By Jyoti Thottam
Shanti came to the United States from India five years ago with high hopes.
The husband her parents had found for her was a permanent resident of the United States who promised to sponsor her green card and begin a new life in Queens. Instead, she found herself living as an undocumented alien, trapped in an abusive marriage to a man who would not let her leave the house.
While Shanti (not her real name) does have legal options, as an immigrant with little knowledge of English or the U.S. legal system, she had few ways to discover them.
