Immigrant Women: Law and Policy
Syllabus
Fall 20131
Professors:
Leslye E. Orloff
National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP pronounced new-app)
4910 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Room 110
202-274-4371
orloff@wcl.american.edu
Rocio Molina
National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP)
4910 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Room 123
202-274-4371
Molina@wcl.american.edu
This course will require students to also work on a NIWAP project. Professors will meet with
students working on projects on a daily basis. Additional office hours are available by appointment.
Please contact us at the number(s) or email(s) listed above.
Course Description:
This two-credit seminar will examine role of legislative/administrative lawyering in developing
and implementing laws, regulation and public policies. This course will review the legislative,
administrative and policy gains in legal rights under U.S. laws that have been made on behalf of
immigrant women, children and particularly immigrant victims of violence against women
(domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking). Students will learn about the role
lawyers played in these accomplishments: drafting legislation, negotiating bipartisan agreements,
drafting implementing regulations and policy guidance, collecting stories, documenting
emerging unaddressed needs, and crafting public policy solutions that would work for immigrant
victims, women and children.
This course will provide students the opportunity to develop the skills and talents required of a
good legislative/administrative lawyer who works in and/or with state, local and federal
government agency personnel. Legislative/administrative lawyers practice law at the intersection
of policy, advocacy and politics. Their legal expertise combines with an understanding of the
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This syllabus includes assignments and examples of interactive learning activities that will be covered in class.
Exact assignments may vary from this initial curriculum based on legislation and federal regulations actively being
considered at the time assignments are made. All of the required class projects and the most well done homework
assignments will be submitted to federal government agencies to further public policy developments that benefit
immigrant survivors.
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political dynamics of legislative and administrative systems enabling them to forge public policy
solutions to problems that are effective, creative and politically achievable.
Students will attend a seminar class once a week for 14 weeks and will additionally be assigned a
project that responds to unmet needs of immigrant crime victims, women and children. Projects
assigned will address the legal rights of immigrant women in one of the following subject matter
areas: family law, public benefits, immigration options, and/or language access.
To enroll in the seminar students are also be required to enroll both in LAW 795T-001 AND
LAW 795T-001B. For the NIWAP Project LAW 795T-001B students must select 1, 2, or 3
credits. Students will be assigned a NIWAP project for the semester that is designed to match
the number of credit hours chosen by the student. Students will be required to work at NIWAP
for the following numbers of hours per week – 10 hours (1 credit); 15 hours (2 credits) or 20
hours (3 credits). These hours will include the student’s work on their NIWAP project and their
work providing national technical assistance to attorneys and advocates on issues of importance
for immigrant survivors. Work at Each student participating in the seminar with earn a total of 3,
4 or 5 graded course credits with 2 credits for class work and the remaining 1, 2 or 3 credits for
work on a NIWAP project.
The course will provide students an opportunity to learn skills and use tools that
legislative/administrative lawyers use to craft negotiated solutions. Students participating in this
seminar will be required to produce a written work of publishable quality that will be used to
improve access to justice, legal options and/or services and assistance to immigrant crime
victims and immigrant women.
Reading:
Course readings will include law review and other articles on legal protections for immigrant
crime victims and immigrant women. Readings will include research, stories and social science
journal articles on domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking suffered by
immigrant women and children in the United States. Students will read bills, statutes, legislative
history, preambles to regulations, government reports, policy analysis related to weekly class
discussions and participatory class exercises. In connection with each assigned project students
will be responsible for reading background material, research, cases and articles relevant to
production of their written public policy advocacy assignment. All readings will be posted on
MyWCL.
Participation:
This course will be highly participatory. In addition to be prepared to discuss readings, students
will participate in structured class exercises and will undertake, complete and publish a public
policy related project as a course requirement.
Grading:
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Student grades for the seminar will be based on work at NIWAP and the quality of the completed
seminar project (70%) and skills demonstrated during class participation (including oral
communication, negotiating skills, creative problem solving, and legal drafting) (30%).
DATE
Week One
Professors:
Leslye Orloff
and
Rocio Molina
Course Syllabus
Class Topic and Approach

Introduction to Legislative and
Administrative Lawyering &
Theory of Advocacy
Overview of Violence Against
Women Act(VAWA)
Immigration Relief

Discussion about how the six
circles of advocacy approach
applied and led to passage of
VAWA protections for
immigrant crime victims
Week Two
Professors :
Leslye Orloff
and Rocio
Molina
Week Three
Professor
Rocio Molina
Class activity: Violence
Against Women Act Roll Play:
Each student is assigned a role
with the 6 circle theory.
Legislative Process &
Procedure
The legislative process that led
to passage of VAWA’s
immigration provisions in
1994 and subsequent
legislation
Activity: Roll Play: Framing
Present the case for the
proposed policy change to
Democratic and Republican
staffers: removing supervisory
requirement on U-visa
certification.
Dynamics of Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault
Experienced by Immigrant
Victims
Through a combination of



Reading and Assignments
Excerpts from Chai Rachel Feldblum, The Art of
Legislative Lawyering and the Six Circles of Theory of
Advocacy, 34 MCGEORGE L. REV. 785, 785-822 (20022003).
Excerpts from Leslye E. Orloff, Rebecca Story,
Joanne Lin, Carole Angel, & Deborah Birnbaum,
Chapter 6: Introduction to Immigration Relief for
Immigrant Victims of Sexual Assault and Glossary of
Terms, EMPOWERING SURVIVORS: LEGAL RIGHTS OF
IMMIGRANT VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT 1-29 (2009).
Leslye E. Orloff & Janice V. Kaguyutan, Offering a
Helping Hand: Legal Protections for Battered
Immigrant Women: A History of Legislative Responses,
NOW LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND (2002).
Excerpts from: Leslye E. Orloff, Maria Jose Fletcher,
Ho-Thanh Nguyen, Rocio Molina and Abby Sun,
Chapter 5: Community Based Policy Advocacy, in
WOCN/FVPSA EXPANDING LEADERSHIP
OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERREPRESENTED
GROUPS PROJECT (2012)
Draft amendment to the Violence Against Women Act
authorizing police chiefs to designate any police
department personnel to be U-Visa certifiers .with
section by section description of the provision
Mary Ann Dutton, Leslye E. Orloff, & Giselle Aguilar
Hass, Characteristics of Help-Seeking Behaviors,
Resources and Service Needs of Battered Immigrant
Latinas: Legal and Policy Implications, 7 GEO. J. ON
POVERTY & POL’Y, Summer 2000, at 245-305.
 Giselle Aguilar Hass, Nawal Ammar, & Leslye
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power point presentations,
interactive exercises and
discussion, this class will

introduce students to the
dynamics of domestic violence
and sexual assault experienced
by immigrant victims. It will
also discuss the systems
barriers non-citizen victims
encounter when they seek help.

Activity: Dynamics exercise.
Students asked to work in
groups to review the
immigrant power and control
wheel and will each by
assigned an audience to
explain it to: Department of
Homeland Security staff;
Congressional staff, local law
enforcement.
Orloff, Battered Immigrants and U.S. Citizen Spouses,
LEGAL MOMENTUM 1-10 (Apr. 24, 2006).
Nawal Ammar, Helene Berman, Jacquelyn Campbell,
Anindita Dasgupta, Mary Ann Dutton, Giselle Hass,
Stephanie J. Nawyn, Leslye E. Orloff, Anita Raj, Rachael
Rodriguez, Evan Stark, Jay G. Silverman, Cris M. Sullivan,
David B. Thronson, Veronica Tobar Thronson, Hannah
Brenner, J. Ruben Parra-Cardona, Julia L. Perilla,
Researcher's Perspective on Immigration Protections for
Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual
Assault (December 6, 2012)
Futures Without Violence, Power and Control Tactics Used
Against Immigrant Women
Background Reading :
 Giselle Aguilar Hass, Mary Ann Dutton & Leslye E.
Orloff, Lifetime Prevalence of Violence Against Latina
Immigrant: Legal and Policy Implications, DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE: GLOBAL RESPONSE 93-113 (2000).
 Excerpts from Mary Ann Dutton & Lisa A.
Goodman, Coercion in Intimate Partner Violence:
Toward a New Conceptualization,
 Mary Ann Dutton, Use and Outcomes of Protection
Orders by Battered Immigrant Women: Grant Number
2003-WG-BX-1004: REVISED Final Technical Report
(National Institute of Justice 2006).
 Intimate Partner Violence in Immigrant and Refugee
Communities: Challenges, Promising Practices and
Recommendations, A REPORT BY THE FAMILY
VIOLENCE PREVENTION FUND FOR THE ROBERT WOOD
JOHNSON FOUNDATION.
 Excerpts from Anita Raj & Jay Silverman, Violence
Against Immigrant Women: The Roles of Culture,
Context, and Legal Immigrant Status on Intimate
Partner Violence, 8 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, 367,
367-395 (2002).
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Week Four
Professors :
Leslye Orloff
and Rocio
Molina
Identifying and Documenting
the Problem
The legislative process that led
to passage of VAWA’s
immigration provisions in
1994 and subsequent
legislation
The Role of Research and
Story Collecting
Week Five
Kristin Wells
Former Hill
Staffer House
Judiciary and
International
Relations
Committees
(Invited)
Week Six
Professors :
Assignment: Select the 5 stories that you believe best
illustrate the dangers for U-visa victims if they are cut
off from access to lawful permanent residency based on
a U-visa. Select stories based on your perceptions of
their persuasiveness to Republican House/Senate Staff.
Copy the stories you chose into a file to circulate in
class. Come to class prepared to discuss why you chose
the stories you did, what about those stories you belief
would be persuasive and why.
Assigned reading:
Activity: Student presentations
on stories selected.
Brainstorm story collection
campaign.

VAWA IV Storybook VAWA 2012
Developing and Drafting
Legislation:


Senate Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill
Section by Section analysis. 

Sept. 24, 2012
Professor :
Leslye Orloff

Will choose active piece of
legislation. Most likely a
section from Comprehensive
Immigration Reform. Last
Semester’s assignment:
Assignment –Review assigned provisions of the Bill. Students
will be assigned one section of the bill to chart, and create a red
line of the underlying statute as amended and will compare
House and Senate versions of the bill.
Discussion and Strategy
behind of H.R. 5331
(introduced by
Congresswoman Schakowsky)
and the tools staffers use to
move legislation. The
legislative process including
negotiations strategies and
politics involved in ultimate
results.
Discussion: Class will include
a discussion of the importance
and role of creating red-lined
versions of the statute
reflecting proposed changes in
the law.
Impact of the Supreme Court
Decision on Anti-Immigrant
and Immigrant Friendly State
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 ARIZONA ET AL. v. UNITED STATES,
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT
OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT, No. 11–
Leslye Orloff
and Rocio
Molina
Legislation across the U.S.
182. Argued April 25, 2012—Decided June 25, 2012
Lecture on what Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault
Public Policy Advocates are
focusing on at the State and
Local Level.
Eileen Lohmann and Leslye Orloff, Summary of
Select State Legislation with Provisions relating
to Immigration (November 2012)
Background reading:
Activity: Interactive discussion
with students who will present
the results of their homework
assignments to the class.
Assignment: Students will be assigned one of the states that has
passed anti-immigrant legislation reviewed in the November
2012 chart and will be asked to do legal research on the post
November 2012 status of that state’s law following the Arizona
v. U.S. decision and will submit as homework a short memo
outlining what parts of the state’s legislation is still being
contested in court cases. They will also be asked to do nonlegal research on what is happening with regard to
implementation of the provisions of the law that were not
overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
 H.R. 5331 (Schakowsky’s Bill), Language Access
section.
Week Seven
Language Access
Professors:
Leslye Orloff
and Rocio
Molina
The class will include a brief
overview of challenges that
immigrant survivors encounter
with language access. Class
will include a discussion of the
current enforcement provisions
in the law and how they could
be strengthened.
Activity: Fact pattern:
immigrant victim who was
denied language access to
justice system services. Work
together in groups to write a
complaint to DOJ Civil Rights
in this case.
Week Eight
 Rocio Molina, Leslye Orloff and Benish Anver,
Federal Preemption of State Laws That Attempt to
Restrict Immigrant Access to Services Necessary to
Protect Life and Safety Federal (November, 2012).
Approach to Regulation
Writing, Research and Where
Professor:
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 28 C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(2), 42.203(e).
 The White House, Office of the Press Secretary,
Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited
English Proficiency, Exec. Order No. 13166 (August
11, 2000).
 Improving Access to Services for Persons with
Limited English Proficiency, 65 Fed. Reg. 50, 121
(Aug. 16, 2000).
 Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients
Regarding Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin
Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient
Persons, 67 Fed. Reg. 41, (June 18, 2002).
 Attorney General Eric Holder, Federal Government’s
Renewed Commitment to Language Access:
Obligations Under Executive Order 13116,
Memorandum to the Heads of Federal Agencies,
General Counsels, and Civil Rights Heads (February
17, 2011).
 Preamble U-visa regulations – New Classification
for Victims of Criminal Activity; Eligibility for “U”
Nonimmigrant Status, 72 Fed. Reg. 530148
Leslye Orloff
to Look for Authority
Presentation on the analysis of
the legislation, the problem the
statues addressed, and the
research that serve as a
foundation for writing
regulations and the preamble
to the regulations issued by
DHS on immigrant victim
issues.
Week Nine
Professors:
Leslye Orloff
and Rocio
Molina
Week Ten
Professors:
Leslye Orloff
and Rocio
Molina
Activity: Rounds on assigned
regulations; student
presentations and
brainstorming identification of
the range of issues the
regulation could/should
address
Activity: Student Presentations
and Discussion on Drafting a
Preamble and Regulations
Power of the Federal
Government’s Influence on
Public Policy (not regulations
or statutes) that Impact
Immigrant Victims
Professors will present an
historical overview of the
broad range of federal agency
policies that have been issued
since 1994 that benefit
immigrant survivors of
domestic violence, sexual
assault and human trafficking
and other immigrant
populations.
Activity: Students will engage
in a discussion about the
power that the President and
federal administrative
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Assignment: Students will be assigned provisions in the
Violence Against Women Act of 2013. Students will read the
preamble of the U-visa regulations and come to class having
identified social science and/or legal or legislative history
research that will form the basis for drafting the preamble to the
regulations implementing the proposed legislation. They will
also be prepared to discuss what aspect of the law need
amplification or clarification in the regulations. Student
regulations drafting products will be turned in as
recommendations to DHS
Assignment: Students will draft and submit in advance of class
their drafts of the proposed preamble to the regulation they
were assigned.
DHS POLICY, GUIDANCE AND MEMORANDA
 Blue Campaign on Human Trafficking and DHS
Announcement of Computerized 384 Red Flag VAWA
Confidentiality System 1, 1-4 (Dec. 10, 2010).
 John Morton, Prosecutorial Discretion: Certain
Victims, Witnesses, and Plaintiffs, Memorandum for
All Field Office Directors, All Special Agents in
Charge, & All Chief Counsel 1, 1-3 (June 17, 2011).
 John Morton, Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion
Consistent with the Civil Immigration Enforcement
Priorities of the Agency for the Apprehension,
Detention, and Removal of Aliens, Memorandum for
All Field Office Directors, All Special Agents in
Charge, & All Chief Counsel 1, 1-6 (June 17, 2011).
 John Morton, Civil Immigration Enforcement:
Priorities for the Apprehension, Detention, and
Removal of Aliens, Memorandum for All ICE
Employees 1, 1-4 (March 2, 2011).
 Janet Napolitano, Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion
with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United
States as Children, Memorandum for David V. Aguilar,
Alejandro Mayorkas, John Morton 1, 1-6 (June 15,
2012).
agencies have to act, make
policy and implement law
reforms within existing laws.
Other background reading
 Thomas E. Perez, Access to HHS-Funded Services for
Immigrant Survivors, OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS 1-9
(Jan. 19, 2001).
 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Letter to HUD Funds Recipient 11-13
(Jan. 19, 2001).
 Helaine M. Barnett, Violence Against Women Act
2006 Amendments, Legal Services Corporation, Letter
to All LSC Program Directors 1-6 (Feb. 21, 2006).
Week Eleven
Professors:
Rocio Molina
and Leslye
Orloff
Week Twelve
Professors:
Leslye Orloff
Assignment: Resubmit revised preambles updated to
include feedback from last week’s class presentations.
Come to class to prepared to discuss and analyze how
the immigration policies assigned for reading laid the
background for the issuance of DACA
 Thomas E. Flaherty, Council Action – Adoption of a
Uniform Connecticut Law Enforcement Protocol For
Treating Victims of Family Violence Whose
Immigration Status is Questionable, General Notice to
Chief Law Enforcement Officers 1, 1-11 (June 22,
2010).
Police Collaboration Key to UVisa’s Effectiveness
Methods and Strategies for
Successful Collaborations
between Victim Advocates and
Law Enforcement
This class will discuss the
importance of collaboration
between law enforcement,
attorneys and advocates in the
context of U-visa certification
and on a range of public policy
issues where collaboration
governmental and nongovernmental. In class we will
show and discuss the new roll
call videos NIWAP
collaborated with DHS and
FLETC to develop.
Legislative Drafting and
Discussion of Incremental
Successes in throughout
VAWA and how the success
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
NIWAP, Toolkit for Law Enforcement and Prosecutors
Use of the U-Visa (November 2012).
 U Visa Law Enforcement Certification Resource
Guide: For Federal, State, Local, Tribal and
Territorial Law Enforcement, Department of Homeland
Security 1, 1-19.
 Questions & Answers: Victims of Criminal Activity, U
Nonimmigrant Status, Webpage, Department of
Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services.
Assignment: Review and provide feedback on materials for
advocates working with immigrant victims


Leslye Orloff, National Survey on Timing of Access to
Work Authorization by Immigrant Victim VAWA SelfPetitioners and U-Visa Applicants (June 2012)
Leslye Orloff, Levi Wolberg, and Benish Anver, UVisa Victims and Lawful Permanent Residency
and Rocio
Molina
was driven by Coalition and
Relationship Building and
Identifying Allies
Activity: Small group activity:
students will discuss as a
group and present to the class
the results of their discussions
regarding the role the section
by section document can play
in galvanizing support for
proposed legislation.
Week Thirteen
Professors:
Leslye Orloff
and Rocio
Molina
(September, 2012)
Assignment: Students will receive a legislative drafting
assignment to draft a portion of future legislation that benefits
immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and
human trafficking. Students will be asked to draft the statue and
write a section by section analysis of the provision, why it is
needed and what it will accomplish.
Student Project Presentations
Part I
Assignment: Complete work on class project. Prepare for
class presentations
Group A
Students will draw numbers in
class week Twelve to
determine whether they will
present their practicum project
week Thirteen or Week
Fourteen
Assignment: Complete work on practicum project. Prepare for
class presentations
Week Fourteen Student Project Presentations
Part II
Professors:
Group B
Leslye Orloff
and Rocio
Molina
Course conclusion and
evaluations. Final practicum
projects due last day of final
exam period.
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