"On May 18, 2017, seven national organizations – including Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (APIGBV), ASISTA, Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV), National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH), National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), and Tahirih Justice Center – working to end domestic violence and sexual assault released the results of the 2017 Advocate and Legal Service Survey Regarding Immigrant Survivors.
These partner organizations recognized an urgency to collect data and identify trends based on reports from their constituencies signaling increased fear and reluctance on the part of immigrant survivors to seek assistance from law enforcement or the courts, and uncertainty on the part of advocates on how to advise immigrant survivors.
'Laws and policies that deter immigrant victims from calling 911 create an impossible choice for them: they must either stay with their abusers or risk deportation,' said Archi Pyati, Chief of Policy and Programs at the Tahirih Justice Center. 'We cannot turn a blind eye to this. These policies make us all less safe.'
A total of 715 victim advocates and attorneys in 46 states and the District of Columbia completed the survey and reported how changing immigration policies affects the concerns of service providers and immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault."
Read the full press release here. For more on this topic, see our Immigrant Women and Domestic Violence special collection.
