Victims of immigrants of domestic violence are afraid to ask for help in the threat of ice deportation

A woman who claims to have been assaulted by her boyfriend is now in a detention center in Louisiana after calling the police to accuse her of assault, then contacted immigration and the application of customs and told them that she had no status of legal immigration, the mother of the woman claimed to Noticias Telemundo.

In a separate case compared to April, a Salvadorian woman in Houston called 911 to declare a victim of domestic violence. Legal files examined by The Houston Chronicle indicate that the police then called ICE.

The stories of women are not unique, activists and experts tell in Noticias Telemundo, explaining that, in some cases, the abusers use immigration status to control or abuse their victims – who come from all socioeconomic horizons. Experts say that victims are now more afraid in the midst of the Trump administration’s immigration repression and recent immigration raids.

Isaret Jeffers, founder of The Tree Collective, who supports agricultural workers in the Tampa region, Florida, said that several undocumented agricultural women had told him that they supported the abuses of their partners for fear that reporting them would cause their expulsion.

Isabel Martínez, head of the social services program of Tahirih Justice Center, focused on assistance to victims of sex -based violence, said women fear that “not only does nothing happen to the attacker, but now I should be expelled or be detained, or get in trouble if I call the police.”

Since January, Martínez said, the women have said to his organization that they had decided that they could not call the police and were too afraid to call the group because they feared that it does not call the police and reports the abuses.

“Since the start of the deportations and that they target people more severely, this is where we have seen people being more afraid,” said Martínez. “They think twice about reports.”

Although women represent 84% of victims of violence for spouses and 86% of victims of abuse of intimate partners, according to The Ministry of Justice Statistics Office, Anyone can be the victim of abuse, regardless of sex, age, sexual orientation or national origin.

Fear of reporting – and deadly consequences

The fear of the victims of immigrants to report crimes against them is not new. As early as 2019, Tahirih Justice Center said that its social workers had observed that women often refused to report sexist violence for fear of expulsion.

In a national survey published by the Alliance for the survivors of immigrants in June, 76% of immigrant defenders reported That victims of domestic violence were afraid of calling the police for fear of ice. He also found that half of the immigration defenders had worked with immigrants who had abandoned their criminal or civil affairs for fear of expulsion.

A similar study of two US hospital emergency services (One in San Francisco and one in Oakland, California) found nearly 1 in 5 (19%) victims of domestic violence have avoided going to the police for fear that the police report them to the immigration authorities.

Francesco Duberli, CEO and founder of Survivors Pathway, a center based in Miami which offers advice and legal aid for survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse and trafficking in human beings, said that “what we see is an exaggerated and also very sad increase in the psychological aspect of the territory of the immigration authorities.”

The ice has reopened the Victims of the Office of the Crime of Immigration Crime (Voices), Created during Trump’s first administration. Its main objective is to provide assistance to the victims of the crimes perpetrated by immigrants and to “recognize and meet the needs of the victims and families who have been affected by crimes committed by persons with an immigration violations”, according to his website.

Under one of the “frequently asked questions”, it indicates that it “provides information noted to all the victims of the crime with a link to immigration, whatever the immigration status of the victim”. Noticias Telemundo contacted ICE and the Ministry of Internal Security about the Bureau, but has not received an answer. Voice said he had no available spokesperson and has returned any questions to his website.

Not reporting domestic violence may have fatal consequences: more than 50% of homicides committed by intimate partners have been preceded by violence, and in cases where the victim is a woman, the figure increases to 75%, according to studies by the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Houston, an immigrant who is not identified because she fears reprisals told Noticas Telemundo of an incident in November 2024 during which she thought that her life was in danger. She remembered squeezing the steering wheel while driving while her partner grabbed her and threatened to kill her. She said that the man, who is the father of her child and who had drunk, had poured a drink over her and then hit her in the stomach and later in her head, making her unconscious for a while.

She said she was going to a friend later, called the police and reported the violence. Police arrested him, and at his prison release for this accusation, he was detained by Ice and finally expelled. In November, following the violent episode, the woman, a Mexican immigrant, asked for a visa for crimes such as domestic violence, and awaited her approval.

The challenges, the risks of the victims of immigrants

Certain factors make it difficult for victims of immigrants of domestic violence to leave or report their abusive situations, in particular by being financially dependent on their attacker and having children who depend on them.

Houston’s partner threatened to remove her son from him, and stress affected her at the same time and her baby. “It was the saddest part of this whole process,” said the woman. “He was a baby, he was a 1 1/2, if I did not eat, he didn’t want to eat either. He knew when I was sad. He knew when I cried. And you say:” How could a little person know that I am sick? “”

Leave a partner and file a complaint with the judicial system “requires a reflection and asking:” What will happen next? ” How can I pay the rent? How can I feed my children? “Said Duberli, of Pathway Survivors. If the children belong to the attacker, he can file a request for legal guard, which can cost thousands of dollars.

“It is a conglomeration of socio-economic and psychological factors, and when you assemble them all, you realize that they become a huge wall that prevents immigrants from looking for justice,” he said.

Low -income women have a higher impact on domestic violence. Among the women who asked for legal assistance after having suffered violence between intimate partners, 85% lived at or less than 200% of the level of federal poverty, according to a study in 2024 of the University of Cambridge.

The victims also fear that their partner attacks them further if they report it, or that they are ashamed and believe that they blame for their situation. According to the therapists, a key factor is the self-esteem of the victims: as the Texas immigrant has described it, “feeling as if you are no one” as psychological violence degenerates, with taunts like “What are you going to do without me?” And “How are you going to go ahead?” She said.

Some victims have suffered abuse in countries of origin where domestic violence is more standardized and they are used to attackers with impunity, said Duberli.

Martínez, of Tahirih Justice Center, said that the first step to leave an abusive relationship is to break the strong psychological control that the aggressor can have on the victim. “You don’t deserve abuse,” she said.

It is also common that victims of immigrants are lacking in a family support network or friends in a country with a foreign culture and language.

Some immigrants face greater risk if they are counting on an abusive spouse to obtain legal status, as the American Immigration Council (AIC) said On his website, Since attackers can use immigration status as a “tool to silence their victims” and may delay, withdraw or not deposit petitions for their relatives or threaten to report them to the authorities.

Emergency outings: VAWA visa and petition

For victims of violent crimes such as domestic violence which can demonstrate cooperation with the authorities in the investigation or the pursuit of the crime, There is the visa u. If it is approved, the applicant receives a valid work permit for four years and after three years, he can request a permanent residence (green card).

However, American citizenship and immigration services Recently told to Noticias Telemundo that “a determination of good faith on a request awaiting status of non-immigrant from U does not protect a foreign national against the application of immigration”.

Duberli said the victims can also file a petition under the Women’s Violence Act (Vawa). Those who file a complaint, explains Duberli, can continue their immigration process without the involvement or the knowledge of the aggressor.

In the case of the Texas immigrant, she cooperated with the authorities concerning crime, a key step to have her visa status approved and regularized.

For the moment, the woman said, “I continue to work on myself, on my self -esteem – I continue with everything. To move forward. “

If you or someone you know suffer from domestic violence, you can call the national hotline on domestic violence at 1-800-799-7233 or start at 8788.

An earlier version of this story was published for the first time in Noticias Telemundo.