“He Reported Me to ICE”: ICE Is Detaining Domestic Violence Survivors
On the first day of October, which marks the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness month, ICE laid in wait for a mother residing at a domestic violence shelter who was waiting to exchange her daughter with her abusive ex-partner. What she had long feared and been threatened with occurred: her abuser had reported her to immigration authorities.
“Now, he is out there in the community bragging about it,” said the Executive Director of the domestic violence shelter, located in rural New Mexico.
Advocates warned about this.
This incident is a chilling example of what domestic violence advocates warned would happen when the Trump Administration rescinded the long-honored policy that protected sensitive locations, like churches, hospitals, and schools, from immigration enforcement earlier this year. That policy, enacted in 2011, had provided clear boundaries for ICE agents and reassured survivors that places like shelters and visitation centers were safe spaces. Without it, agents are left to rely on “common sense”—a vague and dangerous standard.
When shelter staff informed ICE that the woman was a domestic violence victim, the response was indifferent: “Yeah, we know,” said the agent before transferring her to a private, for-profit detention facility. She now faces deportation and permanent separation from her child.
ICE agents are under pressure to “enforce the law” and meet arrest quotas, rumored to be as high as 3,000 a day. But immigration law is complex and not just about enforcement; it also includes protections, especially for survivors of domestic violence and violent crime.
Immigrants are and remain some of the most vulnerable individuals in our communities. But protections still exist through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
First enacted in 1994, VAWA was designed to protect immigrant survivors of domestic violence. Recognizing that abusers often use immigration status as a tool of control, VAWA allows victims to self-petition for legal status through a U-visa instead of relying on an abuser to file for them. With a U-visa, survivors can remain in the U.S and become eligible to apply for a green card after three years.
In 2005, Congress strengthened these protections, requiring ICE and DHS to disregard statements made by abusers to detain survivors of domestic violence and avoid enforcement at supervised visitation centers. This was intended to prevent an abuser from using the immigration system to further perpetuate their abuse.
Yet in this case, ICE agents waited in the parking lot of what should have been a protected location. Because the area was rural, there was no formal supervised visitation center—just a shelter doing its best to provide safety.
Now, it’s up to legal practitioners and advocates across the state to ensure this woman’s rights are upheld. With the support of many, she may avoid wrongful deportation and be reunited with her daughter—free at last from the looming threat of immigration enforcement.
But this is just one story. How many others go unnoticed, unassisted, as ICE ramps up arrests and overlooks the protective provisions of immigration law?
No More Protected Spaces:
These locations are no longer considered protected from immigration enforcement:
schools (K-12 and higher education);
medical facilities such as hospitals, doctor’s offices, and community health centers;
places of worship,
social services establishments, including homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and food pantries;
places where children gather, such as playgrounds;
disaster and emergency response sites;
as well as weddings, funerals, parades, demonstrations, protests and rallies.
SOURCE: Domesticshelters.org