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Crisis Line: 651.772.1611
Barriers for Battered Immigrant Latinas
Immigrant women experiencing domestic violence are confronted by other issues that increase their sense of isolation and prevent them from obtaining help.
The Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) has a wonderful program dedicated to battered immigrant women. They offer information in many languages, including Spanish. We highly encourage you to see their web page for additional information and support: www.endabuse.org/programs.
The barriers that immigrant women face are both systemic and personal.
Systemic Barriers
Immigrant women do not have the same access to the domestic violence system as other women. Sometimes they are denied services. Sometimes they are accepted into a program but then ignored. If an immigrant woman is provided a service, it may conflict with her culture.
Casa de Esperanza believes that these barriers are unacceptable. . . and now is the time for change. One of our organizational goals is that "mainstream organizations/institutions and programs have an increased ability to serve Latinas experiencing domestic violence." Casa de Esperanza's Systems Change work is directed to accomplishing that objective.
Personal Barriers
The following information is adapted from FVPF materials.
Isolation: The abuser may not allow the victim to learn English. He may prevent her from seeing friends or family and may not allow her to speak to anyone from her country of origin.
Threats: The abuser may threaten to have the victim deported. He may withdraw the petition to legalize her immigration status.
Intimidation: The abuser may hide or give to others important property from her country of origin, such as mementos or legal papers. He also may destroy papers needed in this country, such as a passport, resident card, health insurance, or driver's license.
Manipulation Regarding Citizenship or Residency: The abuser may withdraw residency paperwork or not file it at all. Sometimes an abuser lies with untruthful threats that she will lose her citizenship or residency if she reports him.
Economic Abuse: The abuser might get her fired from her job or not allow her to receive training necessary to apply for a job. He might call her work and falsely report her as undocumented.
Emotional Abuse: He may write lies to her family and friends. He might call her racist names.
Using Children: The abuser might threaten to hurt her children or take them away if she calls the police or leaves.
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