Posted on 10/17/2008 8:37:53 PM PDT by buccaneer81
Abused immigrant women fear loss of home But deportation won't follow police report, officials say Friday, October 17, 2008 11:17 PM By Sherri Williams THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Immigrant women who are beaten by their spouses are sometimes reluctant to report abuse, their advocates say, out of fear that the men will be deported.
And more might suffer in silence, they say, as federal authorities step up deportation efforts. The women want the violence to stop, but they don't want the family breadwinner and father of their children to leave the country. Also, the women fear being deported themselves.
But they shouldn't worry about being arrested for reporting domestic violence, said Corey Price, an assistant field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement who is in charge of detention-and-removal operations for Ohio.
"We would never target someone because they are a victim of domestic violence," he said. "We would never ask a local law-enforcement agency to report a domestic violence to our agency."
The Violence Against Women Act provides a path to legal residency for undocumented immigrants who are victims of abuse and married to an abuser who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. An undocumented immigrant who is abused by someone else in the country illegally might be eligible for residency under a special visa.
Undocumented women who do report domestic violence still face challenges, said Gail Heller, executive director of Choices for Victims of Domestic Violence.
"It makes it even harder to figure out where you are going to go, find employment and support yourself," Heller said.
For example, federal rules bar agencies that rely on federal dollars from helping undocumented women.
In those cases, agencies that get their money from other sources should step up and fill the gap, said Jose Luis Mas, a Columbus lawyer who often represents immigrants.
Lack of money forces some immigrant women to stay in abusive relationships because they aren't literate in English, or even their own language, and don't have the skills to support their children on their own, said Jennyffer Hammock-Bushelman, a domestic-violence victims' advocate with the Columbus city prosecutor's office.
"A lot them aren't working, or they are working low-paying jobs," she said, and many are isolated. "They don't have family here. They don't have a support system."
Mas, who is chairman of the Ohio Hispanic Coalition, agreed that recent deportations of illegal immigrants charged with domestic violence could discourage women from reporting abuse.
Three men with Latino surnames who were charged with misdemeanor domestic violence were released to ICE in September, and four were handed over in August, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records.
The deportations reflect the increased effort nationwide to identify and report people who are in the country illegally, Price said. "We are trying to identify individuals who have been convicted of crimes."
If they are in the country illegally and can be removed, "we want to do that instead of releasing them back to society," he said.
Last year, 900 people were deported from Ohio, and more than 3,600 have been deported this year.
Columbus police officers sometimes call immigration authorities when a suspect's residency status is unknown, said Sgt. Lisa Cammelleri, supervisor of the Police Division's domestic-violence unit. Sometimes, the victim tells officers that the suspect is undocumented.
"By them getting deported, that will solve the person's problem in getting away from this person," Cammelleri said. "But others may not want their boyfriend, spouse or father of their children to be taken away."
Even Somali immigrants with refugee status are reluctant to report domestic violence because they worry they could be deported, said Hawa Siad, executive director of the Somali Women and Children's Alliance.
"They don't want to have anything to do with the system or ruin their stay in the country," Siad said.
Some come from communities that don't recognize domestic violence as a crime; they consider it a family matter to be resolved among male relatives, said Ayan Hassan, a Somali domestic-violence advocate with the city prosecutor's office.
"No one will ask her advice about what she wants and what she wants to happen," Hassan said. "That's how they solve problems at home. Sometimes, people bring their traditions of problem-solving here. But there is no accountability there."
sherri.williams@dispatch.com
"We would never target someone because they are a victim of domestic violence," he said. "We would never ask a local law-enforcement agency to report a domestic violence to our agency."
Immigration law trumped by PC once again.
So, if I really want to get my papers, I’ll ask someone in my house to abuse me. Then I’ll get my papers and be eligible for the many kinds of welfare. Abuse is a small price to pay, considering the benefits obtained.
“Immigration law trumped by PC once again.”
—
The illegals shouldn’t worry too much. It won’t be long before illegals will be routinely welcomed, “just sign this Democrat Registration form and you’re good to go.”
That's already happening.
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