Fear and Silence: 2025 Insights from Advocates for Immigrant Survivors
The current environment creates additional barriers to getting help,
and emboldens abusers to continue to act without repercussions
June 18, 2025 – Today, the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS) released the results of a nationwide survey of advocates and attorneys assessing how changes to federal immigration policies are impacting the help seeking behaviors of immigrant survivors, including their willingness to engage with law enforcement when they are a victim of a crime. What we heard was clear and alarming: immigrant survivors are more afraid than ever to seek help from the police or the courts.
AIS is a national network working to defend and enhance protections and safety for immigrant survivors of gender based violence and is co-led by four organizations: the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV), ASISTA, Esperanza United, and the Tahirih Justice Center. We work to ensure that survivors can live free from abuse — and free from fear of deportation for coming forward and seeking help. But right now, survivors are being trapped in silence.
One of the stark findings reveals that 76 percent of advocates reported that immigrant survivors have concerns about contacting the police to report domestic violence and sexual assault. “Most of the immigrant survivors that I currently work with are fearful to leave their homes, drive, or be in public spaces as these are all ways that they could be picked up by ICE,” said one advocate in the survey.
New policies and guidance implemented by this presidential administration and adopted by Congress are making it harder for survivors to get the help they need. These include involving local law enforcement in federal immigration actions, arresting and detaining victims of crime who come forward, and carrying out enforcement actions at courthouses and other previously protected areas. These actions go against the purpose of laws Congress has passed over the past 30 years meant to protect immigrant survivors – laws that were passed with bipartisan support.
“This survey shows us the grave chilling effect that recent immigration policy changes are having on immigrant survivors of violence,” said Cristina Velez, the Legal & Policy Director at ASISTA. “This is the message they are receiving: either stay with your abuser or risk deportation.”
The survey revealed that 50 percent of advocates have worked with immigrant survivors who decided to drop civil or criminal cases because they were fearful to continue with their cases. “One survivor we worked with,” said an advocate, “did not call the police when her abuser stalked and assaulted her because she was afraid that the police would find out her immigration status and deport her. She specifically feared that her abuser would disclose her immigration status to the police as retaliation if she called them for help.”
70.3 percent of advocates report that immigrant survivors have concerns about going to court for a matter related to their abuser. “There has been a decrease in restraining order requests with survivors telling advocates they do not want to go to court,” wrote an advocate in the survey. The survey findings also showed that 79.7 percent of respondents observed an increase in the number of immigration-related questions that their agencies were receiving from immigrant survivors since November 2024.
“These survey findings echo what the attorneys and social workers at the Tahirih Justice Center are seeing everyday” said Casey Carter Swegman, Director of Public Policy at the Tahirih Justice Center. “From language barriers to stigma, immigrant survivors of domestic and sexual violence already face so many challenges reporting crimes, escaping and overcoming abuse. The current environment of ever increasing and seemingly indiscriminate immigration enforcement ratchets up fear and creates even more barriers to getting help, and emboldens abusers to threaten and harm without repercussions.”
Congress created important protections for immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) which expressly recognize that perpetrators often exploit a victim’s lack of immigration status as a tactic of abuse, power, and control.
In contrast, the reconciliation bill that recently passed the House and is now being considered by the Senate provides yet another example of an all-out attack on the very lifelines that give immigrant survivors the opportunity to rebuild. It slashes access to food and health care for those fleeing violence and exploitation, and it pours billions into detention and deportation, tearing families apart and trapping survivors in cycles of fear and abuse.
“When survivors are forced to remain silent out of fear, they continue to live in danger, abusers evade accountability, and entire communities are less safe. To end family and interpersonal violence, we must afford protections for all survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking so they can seek help and access justice without fear of retaliation,” said Vivian Huelgo J.D., President and CEO of Esperanza United.
“Immigrants are vital members of our communities, deserving of access to safety, services, and support. Ensuring they have access to essential resources not only upholds public safety, but also strengthens the resilience and well-being of us all,” said Monica Khant, CEO of Asian Pacific Institute of Gender-Based Violence.
Learn more about the results of our survey, Fear and Silence: 2025 Insights from Advocates for Immigrant Survivors. This survey was not supported by Federal Funding.
The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors is a national network of advocates and allies working to protect paths to safety and justice for all survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and other gender-based abuses. For more information contact, info@immigrantsurvivors.org.