Monika came to the United States from Mexico with her first husband.  They had four beautiful children together who are all US citizens. Monika and her first husband eventually separated and that is when Monika met Jake.

The two eventually moved in together but things began to get rocky due to Jake’s drinking.  Despite his issue with alcohol, Monika continued to try and make their relationship work.

One night, Jake got unexpectedly got angry when Monika went to leave their apartment to get something from the car.  In his fit of anger, Jake threw Monika down a set of stairs.  Monika was taken to the hospital and was found to have internal bleeding and, because of this, had to have surgery. 

She was in a coma for three weeks.

Monika went through months of physical therapy where she had to relearn how to do even the most basic of tasks like brush her hair. While she still struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, Monika is trying to reclaim her life.  She is currently working part-time to support her family and recently applied for her U-VISA.

With the support of her team at Ascend Justice, Monika was able to navigate through the system and qualified for a fee waiver for her U-VISA application.  The U-VISA application is important because it allows Monika to continue to support her and her four children by being able to keep her part-time job.  A U-VISA also assists law enforcement so they may continue investigations and possible prosecutions around Jake’s abusive actions.

Ascend Justice informed Monika of her rights, so she didn’t have to choose between that very important application fee or being able to pay her rent to keep a roof over her children’s heads.