‘More Afraid of ICE Than Their Abusers’: The Weaponization of Fear Against Immigrant Women

Immigrant survivors are more afraid than ever to seek help from the police or the courts.

The horrifying stories in the article, “Men Are Impersonating ICE to Attack Immigrant Women,” are not isolated incidents—they reflect a deeper, long-standing erosion of human rights and protections for immigrant communities.

Immigrant women of color are disproportionately targeted and bear the brunt of the violence. Years of fear-driven policies and dehumanizing rhetoric have normalized hostility toward immigrants, creating a climate where some feel empowered to commit acts of violence without fear of consequences.

At the Tahirih Justice Center, where we serve immigrant survivors of domestic and sexual violence, we’ve seen firsthand for years the impact of dehumanizing language and actions by politicians and the media, leading to cruel policies and paralyzing fear that traps survivors in abuse. There’s no question that in the last six months, things have gotten much worse.

Now is the moment for all of us as citizens and neighbors to loudly declare that what’s happening to immigrants is unacceptable—whether through protest, contacting our representatives or walking with our immigrant neighbor as she takes her child to school so she’s not alone.

Immigrant survivors are more afraid than ever to seek help from the police or the courts, according to a recently released national survey of service providers from the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors. Fifty percent of advocates reported that immigrant crime victims dropped civil or criminal cases against their abusers out of fear of deportation. Advocates shared that their clients are too scared to leave their homes, let alone go to the doctor, attend court hearings or talk to the police.

What’s the impact of these policy changes and proclamations? Fear of imprisonment, deportation and separation from their children that prevents people with a legal claim to protection in our country from being able to exercise their rights. Fear that keeps a woman quiet and afraid to call 911 because she’s more afraid of the possible immigration consequences than the abuse.

And these reports of violence committed by ICE impersonators and accounts of violence committed by real ICE and law enforcement officers—many of them now in plainclothes—show that immigrants have good reason to be afraid.

We know from our work with survivors that the antidote to fear is community support, even one voice that listens and says, “I believe you and I am here for you.”

Now is the moment for all of us as citizens and neighbors to loudly declare that what’s happening to immigrants is unacceptable—whether through protest, contacting our representatives or walking with our immigrant neighbor as she takes her child to school so she’s not alone. Bringing the individual criminals to justice isn’t enough, and it won’t stop more immigrant women from being attacked. We need to make the dehumanization, discrimination and hate that encourage these crimes unacceptable.