Casey Carter Swegman, director of public policy at Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit serving immigrants fleeing gender-based violence, said immigrants and transgender people are “highly targeted and vulnerable” individually, which combined together increases their fear exponentially.
Since the election, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence or trafficking have told the nonprofit they are being threatened by their abusers with deportation for their lack of legal immigration status, which has a “real chilling effect” on their willingness to report a crime, Carter Swegman said.
“The more we see attacks on these programs and these legal pathways to safety that exist under the law, the more transgender survivors in particular are going to be less and less likely to come forward for help,” she said.
