The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors’ Positions on Anti-Immigrant Amendments
August 2022
The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS) advocates for a future where everyone, regardless of race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, country of origin, or differing ability can live in safety and thrive. We defend and advocate for policies that ensure immigrant survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape, human trafficking, and other gender-based violence have access to safety, autonomy, and life-saving protections.
Every year, we see anti-immigrant amendments introduced in legislative and budgetary processes that would hinder immigrants’ access to legal status and increase their vulnerability to exploitation. We strongly oppose any amendment that interferes with the ability of immigrant survivors to seek safety and provide for themselves and their families, including the examples listed below. For questions, follow-up, and media inquiries, please contact us at info@immigrantsurvivors.org.
1) AIS Opposes Amendments prohibiting people from getting immigration status due to arrests and/or convictions related to the trauma of domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape, human trafficking, child abuse, or other crimes.
Immigrant survivors are particularly vulnerable to being arrested and prosecuted for domestic violence and trafficking related offenses. Due to language and cultural barriers that prevent them from explaining that they acted in self-defense or that an abuser’s allegations are false, or vulnerability to human traffickers, survivors may have criminal histories related to the harm they’ve experienced. A lack of resources and limited access to effective assistance of counsel, particularly to counsel that understands the immigration consequences of criminal pleas and convictions, compounds immigrant survivors’ vulnerability to prosecutions that have negative immigration and other consequences.
In addition, immigrant survivors have a deeply-held and justified fear of deportation of themselves or their family, often including the abuser, that keeps them from coming forward and reporting abuse. Given the threat of deportation, survivors may not report crimes, witnesses abstain from coming forward with information, abusers are not held accountable, and the abuse continues. In many situations, abusers and traffickers use victims’ fear of deportation as a tool of power and control to silence survivors.
In addition, survivors of domestic violence are vulnerable to child neglect charges and convictions in situations where they have allegedly “failed to protect” their children from harm perpetrated by an abuser. Once in custody and/or facing trial – and desperate to be released and reunited with their children – immigrant survivors may readily agree to plead to a misdemeanor with a sentence of “time served.” Those wrongly-accused survivors who may have pled or been unfairly convicted of domestic violence or child abuse charges, could be entirely disqualified from accessing legal status under anti-immigrant amendments that create such prohibitions.
Hope, who is a survivor of domestic violence at the hands of her abusive husband, was wrongfully arrested. During a particularly horrific attack, her husband beat her and, when she refused to comply with his demands, he called the police and claimed she attacked him. The police came and arrested her, causing her severe emotional and psychological distress.
2) AIS Opposes Amendments limiting funding to jurisdictions for having sanctuary policies.
We oppose any increased entanglement between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement and oppose any efforts to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions considered to be “sanctuary cities.” All residents need to have trust and confidence in their local law enforcement agencies, and that is especially true for immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and trafficking. There is deeply-held and justified fear of deportation that keeps immigrant survivors from coming forward to report abuse. Abusers and traffickers often use immigration status and the fear of deportation as a tool of power and control to silence survivors. Without the ability to trust local law enforcement, survivors do not report crimes, witnesses abstain from coming forward with information, perpetrators go unpunished, and abuse continues.
Sanctuary city policies take many forms, but broadly act to limit local agencies from participating in federal immigration enforcement. Hundreds of cities and a handful of states have adopted such policies to help ensure the safety and security of their residents. Sanctuary cities are shown to be safer – a study showed that on average, counties that did not comply with ICE requests experienced 35.5 fewer crimes per 10,000 people than those that did. They also found that counties that did not comply with detainer requests had higher household incomes, lower rates of unemployment, lower rates of poverty, and were less likely to have children under 18 in households receiving public benefits.
Local officials know what’s best for their communities, and the federal government should not impose a one-size-fits-all approach to law enforcement in cities and towns across the country by limiting funding to those that have sanctuary policies. It is the responsibility of the federal government to enforce federal immigration laws and the responsibility of local officials to keep their communities safe. When the federal government overrules the judgment of local law enforcement to serve its own interests, public safety suffers. When much-needed federal funds are contingent on immigration enforcement efforts, local officials are put in an impossible position: they must either divert their limited resources to do the federal government’s immigration enforcement work – which will undermine their primary mission of ensuring public safety – or risk losing federal support designed to enhance public safety and welfare.
Numerous law enforcement and local officials have spoken out in support of sanctuary city policies. As the Major Cities Chiefs Association stated: “Without assurances that contact with the police would not result in purely civil immigration enforcement action, the hard won trust, communication and cooperation from the immigrant community would disappear. Such a divide between the local police and immigrant groups would result in increased crime against immigrants and in the broader community, create a class of silent victims and eliminate the potential for assistance from immigrants in solving crimes or preventing future terroristic acts.” As a police chief in Ohio stated: “Since Dayton adopted these policies and innovative ways of addressing crime problems, our crime rates have significantly declined. In the past three years, serious violent crime has dropped nearly 22 percent while serious property crime has gone down almost 15 percent.”
3) AIS Opposes Amendments limiting people from accessing public benefits, housing, healthcare, unemployment, tax credits, etc.
We oppose any efforts to limit immigrant communities from being able to access basic needs, such as public benefits, housing, healthcare, unemployment, tax credits, and more. For immigrant survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape, human trafficking, and other gender-based violence, access to economic and social supports ensure they can escape and overcome violence. In fact, strengthening economic supports for families is one of only a few strategies highlighted by the CDC for preventing and reducing the harm of intimate partner violence.
The ability of survivors to meet basic needs is central to their decision-making about whether or not they can leave an abusive relationship. Two-thirds (67%) of survivors in one survey said that they stayed longer than they wanted or returned to an abusive relationship because of financial concerns, such as not being able to pay bills, afford rent/mortgage, or feed their family. Preventing survivors from accessing services or benefits because of their immigration status re-victimizes survivors and their children, prevents recovery, prolongs ongoing trauma, and harms the health and well being of our communities.
Many survivors already struggle with economic instability, and abuse can force survivors to fall into or deeper into poverty because the consequences have undermined their ability to work or attain financial security. Many survivors face abusive partners who actively prevent or sabotage them from obtaining economic independence as a means of power and control. Violent partners of immigrant survivors often engage in economic abuse by prohibiting their survivors from learning English or working outside the home, or by withholding immigration papers or pathways to legal employment. Survivors may be forced to be economically dependent, take lower paying jobs, or be more susceptible to exploitation and harassment at their job. Ending an abusive relationship therefore might mean losing access to income, and leaving may require additional out-of-pocket costs that are not within reach. When survivors have access to their own economic supports, they are more empowered to leave abusive situations and build a healthier and safer future for themselves and their families.
Housing is also critical to survivors’ ability to seek safety, stability, and recovery. Domestic violence is a primary cause of homelessness for women and children in the United States. Over 90% of homeless women report having experienced domestic abuse or sexual violence in their lives, while over 50% of homeless women report that domestic violence was the immediate cause of their homelessness. The National Network to End Domestic Violence reports that 65% of survivors’ average daily unmet requests for help from domestic violence programs nationwide are for housing related services. Securing non-subsidized housing can be particularly difficult for survivors. Landlords may be reluctant to rent to survivors who do not have their own credit or rental history. Survivors may be susceptible to manipulation by landlords who charge them high rents for single rooms in unsafe conditions. Overcrowding in shelters, or rules prohibiting children with disabilities from residing there, drive many survivors to homelessness. Others face discrimination such that either no one will rent to them, or they cannot have their name on a lease or utility bills.
In seeking healthcare, onerous barriers to access already disproportionately harm immigrant women, who are the majority of immigrants and who are particularly likely to be low-income, young, and uninsured. One-third of noncitizen immigrant women ages 15-44 are uninsured. For women in that group who are also low income, that proportion grows to almost half. In the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, for example, immigrant survivors and their family members, like other immigrants, are avoiding COVID-19 testing, treatment, and vaccination based on concerns about the cost of care, and fears related to their immigration status. In a survey of immigrant households in Massachusetts, nearly 42% of respondents said that no one in the household had been tested or treated for COVID-19; instead, if someone fell ill, they would take care of them at home on their own. On a follow up question, one out of six people responded that they did not get tested because they were uninsured and worried about the cost.
4) AIS Opposes Amendments related to limiting access to asylum.
We oppose any efforts to increase barriers to survivors seeking the right to asylum as recognized in international and federal law. This includes opposing the inefficient and inhumane expedited removal system, which results in fast-tracking deportations of even more individuals seeking protection, including children fleeing violence and even death, without a meaningful court hearing.
Asylum and refugee protections in U.S. law are critical lifelines for those fleeing gender-based persecution. Asylum seekers arrive at the border and in the U.S. from all over the world fleeing from domestic violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, rape, honor violence, and human trafficking. They might not realize that their experience would qualify them for asylum or how to present their asylum claims. Amendments that increase barriers to eligibility, or that result in increased detention or time waiting outside the United States, exacerbate the trauma they have experienced and make it even more difficult for individuals to present their asylum claims.
As Congress has recognized in passing the Violence Against Women Act, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the Victims of Crime Act, and various other laws, domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape, human trafficking, and other gender-based violence are legitimate concerns that merit state interventions. As such, the U.S. must continue to signal that the right to live free of gender-based violence is a fundamental human right.
5) AIS Opposes Amendments to Keep Title 42 in Effect.
We oppose any attempts taken to codify Title 42, as this inhumane policy has nothing to do with protecting public health and instead targets immigrants and refugees, putting survivors of gender-based violence at extreme risk. Medical experts have unequivocally rejected the misleading information that supports this expulsion policy. Today, it is even harder to see any public health rationale for Title 42, as we have widespread access to vaccines, testing, and PPE, such as masks.
Immigrant survivors are fleeing domestic violence, sexual assault, femicide, human trafficking, forced marriage, and other forms of gender-based violence only to face Title 42 and a closed border that traps them in harm’s way. They often narrowly escape unthinkable abuse and set out for safety in the U.S. at great risk to themselves – the willingness to attempt this journey is an indication of just how severe the violence and threats were in the first place.
Every minute survivors are refused entry and denied protection increases their risk of further violence and trauma. Survivors are extremely vulnerable while they wait along the border for an opportunity to apply for asylum that may never come. Housing and work are scarce or non-existent. Many live in overcrowded shelters or are homeless, forced to live and survive on the streets and in makeshift camps. Opportunistic criminals, cartels, and organized crime, as well as former abusers who track their victims down, kidnap, rape, and traffic survivors as they wait for entry into the United States.
If returned to their country of origin, survivors are faced with the same violence they tried to escape. Human Rights First has tracked reports of over 10,000 migrants and asylum seekers being kidnapped or facing physical or sexual violence following expulsion at the U.S.-Mexico border since President Biden took office. Leaving an abusive situation is one of the riskiest things a survivor can do–a failed escape can increase their risk exponentially. Instead of offering the legal safe haven that immigrant survivors deserve, Title 42 creates conditions that set survivors up to be re-victimized.
Adding to this tragedy, some immigrants fleeing other forms of persecution experience gender-based violence for the very first time while waiting along the border.
Title 42 not only fails survivors, but also creates them. To protect survivors and prevent further gender-based harm including human trafficking, the U.S. must allow immigrant survivors of gender-based violence to seek asylum inside the U.S., a right they are legally entitled to under U.S. law.
Title 42 must end. The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors stands ready to work with members of Congress and the Biden administration in restarting the orderly processing of asylum-seekers at our border and welcoming survivors with dignity as they seek safety from persecution.
Instead of supporting these anti-immigrant amendments, Members of Congress can choose to stand with immigrant survivors of violence by enhancing immigrant protections, including those featured in our top 5 asks for immigrant survivors:
Lifting the cap on the number of U visas annually available – currently limited to 10,000 – to meet the need;
Funding USCIS to ensure they can grant timely employment authorization to VAWA self-petitioners, U and T visa applicants;
Preventing detention and deportation of survivors seeking asylum and eligible VAWA self-petitioners, U and T visa applicants;
Explicitly including survivors of gender-based violence in asylum law; and
Ensuring access to economic supports for immigrant survivors.
