Violence against immigrants in a context of crisis: A critical migration feminist of color analysis

Abstract

The anti-immigration measures and xenophobic sentiments that have spread since the eruption of the financial crisis in 2008 have been significantly detrimental for immigrant survivors of intimate partner violence in the U.S. given that employment opportunities have declined, exploitative work conditions have worsened, immigration controls have increased, and nonprofit service provision have been under stress. Based on interviews with service providers across the nation, participant observation of networks of advocates of immigrant survivors, and an analysis of debates around the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, I present how these dire circumstances have been disadvantageous for immigrants and the movement to end violence against women. In theoretical terms, my research contributes to the body of literature of critical migration studies by linking such perspective with a feminist of color analysis of gender violence and pointing to the persistent strength of interrelated systems and practices of oppression and marginalization of Latin American immigrants and Latino/as in the U.S.

Notes

1 In order to set the interviews, I communicated (via email or phone) with a national network of advocates of immigrant survivors of IPV to ask for their voluntary collaboration in the project. Also, I asked them to share my call for interviews with colleagues in order to get further interviewees – that is, I used a snowball sampling strategy. The interviews were semi-structured and took place first, in June–August 2010, and then, for updates in June–August 2011 and a year later, in July–August 2012. All interviewees, about whom I referred to by pseudonyms here, provided me with their informed consent. The Institutional Review Board of my institution approved this research project.

2 The networks in which I did participant observation included ALAS (Alianza Latina en contra la Agresion Sexual), ASISTA, Casa Esperanza, National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence against Women, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and Legal Momentum.

3 Previous to the so-called battered women's movement, other movements (such as the temperance movement, the women's campaign for divorce, the civil-rights, feminist, and anti-rape movements) influenced the understanding of and policies on what later on became to be conceptualized as family violence (Gordon, 2002).

4 For information on the requirements and procedures to follow to apply for relief through VAWA see http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Humanitarian/T-U-VAWA-relief.pdf and http://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/battered-spouse-children-parents.

5 Even if these measures do not openly target Latin American but immigrants of all origins, statistically the group of immigrants most hit is that coming from Latin America, and consequently, the Latino/a population in the U.S.

6 While interviewing actual immigrant survivors would have been ideal, I found the option of interviewing advocates serving this population to be a good approximation in order to get a widespread and instant check on the status quo. I hope this work inspires other researchers to develop studies that include immigrants' experiences directly in their own voices.

7 You may access S.1925 Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012 (112th Congress) at the Library of Congress website, https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/senate-bill/1925.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roberta Villalon

Roberta Villalón is an Associate Professor of Sociology at St. John's University, New York City. You may visit her webpage at https://sites.google.com/site/robertavillalonphd/home