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Immigrant survivors face barriers to justice
Immigrant survivors of domestic violence in the U.S. face mounting barriers to safety and justice. Increasingly, abusers manipulate legal and immigration systems by filing false police reports and alerting ICE to a partner’s undocumented status, weaponizing immigration status as a tool of control. At the same time, heightened visa scrutiny and weakened asylum protections discourage survivors from reporting abuse. This troubling convergence undermines public safety, erodes critical protections, and highlights the urgent need for stronger safeguards for vulnerable communities.
At an August 12 American Community Media briefing, advocates and survivors delivered a sobering warning: immigrant women escaping domestic violence in the United States are finding fewer protections, more obstacles, and mounting fear as federal policies shift.
Survivors who turn to the legal system for protection increasingly find themselves punished instead of protected. U visas, created for victims of violent crime, and VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) self-petitions, which allow immigrant survivors to seek status without relying on an abusive partner, now face longer wait times, stricter scrutiny, and new risks.
Gender-based asylum protections, once a lifeline for women fleeing violence abroad, have been rolled back by federal courts. And domestic violence organizations receiving federal funds are grappling with new restrictions that limit what services they can provide, particularly around gender identity and reproductive healthcare.
Survivors stop reporting abuse
For many survivors, immigration status has become a weapon in the hands of abusers. Carmen McDonald, Executive Director of the Survivor Justice Center in Los Angeles, said fear in immigrant communities has spiked after recent ICE raids. “The impact is that it keeps people away from the help they need,” she said. Reports of discrimination and hate crimes in LA County dropped by a third after the raids—not because incidents decreased, but because survivors stopped reporting them.
McDonald described survivors cancelling restraining orders and skipping medical appointments out of fear of being detained. “Imagine you’re ready to face your abuser in court,” she said, “but instead of thinking about safety and justice, you wonder if ICE will be waiting at the courthouse doors. The silence is not safety—it’s danger. When survivors are silenced, abusers go free. When immigrants are too afraid to call the police, everyone is less safe. This is not just a humanitarian crisis—it’s a public safety crisis.”
Losing trust in the system
Morgan Weibel, Director of Legal Services at the Tahirih Justice Center, a national nonprofit serving immigrant survivors of gender-based violence, warned that survivors’ trust in the system is eroding. “Government policies that entangle local law enforcement with federal immigration actions mean survivors are less likely to come forward,” she said.
She explained that while VAWA and U visas were created by Congress to protect survivors, recent policy shifts have raised the stakes. “The administration has introduced extreme vetting, added mandatory interviews, and rescinded exemptions. Even approved applicants can now face detention and deportation. Denials trigger automatic removal proceedings. The stakes are much, much higher. Some survivors are simply not willing to take those risks.”
Asylum protections have also weakened. Weibel cited the SS. M decision, which rolled back decades of recognition of gender-based violence as grounds for asylum. “It’s now next to impossible for unrepresented survivors to win their cases,” she said. “No one believes geography should determine whether a survivor lives or dies. Yet that is exactly the consequence of our current system.” Weibel urged Congress to establish a new asylum ground based on gender. “It’s just common sense,” she said.
Cultural barriers add to crisis
Patima Komolamit, Executive Director of the Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF), underscored the cultural and structural barriers immigrant survivors face, particularly among Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Many survivors confront language barriers, lack of work history, and financial dependence—all of which abusers exploit.
“Immigration status has become an abuser’s tool, now ensconced in our government,” Komolamit said. She emphasized the unique role nonprofits play in bridging cultural gaps: “Our organization provides services in 30 Asian Pacific Islander languages. Government agencies cannot meet these needs—that’s why nonprofits exist.”
But nonprofits themselves face new hurdles. Federal funding through agencies like the Office of Violence Against Women and HUD now comes with restrictions tied to executive orders promoting traditional gender roles and limiting discussion of gender identity. “We need funding that allows us to actually serve survivors in the ways we know how,” Komolamit said. “By uplifting our work and raising awareness, media can help us push back against policies that threaten not just client safety, but sometimes our own.”
A personal account
Perhaps the most powerful testimony came from Juana Padilla, a client of the Survivor Justice Center. Padilla recounted a five-year struggle to escape her abusive husband, an ex-military officer who used his status to intimidate her. “It takes me a while to step out,” she said, describing how she fled the country with her children for six years before returning, only to have her abuser kidnap them.
With support from the Survivor Justice Center, Padilla was able to file a VAWA petition and eventually secure legal residency. That status ensured her daughter, born in Mexico and in need of critical medical care, could receive treatment in the United States. “Any woman, with any nationality, has rights,” Padilla said. “I was lucky to find this center that gave me the tools and advice. Thank you for supporting people like me.”
Call for reforms
Experts at the briefing called for urgent reforms:
- Establish a new asylum ground based on gender.
- Strengthen confidentiality protections for survivors and attorneys.
- Ensure federal funding supports culturally specific, multilingual services.
- Address rising costs for asylum seekers, including new $100 filing fees.
For survivors, resources remain available despite mounting challenges:
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
- Survivor Justice Center: www.survivorjusticecenter.org
- Center for the Pacific Asian Family: 1-800-339-3940
- Tahirih Justice Center: www.tahirih.org