Survivors and anti-violence advocates have long noted that there are added risks for racialized women who seek help for domestic violence and assault. When it comes to immigration police, the risk is even greater. (Photo: iStock / Getty Images)
A recent report confirms what many undocumented immigrant women have likely suspected since Inauguration Day — it’s now even more dangerous to report domestic violence and sexual assault.
According to the report by the Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting immigrant victims of violent crimes, the names of undocumented victims now appear on a public national database through the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement program, or VOICE. A team of advocates and lawyers at Tahirih Justice Center who produced the report have asked for the names of victims to be taken down immediately, saying that making the information of victims public for their abusers to see threatens the safety of a population that should have protected status. Undocumented women who are victims of violent crimes and who are willing to collaborate with the state to convict their abusers have been granted protected status since the implementation of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). A select number are even granted citizenship status each year through a special U-Visa. The idea is that women who lack citizenship status are particularly vulnerable to abuse, given that they often face issues of social isolation, weakened family and community ties, language and cultural barriers, and fears of deportation. Though VAWA is a universal policy that applies to all American women, the U-Visa clause has, since its inception, held special significance for undocumented women seeking refuge from abusive relationships where they may otherwise suffer in silence.
In March, Los Angeles chief of police Charlie Beck made a shocking announcement that indicates a shift is taking place in how immigrant…