It's a new statewide program that's not costing the state of Texas a dime.

It's all funded by a federal grant that helps battered immigrants in rural parts of the state report the crime without being deported.

A woman who News 36 will identify as Jane Doe came to the U.S. from Africa in search of a better life. She soon married a U.S. citizen and lived the American dream but then found herself in a nightmare.

"At the beginning it was the shoving against the wall, slap me around then later he would punch me," Jane Doe said.

She never told anyone about the abuse especially not police for fear of deportation.

"Well I thought they would send me back. I didn't have any papers, and he wouldn't file for me cause that was his way of making me stay," Doe said.

Isaac Harrington with the Texas Civil Right's Project is giving abused immigrants a way out. As part of a new program under the Violence Against Women Act, he travels the state's rural areas, counties that don't have assistance programs for the abused.

"I handle twenty counties here, the rural counties around Austin," Harrington said.

He searches for immigrants wanting to get out of violent situations and helps them gain U.S. citizenship. Better yet, it's free of charge.

"I think on the cheap, for someone to do what we do it costs about $2,000 just for the application and these women are not going to be able to afford that," Herrington said.

It helped Jones still in hiding from her ex-husband but no longer hiding from immigration.

"It gave me a second chance it gave me my life back. It gave me strength and the means to support myself," Doe said.

The program also helps survivors of abuse get a work permit.

It's estimated there are 90,000 battered immigrants in Texas that qualify for this program.