Advocates for immigrant domestic violence survivors say they are avoiding evacuation from police, courts and even fear.
La Dodgers says he refused to enter ICE agent
La Dodgers said in a statement that the agent requested permission to access the parking lot but was denied entry.
When immigrant survivors contacted Libby Husse after a domestic violence survivor was in crisis, the lawyer had clear advice: Call the police.
But when a client called earlier this year and said that her abusive ex-husband was stalking her and sending her threatening text messages, Hasse had to think twice. Her clients were worried that calling the police meant involves immigrants and customs enforcement officers who could detain her and deport her.
“She is in this situation where she is trying to weigh the risks and benefits,” said Hasse, who works at the Tahiri Judicial Centre, a national nonprofit that serves domestic violence survivors. “If she calls the police today, can they do anything against this guy who is actually stalking her?
Hasse and her clients are not the only ones who are reluctant to call police, show up in court or go to domestic violence shelters as President Donald Trump’s controls will strengthen deportation efforts. The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors, a nationwide network of advocates of people hurt by domestic violence, said 75% of the 170 supporters they surveyed nationwide said they feared they would face arrest or deportation if they contacted authorities.
Half of the supporters surveyed in the report said the immigrant survivors they worked with ultimately chose not to contact law enforcement due to fear, and even if they proceed to court, 70% are concerned. Additionally, defenders say few women go to domestic violence shelters after the Trump administration removed them from the list of places sheltered from ice enforcement.
According to an alliance report, Ice detained a trafficking survivor with no criminal history after speaking to police. It also highlighted a broken nose survivor who waited two days to go to the hospital and only filed a police report after an immigration lawyer assured her that she was safe.
According to Casey Swegman, the Center’s Director of Public Policy, during the first five months of 2025 and the first five months of 2025, the number of people seeking support and information tripled nationwide.
“They are very afraid to call or go elsewhere,” she said.
USA Today contacted ICE last week for comment, but the agency spokesman did not respond.
Some abusers use fear of increased ice stops to prevent immigrant survivors from leaving, Swegman said. Recently, the Center’s Atlanta office received a call from a woman who said her abuser was threatening to report her to the ice.
“Her abuser was saying, “Watch the TV, see what they’re saying, no one cares about you. I can’t hurt you, no one cares.”
“We now have the entire population of survivors who truly live in the shadows.
Court Ice: “Are you going to be detained today?”
Earlier this month, a survivor of domestic violence with six children, one of Hasse’s clients, a US citizen, was in immigration court for a pending U-visa protecting the protection of violence from deportation during the incident. The client saw an ice agent by the elevator when she left the Houston courthouse, Hasse said, and later that day she heard that ice had detained people in the courthouse.
“Every time she returns to court for her case, that is what she thinks.
In 2017, just a month after Trump took office in his first term, an undocumented woman seeking protection orders for abusers was arrested by six ice agents outside a courthouse in El Paso, Texas. The woman was eventually deported. El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez said the female abuser reported her to the ice and told them she was in court.
Since then, Sanchez has seen a decline in cases of protection order.
When domestic violence survivors failed to move forward and worked with law enforcement and courts, Sanchez said it was difficult to prosecute abusers who could hurt other women.
“I think we can all agree when you report a crime and when you are the victim of a crime you should report,” Sanchez said. “If there are individuals reporting crimes to law enforcement and working with law enforcement, it makes our community safer.”
All over the country, as ICE increases its presence in court, authorities are working on ways to protect victims and witnesses from federal agents during their cases. Investigators for the district attorney, Houston-based district attorney in Harris County, Texas, will give witnesses and victims a card containing the case number and the investigator’s phone number. Once the ice agents pick them up, they present the cards so that the agent can confirm that it is important for the ongoing case.
Harris County began handing out cards in March following the arrest of Carmelogonzales, a witness to the murder trial of his own daughter, in early February. He was on a plane to be deported when one of the prosecutors learned of his arrest and contacted the ice to let him go.
“We are trying to fight violent crimes. It will require ice, taking into account that the people they are deported are not only victims of crimes committed frequently by American citizens, but also witnesses to extremely violent felony.” “This card is part of that mission to ensure we can do our job.”
Immigration rights and attorney general Zain Rakkani said it would take 10 to 20 years for immigrant survivors to be protected, a long U-visa backlog would take place. Survivors can protect against ice while obtaining a U visa, but Rakani said, “It’s a very difficult process in terms of what you have to demonstrate and what you have to prove to get a U visa.” The long waits and times on U-Visa can prevent survivors from gaining resources to help them safely separate their abuse situations and begin restructuring their lives.
“It doesn’t really allow survivors who are waiting for visas like they are in the pipeline to have access to the benefits they need to rebuild their lives and protect themselves to protect themselves,” Rakani said.
Can ICE agents enter domestic violence shelters?
At the same time, the calm effects of the presence of ice and increased arrests in immigrant communities have similarly reached domestic violence shelters.
The director of a domestic violence shelter that primarily supports Hispanic women in El Paso, Texas, said he saw a 25% drop in people seeking help since the Trump administration repeated the Biden administration’s policies that banned ice agents from entering shelters. The director demanded that ice retaliation not be named for fear of it.
She is worried that the survivors remain in a violent situation because they fear ice. She also said 75% of the people her shelter offers are children.
“They want to leave the violent situation, but they can’t because they’re afraid of losing their children,” she said. “Families are separated or deported. Many of them grew up here. They have never been to another country and they don’t know what they will do if they are deported.”
She said her shelter had increased security and trained trained staff to identify valid warrants.
Since Trump took office, some domestic violence shelters have also lost funds. Matt Mirarchi, operations director for Enlace Communitario, a domestic violence survivor support organization for New Mexico’s Latino and immigrant communities, said he lost nearly $600,000 in federal funds that helped the shelter accommodate up to 30 clients in up to two years.
Mirarchi said he also saw a decrease in attendance in the group’s prevention classes.
“The fear there is very obvious,” he said. However, Enlace Communitario has not been pulled back.
“We will continue to be local resources for immigrant domestic violence survivors, provide the tools and resources needed to disclose domestic violence to get the support they need, and do so in a safe, effective and confidential way for them and their families,” Miralchi said.
Fabiola Landeros, immigration sovereignty organizer at El Centro Deigualdad Y Derecos in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said it is important to separate law enforcement from the ice and ensure that the two agencies are not working together to advance survivors. She said collaboration does not exist in Albuquerque because it adopts immigration-friendly policies.
“If you separate these two systems, people will find it safer to make those calls to their first responders,” Landeros said. “They don’t need to get entangled. People deserve the right to have a fair process in this judicial system, apart from immigration.”
