I Reported My Husband for Abuse. He Threatened to Call ICE.

Across the U.S., heightened immigration enforcement has plunged domestic-violence victims who don’t have legal status into profound fear and isolation. “Calling the police could lead to their own deportation and separation from their children,” says Casey Swegman, the director of public policy at Tahirih Justice Center , a nonprofit serving immigrant victims of gender-based violence. Cooperation between some local police precincts and ICE is adding to Tahirih’s clients’ confusion. “Some immigrant survivors have the impression now that a police officer could decide that checking on her immigration status is more important than securing her safety,” Swegman says. “If you are in a life-threatening situation with an abuser and you don’t think that you can call the polic