Domestic violence hotline: Immigration-linked calls increase

NEW YORK -- The nation's most prominent domestic-violence hotline reports a sharp increase in calls from abuse victims struggling with issues related to their immigration status.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline, established by Congress in 1996 and partly reliant on federal funding, said in its newly released annual report it responded to 323,660 phone calls, texts and online contacts in 2016.

Of these calls, 7,053 evoked immigration-related issues -- up nearly 30 percent from 2015.

Katie Ray-Jones, the hotline's CEO, said many of the callers were not U.S. citizens and were warned by their abusers they and their families would be deported if the abuse was reported to the police.

In some cases, she said, the abusers had threatened to call federal immigration authorities.

Ray-Jones said the surge in immigration-related calls became noticeable in mid-2016 at a time when Donald Trump was clinching the Republican presidential nomination and the GOP platform was echoing his calls for tough enforcement of immigration laws.

One worrisome development, Ray-Jones said, is relatives, friends and neighbors of immigrant-abuse victims who might have reported abuse in the past are wary of doing so for fear they might be targeted for deportation.

In the current environment, hotline staffers find it challenging to respond to some of the calls, Ray-Jones said.

"We're not in a place where we can say, 'Oh, don't worry. That's not going to happen,'" she said.

She said hotline staffers still encourage victims to seek refuge at domestic-violence shelters, though some victims fear such facilities might be targeted by immigration authorities.

"We've yet to hear of a story of a shelter being raided," Ray-Jones said.

Release of the new hotline data comes amid widening debate over how federal immigration policies are affecting domestic violence.

Many activists engaged in immigration and domestic-violence issues were outraged when a transgender woman was arrested on an immigration charge in February by federal agents in an El Paso, Texas, courthouse as she obtained a protective order against an abusive boyfriend.

Since then, officials in several cities, including Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck, have expressed concern some domestic-violence victims might not report the abuse or come to court out of fear of arrest and deportation.

Kim Gandy, president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said it made sense immigration-related calls to the hotline, which allows callers to remain anonymous, would increase during this period.

"It's no surprise that's someone who's being abused, but fears deportation if she calls the police, would reach out to the national hotline to try to find out if she has any other options," Gandy said.

Gandy said some abusers were warning their victims would be deported, while their children, if U.S. citizens, would remain in the U.S. and might themselves be at risk of abuse.

"It's about the worst threat you can make to someone," Gandy said.