April 19th, 2011 at 9:05 pm » Comments (0)

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Connecting the dots between unreported violence and anti-Immigrant Laws

Nationally, cases of domestic violence have increased at alarming rates as a result of the prolonged economic crisis in the U.S.  It should be of no surprise that this has also been documented in the immigrant community.

What is truly worrisome is the potential affects on women’s willingness to report abuse as a result of the upcropping of anti-immigrant laws in Georgia and efforts for legislative action in Florida, North and South Carolina. For example, only about one-seventh of all domestic assaults in Florida are reported.

Florida’s proposed anti-immigrant bills are seen as a barrier to women reporting violence. The proposed bills would encourage local police departments to sign agreements with Homeland Security (i.e. 287g and Secure Communities), giving them the power to enforce immigration law.  Of concern:

The proposed anti-immigrant bills are unfunded, and therefore the time and resources required to implement these new measures would shift police departments’ focus away from programs addressing violent crime, including violence against women.

Anti-immigrant bills would discourage immigrant women, who have experienced domestic or sexual violence from reporting the crimes to the police because of fear of prosecution and deportation, due to their immigration status.  (A situation presently seen in Virginia, and around the country.)

In these difficult times we need to make the connection between resident health access and safety enforcement.  When community members feel they don’t have options for assistance, everyone loses.  Anti-immigrant laws, implemented at the state level, make the difficulty of serving all community members a challenge that hurts us all.

April 19th, 2011 at 9:01 pm » Comments (0)

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VIA TREND #7

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One in four Hispanic Immigrants surveyed by VIA in 2010 state that domestic violence is the leading concern for community women.

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- Source: VIA 2011

VOICES ✺ VOCES

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“Making sure women don’t have to suffer beatings in silence, whatever their immigration status, has to be a priority.”

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- Rep. Raul Grijalva, Arizona’s 7th district

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April 19th, 2011 at 9:00 pm » Comments (0)

April 15th, 2011 at 10:42 am » Comments (0)

Anti-Immigrant Laws: Impeding HIV Prevention/Testing

Yesterday, April 14 , Georgia lawmakers passed House Bill 87, a near copy to the Arizona Anti-immigrant law SB 1070.  This comes at a time when the new census reveals the increase of immigrant residents in the South and coincides with seven Southern States’ aggressive elaboration of anti-immigrant bills.

The newly passed Georgia law and the fierce discussions in other states, are a serious barrier to immigrant communities seeking medical, social and law enforcement assistance with this undercurrent of hate and fear.

Fear of being targeted by law enforcement, combined with the emerging State laws and federal agreements, impedes the accessing of HIV prevention and testing services, regardless of legal status.¹ This has been heighted by reported cases of immigration actions at health/social service facilities.²

The focus on racial profiling from these bills, with potential harassment of legal residents and citizens³, as well as the undocumented, creates a level of insecurity for people of color.⁴

The present political atmosphere has the potential to jeopardize not only the health of Hispanic immigrants, but in the long run, US communities as well.

Learn more now! Voices of Immigrants in Action (VIA), a Southern Initiative to address the correlating factors of HIV/AIDS and Hispanic Immigrant struggles, offers a series of fact sheets and a video to explore recommendations to reduce HIV transmission during this time of xenophobia.  www.via.rwhp.org

Take Action! Contact your state representatives and senators to speak up about the public health repercussions of anti-immigrant laws and help get our lawmakers back to focusing on maintaining prevention services, ADAP funding and public health access.

Footnotes: 1 Kretsedemas, 2008; 2 Walton, 2009; 3 Lopez & Minushkin, 2008; 4 Lopez & Livingston, 2008.

April 15th, 2011 at 10:28 am » Comments (0)

The 2010 Census counted 50.5 million Hispanics in the United States, comprising 16.3% of the total population. This is an increase of 43% over the last decade.  In 2000, Hispanics made up 12.5 % of the U.S. population.

The Hispanic population also accounted for most of the nation’s growth—56%—from 2000 to 2010. The states with the largest percent growth in their Hispanic populations include nine where the Latino population more than doubled, including several in the southeast United States—Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina.

South Carolina 148% increase*
Alabama 144.8% increase*
Tennessee 134% increase*
Kentucky 121% increase
North Carolina 111% increase*
Mississippi 105% increase

In Florida, there are 4,424,000 Hispanics, ranking it the third most populous Hispanic state.  Only California and Texas preceded it, being the first and second most populous of Hispanics, respectively.

California – 14 million*
Texas – 9.45 million*
Florida – 4.22 million*
New York – 3.4 million

* States where there is anti-immigrant legislation being considered.