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Early on in Donald Trump’s presidency, there were indications from local law enforcement and women’s and immigrant rights advocates that this his racist, mass deportation force was also becoming an abuser’s dream come true:
In the weeks since the president's immigration orders were first announced, undocumented domestic violence victims have backed out of cases for fear of drawing the attention of immigration enforcement agents.
These are indications that, horrifically, continue to be confirmed. According to one recent report, “a total of 82 percent of the prosecutors surveyed said that domestic abuse cases have become harder to prosecute”:
A survey of hundreds of police officers, victims’ advocates and prosecutors across all 50 states, released by the American Civil Liberties Union in May, found numerous reports that undocumented immigrants are now more reluctant to call the police, press criminal charges and testify against assailants.
These trends have been corroborated by local law enforcement in cities like Los Angeles, Denver, San Diego, and Houston, where “Latino domestic violence reports went down even as the city’s Hispanic community, now 44 percent of the population, grew significantly.” For months, Houston Police chief Art Avecedo has been trying to reassure frightened immigrant and Latino communities, but fear continues to be pervasive.
“They’re seeing the headlines from across the country,” he said, “where immigration agents are showing up at courthouses, trying to deport people.”
Earlier this year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) formalized on paper what it had already been doing at an escalated rate since Trump took office and unleashed his mass deportation agents, trampling on the justice system by stalking courthouses in order to take immigrants into custody:
“Federal immigration authorities formalized a policy ... to send deportation agents to federal, state and local courthouses to make arrests, dismissing complaints from judges and advocacy groups that it instills fear among crime victims, witnesses and family members.”
Last year in Texas, an abuser may have tipped off ICE to the whereabouts of his victim, a transgender woman. She was arrested as she was leaving court, where she was attempting to obtain a protective order against him. The state’s anti-immigrant “show me your papers” law—championed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and other anti-immigrant legislators—is only exacerbating this crisis:
One 38-year-old woman said she had never called the police about her husband, who frequently beat her, not even when she was six months pregnant and he punched her in the stomach, causing her to lose the baby. Eventually, when her husband threatened to kill her, she left him — but she did not report him. “I know the police are there to help,” said the woman, who feared she would be identified and deported if she gave her name. “But with the laws now, a lot of women like me are too afraid to come forward.”
Another immigrant, Domenica, told the New York Times that she slept with a gun under her pillow because of an abusive boyfriend, who was also a U.S. citizen. For years he threatened her safety and her life, telling her that police wouldn’t help her, they’d deport her. “He told me nobody would help me, because I don’t have papers,” she said:
In August of last year, fearing for the safety of her children, Domenica decided to flee. She never called the police. She said she would rather go into hiding than appear in court and risk being separated from her children, or sent home to Mexico.
But fear lingers, because the abuser isn’t just in the next room—he’s also in the White House. Numerous organizations have said they’ve seen immigrants drop health and food assistance services for themselves and their children out of fear it could somehow entrap them or their loved ones in Trump’s mass deportation net.
“Legislation like this doesn’t help at all. It just makes our job harder,” said Jason Cisneroz, a Houston city official, about the state’s discriminatory law, which police say has done immense damage to the trust between them and Latino and immigrant communities. “It’s not just the decrease in calls for service, it’s also the decrease in willingness to be a part of an investigation.”
“Abbott's shameful show me your papers law is making it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs and protect victims of domestic abuse,” tweeted Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who is running against Abbott for governor. “Victims deserve our support—not to be silenced by fear and pushed to the shadows.”
