At least 41 percent of surveyed Latinos believe that the main reason that Latino immigrant victims don’t seek help is because of deportation fears.
Culling interviews from 800 Latino men and women, the No Más report found that 56 percent of surveyed Latinos know a domestic violence victim, while one in four people know a victim of sexual assault. Among the younger Latino generation, the pattern of violence was about the same: half of all surveyed Latinos under the age of 30 reported that they know a victim of domestic violence, while one in four reported that they know someone who was a victim of sexual assault. The top reason that Latinos indicated that victims don’t come forward or seek help is because of the fear of deportation, closely followed by having their children taken away, and facing more violence.
Juan Carlos Areán, senior director of the National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities*, told ThinkProgress, “the fear of deportation comes from anecdotal evidence … though it’s not prevalent, when immigrants call the police, they might end up getting arrested themselves because of the suspicion that they’re undocumented. This.. builds enough fear for the community to be afraid.”
