VAWA can serve as an effective tool for supporting victims of domestic and gender-based violence without reinforcing or expanding carceral mechanisms, it needs to be reformed. Ultimately, this Note advocates for a four-pronged solution to restructuring the self-petition: (1) a reevaluation of the GMC standard; (2) a congressional amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act’s language regarding GMC; (3) a context-specific and trauma informed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjudicative process; and (4) a reallocation of VAWA’s funding towards community-oriented organizations and resources.
Hana L. Bradshaw, “Good” and “Moral” Victims: How the Violence Against Women Act’s Self-Petition Reflects the Intersections of Violence and Crimmigration, 29 J. Gender, Race & Just. 173 (2026).