Where to Find Help
UPDATED September 24, 2008
American Immigration Lawyers Association
918 F Street, NW
Washington DC, 20004-1400
Phone: 202-216-2400
Fax: 202-783-7853
Web: http://www.aila.org
Email: ilrs@aila.org
Provides a lawyer referral service to private immigration attorneys. They will provide you with the contact information for a lawyer, and you will be charged no more than $100 for an initial half-hour consultation. During this consultation, you should ask the attorney what the rate will be for further services. All lawyers participating in the service are licensed to practice law in a state or territory of the United States and are currently a member in good standing of a State Bar Association.
Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
Hotline: 617-338-2355
Web: http://www.atask.org
Emergency shelter and services for Asian survivors of domestic abuse. (Shelter is located in Boston)
ASISTA Immigration Technical Assistance Project
515 28th Street
Des Moines IA, 50312
Web: http://www.asistaonline.org
Their purpose is to centralize assistance for advocates and attorneys facing complex legal problems in advocating for immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
ASISTA online
Web: http://www.asistaonline.org/
This website provides helpful information, instructions and forms. While it is geared toward domestic violence advocates and lawyers working with battered immigrant women, much of the information on the site is publicly accessible.
AYUDA Clinical Legal Latina
Phone: (202) 387-4848 Mon-Fri 9-5
Web: http://www.ayudainc.org
Exists to advocate for and defend the legal and human rights of low-income Latino and other immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C. area.
Catholic Charities
Web: http://www.catholiccharitiesinfo.org/
In most states, provides legal representation and information for victims of domestic violence with immigration issues. Find the program closest to where you live.
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS)
200 McAllister Street
San Francisco CA, 94102
Phone: 415-565-4877
Fax: 415-581-8824
Web: http://cgrs.uchastings.edu/
Email: cgrs@uchastings.edu
Provides legal expertise and resources to attorneys representing women asylum-seekers fleeing gender related harm.
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Web: http://www.catwinternational.org
A feminist human rights nongovernmental organization that works internationally to oppose all forms of sexual exploitation. Mission: To promote a world in which women's rights are human rights, where prostitution and sex trafficking do not exist; where women are free and equal in dignity and rights; where no woman is sexually exploited; that recognizes and values the great genius of women in the development of civilization and cultures; where women have sexual integrity and autonomy.
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST)
5042 Wilshire Blvd
#586
Los Angeles CA, 90036
Phone: 213-365-1906
Fax: 213-365-5257
Web: http://www.castla.org/
Email: info@castla.org
CAST will provide shelter and legal services to persons trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and slavery-like practices.
Family Violence Prevention Fund
383 Rhode Island Street
Suite 304
San Francisco CA, 94103-5133
Phone: (415) 252-8900
Fax: (415) 252-8991
Web: http://endabuse.org
Email: info@endabuse.org
Provides information and is part of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights http://endabuse.org/programs/display.php3?DocID=9927
Hot Peach Pages
Web: http://www.hotpeachpages.net
Hot Peach Pages is an on-line directory of world-wide abuse hotlines, crisis centers, refuges, shelters, and women's organizations. Information on abuse is available in more than sixty-five languages.
Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Web: http://www.ilcadv.org/legal/special_imgr.htm
Information on immigrant women and domestic violence
Immigration Equality
40 Exchange Place, 17th Floor
NY NY, 10005
Phone: 212.714.2904
Fax: 212.714.2973
Web: http://immigrationequality.org/index.php
Immigration Equality is a national organization that advocates for equality under the immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), and HIV-positive individuals. We serve as an information clearinghouse, giving LGBT foreign nationals and their loved ones up-to-date information about immigration law via trainings, informational materials, and by answering email and telephone inquiries. We run a pro bono asylum project to assist LGBT and HIV-positive asylum seekers to find free or low-cost legal representation. Immigration Equality also maintains a list of LGBT/HIV-friendly private immigration attorneys to provide legal representation for those who contact us. We also provide technical assistance to attorneys who are working on sexual orientation, transgender identity, or HIV status-based asylum applications, or other immigration applications where the client’s LGBT or HIV-positive identity is at issue in the case.
International Child Abuse Network (Yes ICan)
Web: http://www.yesican.org
Working world-wide to end child abuse, the International Child Abuse Network website provides resources and information on child abuse and domestic violence. They offer facilitated chats (in Spanish and English) for victims and survivors of abuse of all ages and are an excellent source of online support.
International Institute of the East Bay: Basic Legal Questions and Answers for Battered Immigrant Women
449 15th Street
Suite 303
Oakland CA, 94612
Phone: Phone: (510) 451-2846
Fax: Fax: (510) 465-3392
Web: http://www.iieb.org/dv_res.htm
Services for immigrants, including women experiencing abuse.
Legal Momentum
Web: http://www.legalmomentum.org
Legal Momentum takes a select number of cases per year and also provides referrals to victims. Victims must fill out a legal assistance form found here. Legal Momentum also provides information about immigration and support to lawyers representing battered women in immigration cases.
Legal Momentum Immigrant Women Program
1101 14th Street, NW, Ste. 300
Suite 550
Washington DC, 20005
Phone: (202) 326-0040
Fax: (202) 589-0511
The Immigrant Women Program is the nation’s expert on the rights and services available to immigrant victims of domestic and other violence. It shares this expertise through comprehensive materials and trainings for lawyers and advocates nationwide, and leads advocacy for legal protections, social services, and economic justice for immigrant women.
MASIE (Minorities & Survivors Improving Empowerment)
Phone: 866-895-1700
Web: http://www.endslavery.org
Email: info@endslavery.org
Promotes education and awareness regarding sex-trafficking and prostitution. Provides public education and support for non-governmental agencies. Provides ongoing legal advocacy for immigrant victims of crime/trafficking and referral services to non-immigrant victims.
National Immigration Law Center
Phone: (213)-639-3900
Web: http://www.nilc.org
A national support center whose mission is to protect and promote the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants. Conducts policy analysis and impact litigation and provides publications, technical advice, and trainings to a broad constituency of legal aid agencies, community groups, and pro bono attorneys.
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
Phone: (617) 227-9727
Web: http://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org
Information and legal support on immigrant rights. Specializes in assistance for immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault who are seeking legal status in the U.S. Direct link to online info for survivors: http://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/domestic-violence/domvioindex.htm
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Web: http://www.immigrantwomennetwork.org/
Provides information and referrals to victims of domestic violence.
Polaris Project
Phone: 202-745-1001
Fax: 202-745-1119
Web: http://www.polarisproject.org
Email: info@polarisproject.org
A multicultural grassroots organization combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Based in the United States and Japan, they combine street-level experience and technical expertise, working everyday from morning to past midnight to provide victim services, conduct advocacy, and build the anti-trafficking movement.
Prostitution Research and Education (PRE)
San Francisco CA,
Phone: 415-922-4555
Web: http://www.prostitutionresearch.com
Develops research and educational programs to document the experiences of people in prostitution. The purpose of PRE is to organize against the institution of prostitution and advocate for alternatives to prostitution - including emotional and physical healthcare for women in prostitution. The project's goal is to empower this constituency by documenting their perspectives through research, public education, and arts projects. PRE develops innovative approaches to educating the public about the issue of prostitution - including how prostitution is an issue of women's rights, how prostitution is about racism, and the ways in which prostitution is also about poverty and basic human rights.
StopVAW
Web: http://www.stopvaw.org
STOPVAW is a site developed by Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights as a tool for the promotion of women's human rights in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
The Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition (BSCC)
San Diego (with partners in Mexico and Latin America) CA,
Phone: 619-666-0797
Web: http://www.bsccoalition.org/
Prevent and intervene in the commercial and sexual exploitation of women and children while advocating for all exploited persons. The BSCC is an alliance of over 60 government and nonprofit agencies in the United States and Latin America that is convened in and along the U.S.-Mexico Border Region to combat slavery and human trafficking. Services: Advocacy for prostituted and trafficked girls and women. Assistance in providing a comprehensive, multifaceted network providing wrap-around services to women, men, and children who have been victimized by traffickers and held as slaves. Workshops provided for agencies offering services to victims of trafficking.
Violence Against Women Office, US Department of Justice
Phone: 212-789-2830
Web: http://www.usdoj.gov/ovw/
Information about relevant laws, including the Victim's of Trafficking Act
Women's Rights Network
Wellesley Centers for Women, 106 Central Street
Wellesley MA, 2481
Phone: (781) 283-2500
Web: http://www.wcwonline.org/projects/title.php?id=77
Strives to link activists in every corner of the world who are working to end domestic violence, so that they can access their most valuable resource: each other. By building and sustaining a dynamic global network of activists around domestic violence and related issues, we can begin to create a world that is free from violence against women and children.
918 F Street, NW
Washington DC, 20004-1400
Phone: 202-216-2400
Fax: 202-783-7853
Web: http://www.aila.org
Email: ilrs@aila.org
Provides a lawyer referral service to private immigration attorneys. They will provide you with the contact information for a lawyer, and you will be charged no more than $100 for an initial half-hour consultation. During this consultation, you should ask the attorney what the rate will be for further services. All lawyers participating in the service are licensed to practice law in a state or territory of the United States and are currently a member in good standing of a State Bar Association.
Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
Hotline: 617-338-2355
Web: http://www.atask.org
Emergency shelter and services for Asian survivors of domestic abuse. (Shelter is located in Boston)
ASISTA Immigration Technical Assistance Project
515 28th Street
Des Moines IA, 50312
Web: http://www.asistaonline.org
Their purpose is to centralize assistance for advocates and attorneys facing complex legal problems in advocating for immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
ASISTA online
Web: http://www.asistaonline.org/
This website provides helpful information, instructions and forms. While it is geared toward domestic violence advocates and lawyers working with battered immigrant women, much of the information on the site is publicly accessible.
AYUDA Clinical Legal Latina
Phone: (202) 387-4848 Mon-Fri 9-5
Web: http://www.ayudainc.org
Exists to advocate for and defend the legal and human rights of low-income Latino and other immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C. area.
Catholic Charities
Web: http://www.catholiccharitiesinfo.org/
In most states, provides legal representation and information for victims of domestic violence with immigration issues. Find the program closest to where you live.
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS)
200 McAllister Street
San Francisco CA, 94102
Phone: 415-565-4877
Fax: 415-581-8824
Web: http://cgrs.uchastings.edu/
Email: cgrs@uchastings.edu
Provides legal expertise and resources to attorneys representing women asylum-seekers fleeing gender related harm.
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Web: http://www.catwinternational.org
A feminist human rights nongovernmental organization that works internationally to oppose all forms of sexual exploitation. Mission: To promote a world in which women's rights are human rights, where prostitution and sex trafficking do not exist; where women are free and equal in dignity and rights; where no woman is sexually exploited; that recognizes and values the great genius of women in the development of civilization and cultures; where women have sexual integrity and autonomy.
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST)
5042 Wilshire Blvd
#586
Los Angeles CA, 90036
Phone: 213-365-1906
Fax: 213-365-5257
Web: http://www.castla.org/
Email: info@castla.org
CAST will provide shelter and legal services to persons trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and slavery-like practices.
Family Violence Prevention Fund
383 Rhode Island Street
Suite 304
San Francisco CA, 94103-5133
Phone: (415) 252-8900
Fax: (415) 252-8991
Web: http://endabuse.org
Email: info@endabuse.org
Provides information and is part of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights http://endabuse.org/programs/display.php3?DocID=9927
Hot Peach Pages
Web: http://www.hotpeachpages.net
Hot Peach Pages is an on-line directory of world-wide abuse hotlines, crisis centers, refuges, shelters, and women's organizations. Information on abuse is available in more than sixty-five languages.
Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Web: http://www.ilcadv.org/legal/special_imgr.htm
Information on immigrant women and domestic violence
Immigration Equality
40 Exchange Place, 17th Floor
NY NY, 10005
Phone: 212.714.2904
Fax: 212.714.2973
Web: http://immigrationequality.org/index.php
Immigration Equality is a national organization that advocates for equality under the immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), and HIV-positive individuals. We serve as an information clearinghouse, giving LGBT foreign nationals and their loved ones up-to-date information about immigration law via trainings, informational materials, and by answering email and telephone inquiries. We run a pro bono asylum project to assist LGBT and HIV-positive asylum seekers to find free or low-cost legal representation. Immigration Equality also maintains a list of LGBT/HIV-friendly private immigration attorneys to provide legal representation for those who contact us. We also provide technical assistance to attorneys who are working on sexual orientation, transgender identity, or HIV status-based asylum applications, or other immigration applications where the client’s LGBT or HIV-positive identity is at issue in the case.
International Child Abuse Network (Yes ICan)
Web: http://www.yesican.org
Working world-wide to end child abuse, the International Child Abuse Network website provides resources and information on child abuse and domestic violence. They offer facilitated chats (in Spanish and English) for victims and survivors of abuse of all ages and are an excellent source of online support.
International Institute of the East Bay: Basic Legal Questions and Answers for Battered Immigrant Women
449 15th Street
Suite 303
Oakland CA, 94612
Phone: Phone: (510) 451-2846
Fax: Fax: (510) 465-3392
Web: http://www.iieb.org/dv_res.htm
Services for immigrants, including women experiencing abuse.
Legal Momentum
Web: http://www.legalmomentum.org
Legal Momentum takes a select number of cases per year and also provides referrals to victims. Victims must fill out a legal assistance form found here. Legal Momentum also provides information about immigration and support to lawyers representing battered women in immigration cases.
Legal Momentum Immigrant Women Program
1101 14th Street, NW, Ste. 300
Suite 550
Washington DC, 20005
Phone: (202) 326-0040
Fax: (202) 589-0511
The Immigrant Women Program is the nation’s expert on the rights and services available to immigrant victims of domestic and other violence. It shares this expertise through comprehensive materials and trainings for lawyers and advocates nationwide, and leads advocacy for legal protections, social services, and economic justice for immigrant women.
MASIE (Minorities & Survivors Improving Empowerment)
Phone: 866-895-1700
Web: http://www.endslavery.org
Email: info@endslavery.org
Promotes education and awareness regarding sex-trafficking and prostitution. Provides public education and support for non-governmental agencies. Provides ongoing legal advocacy for immigrant victims of crime/trafficking and referral services to non-immigrant victims.
National Immigration Law Center
Phone: (213)-639-3900
Web: http://www.nilc.org
A national support center whose mission is to protect and promote the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants. Conducts policy analysis and impact litigation and provides publications, technical advice, and trainings to a broad constituency of legal aid agencies, community groups, and pro bono attorneys.
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
Phone: (617) 227-9727
Web: http://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org
Information and legal support on immigrant rights. Specializes in assistance for immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault who are seeking legal status in the U.S. Direct link to online info for survivors: http://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/domestic-violence/domvioindex.htm
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Web: http://www.immigrantwomennetwork.org/
Provides information and referrals to victims of domestic violence.
Polaris Project
Phone: 202-745-1001
Fax: 202-745-1119
Web: http://www.polarisproject.org
Email: info@polarisproject.org
A multicultural grassroots organization combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Based in the United States and Japan, they combine street-level experience and technical expertise, working everyday from morning to past midnight to provide victim services, conduct advocacy, and build the anti-trafficking movement.
Prostitution Research and Education (PRE)
San Francisco CA,
Phone: 415-922-4555
Web: http://www.prostitutionresearch.com
Develops research and educational programs to document the experiences of people in prostitution. The purpose of PRE is to organize against the institution of prostitution and advocate for alternatives to prostitution - including emotional and physical healthcare for women in prostitution. The project's goal is to empower this constituency by documenting their perspectives through research, public education, and arts projects. PRE develops innovative approaches to educating the public about the issue of prostitution - including how prostitution is an issue of women's rights, how prostitution is about racism, and the ways in which prostitution is also about poverty and basic human rights.
StopVAW
Web: http://www.stopvaw.org
STOPVAW is a site developed by Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights as a tool for the promotion of women's human rights in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
The Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition (BSCC)
San Diego (with partners in Mexico and Latin America) CA,
Phone: 619-666-0797
Web: http://www.bsccoalition.org/
Prevent and intervene in the commercial and sexual exploitation of women and children while advocating for all exploited persons. The BSCC is an alliance of over 60 government and nonprofit agencies in the United States and Latin America that is convened in and along the U.S.-Mexico Border Region to combat slavery and human trafficking. Services: Advocacy for prostituted and trafficked girls and women. Assistance in providing a comprehensive, multifaceted network providing wrap-around services to women, men, and children who have been victimized by traffickers and held as slaves. Workshops provided for agencies offering services to victims of trafficking.
Violence Against Women Office, US Department of Justice
Phone: 212-789-2830
Web: http://www.usdoj.gov/ovw/
Information about relevant laws, including the Victim's of Trafficking Act
Women's Rights Network
Wellesley Centers for Women, 106 Central Street
Wellesley MA, 2481
Phone: (781) 283-2500
Web: http://www.wcwonline.org/projects/title.php?id=77
Strives to link activists in every corner of the world who are working to end domestic violence, so that they can access their most valuable resource: each other. By building and sustaining a dynamic global network of activists around domestic violence and related issues, we can begin to create a world that is free from violence against women and children.