Border Crossings: Understanding the Civil, Criminal, and Immigration Implications for Battered Women Fleeing Across State Lines with Their Children

Currently, many states have special statutory provisions that require consideration of domestic violence perpetrated against the fleeing parent as a mitigating factor or defense in criminal parental kidnapping proceedings and/or against adverse custody decisions. This article provides an overview of the impact of state criminal parental kidnapping or custodial interference statutes on immigrant survivors of domestic violence who already have left or wish to leave their state with their children.