Trump’s rabidly hard line on immigration has effectively stopped undocumented women from reporting spousal abuse, rape and other forms of violence perpetrated against them, for fear of being deported:
Since the presidential election, there has been a sharp downturn in reports of sexual assault and domestic violence among Latinos throughout the country, and many experts attribute the decline to fears of deportation. Law enforcement officials in several large cities, including Los Angeles, Houston and Denver, say the most dangerous fallout of changes in policy and of harsh statements on immigration is that fewer immigrants are willing to go to police.
What this means is that many women are forced to accept being raped and beaten with essentially no legal recourse either to prevent its recurrence or punish the perpetrators. Agencies and shelters that formerly provided aid to such women are seeing them vanishing, falling completely off the grid:
In Nassau County on Long Island, N.Y., the district attorney’s Office of Immigrant Affairs tip line for crime victims used to get up to 10 calls a week. But it has had none since December. And at End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, which helps about 700 women a year get restraining orders against their partners, the requests this year have dropped to almost zero, the lead attorney there said.
The Los Angeles County Domestic Violence Council typically received about a half-dozen calls a week, with at least half from Spanish speakers. But since January, it has received only two calls, said Olivia Rodriguez, the executive director.
“This is not normal,” Rodriguez said. “They assume that if they call a government entity it’s all connected, that they will be reported to ICE and sent away. So instead they are just taking the abuse.”
It is difficult enough for women to come forward with a claim of domestic violence or rape without the added element of potential deportation hanging over their heads. The climate of fear being inflicted on undocumented women was exacerbated in February when, in a highly publicized case, immigration agents arrested a woman leaving a Courthouse in El Paso Texas, after she had just sought a protective order from her abuser.
By fostering an environment where simply reporting rape or domestic violence is a prospect too terrifying for these women to contemplate, Trump (and everyone who voted for him) has in effect given domestic abusers and rapists the same type of protection that they receive in places like El Salvador, where prosecution for domestic violence is practically unheard of. And there is no reason to suspect that such abusers will not be encouraged to continue their assaults on the assumption that they can do so without fear of any consequences.
Wanda Lucibello is a former prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office:
“When you’re talking about immigrant communities, you’re talking about perceptions and whether those perceptions are accurate or not,” Lucibello said. “If the perception is that there is a greater risk if you go to the police, you are going to be less likely to do so, and you are more likely to stay in an abusive relationship until you need to seek treatment at a hospital.”
In fact the inability to avoid this type of violence is what prompted many of these women to leave their home countries the first place. The Times article linked above cites one 56-year old woman (she asked that her last name not be revealed) who had undergone abuse from her Salvadoran husband for ten years before escaping to the U.S. She actually applied for a visa meant for women who are seeking refuge from such violence. Her American attorney demanded sex in exchange for going forward with the visa process, and she reported him to the police. Now she’s afraid not only of pressing charges against this low-life creep of an attorney but of continuing to pursue her visa. All because of the xenophobic and pointless hatred ginned up by Trump to “make America great again.”
A President whose attitude towards women is best exemplified by the number of sexual harassment suits he has garnered is unlikely to be moved much if at all by their plight, particularly since he won election by effectively painting undocumented immigrants as something “less than human.” But it would seem to be beyond comprehension that Americans would willingly vote to make the already-horrific experience of being raped or beaten even worse for some women. And if you asked any Trump supporter why they did this they’d most likely react with loud, indignant denials.
But that’s exactly what they voted for, and they knew what they were doing. Racial attitudes were among the strongest motivators in this election and the undocumented were singled out by Trump at every turn, in every speech, every rally. Trump voters accepted and applauded the dehumanization of immigrants, and particularly Latino and Hispanic immigrants, with vigorous nods of assent and approval, then waddled home and voted Trump into office last November.
Lending your assent and approval—and your vote—to a candidate who won by dehumanizing whole groups of people means you are responsible for the consequences when that candidate pursues the same policies he espoused. And condoning the treatment of people as "subhuman" (Trump was particularly fond of “snake" analogies in his campaign speeches) implicitly ratifies violence against them as well, because their “non-human” status serves to erase the normal privileges, rights and protections the rest of us take for granted. The fact that some voters may not have spent any time thinking about the consequences of exactly what they were “approving” is not an excuse.
So Trump supporters shouldn’t try to weasel out of accepting responsibility for what is happening to these women. They voted for it, and they did so knowingly.