Immigrants at Increased Risk of Domestic Violence
As countless studies and surveys will attest, domestic violence knows no boundaries: it affects people of all race, age, and gender. Unfortunately though, not everyone has equal access to domestic violence protection.
As many states in the United States have ramped up deportation in recent years, immigrants have been finding themselves continually estranged from hospitals, schools, police services, and many other private and public institutions. An article recently published by the Las Vegas Sun points out another service that is increasingly out of reach of this country’s undocumented population: domestic violence protection.
The services offered by domestic violence protection groups are extremely important in protecting people from abusive situations. According to reports filed by experts in the field, the people most at risk for being domestic violence victims are people already living in isolated environments. Since this is the case for most, if not all, undocumented individuals in this country, this particular population is one of the most in need of domestic violence protection. The problem is that since they usually live in fear of having their undocumented status revealed, or one of their family members’ status revealed, they may avoid trying to get any potentially life-saving help.
According to one Arizona domestic violence organization, Next Door, the recent Arizona bill SB 1070 has a “devastating impact” on the abilities of many immigrant women to obtain protection from domestic violence. Recently, the passage of Alabama’s similar law, HB 56, has caused the same effect to be seen by Alabama domestic violence groups.
Police officers are not technically required to report undocumented citizens who are victims of crimes. However, as long as they are involved in the enforcement of immigration law, many citizens will be afraid that police officers will report them to immigration officials, and get them arrested or deported.
