The Picture of Texas

Immigrant survivors of family violence too often have the experience of fleeing a home country where violence is a key motivating factor for their migration into further acts of violence compounding their exposure to trauma. (Amnesty International, 2010; Infante, Idrovo, Sánchez-Domínguez, Vinhas, & González-Vázquez, 2012). Once in America, survivors can face what feels like a series of closed doors as they encounter gender-based violence and exploitation, economic insecurity, and legal vulnerabilities. (Frías & Angel, 2005;Levine & Peffer, 2012; Menjívar & Salcido, 2002; Raj & Silverman, 2002; Salcido & Adelman,2004; Warrier & Rose, 2009).

“Son trabajos así como que llevan a uno sólo para que uno trabaje y no te aseguran que van a estar, sino que esclavizan a uno, te meten presión en el trabajo y no te pagan. Busca gente así que necesitan trabajo, como sabe que uno esta ilegal aquí, sólo utilizarla, hacerle la semana o hacerle el día y ya, ya no le hablan a uno. Cuando uno le llama, cortan la llamada.

There are jobs where they take you by yourself and they don’t ensure that they’re going to be there, they enslave you, they know you’re illegally here, they put pressure on you at work and don’t pay you. They look for people like this who need work, they know you’re illegally here, only use us, do the week or do the day and that’s it, they don’t talk to you again. When you call them they don’t answer.”

For those who have experienced family violence, increased immigration enforcement and the attendant uncertainty within immigrant communities can present a barrier to seeking support from governmental and community-based services. In addition to enduring negative impacts of historical anti-immigrant policies, several recent practices and policies are important to consider in understanding the current political landscape faced by immigrant survivors of domestic violence. This landscape includes repeals, restrictions and delays on remedies to regularized status, the increasingly commonplace use of detention and family separation, and the fear of accessing basic needs and assistance one’s family is legally entitled to receive.

Despite the barriers to awareness of, and access to, family violence services and related resources, survivors described success in connecting to a host of services. Important access points to services included immigration attorneys, family members, CPS workers, faith-based organizations, and other women met during migration or in immigrant detention. For example, one survivor described the benefit of a school social worker’s effort to make referrals, “Realmente no tenía esa información. Yo no sabía muchas cosas. Por medio de la trabajadora social yo empecé a conocer las diferentes clases de ayuda que podía tener.” (“Truly, I did not have that information. I did not know many things. Through the social worker I started to learn about the different kinds of help I could have.”)

¹Tahirih Justice Center.(2017). 2017 Advocate and Legal Service Survey Regarding Immigrant Survivors. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/gbv-wp-uploads/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/27202842/Immigration-2017-Advocate-Legal-Service-Survey-Key-Findings.pdf.

Family violence programs should provide clear information about services, highlighting that immigration status has no bearing on eligibility or access, and ensure services are available in multiple languages via tools, such as the creation of a language access plan. Providing information that services are confidential and networking with community groups that support immigrant survivors will break down barriers to service access as well. Further, raising the leadership and expertise of those in the immigrant community, and corresponding grassroots organizations, such as labor rights groups, is key to building trust and creating connections to services for immigrant survivors.

Due to the critical need to support immigrant survivors in Texas, the State Plan offers an in-depth recommendations section in the Access to Service among Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence Report.