Arizona's Immigration Law Could Criminalize Helping Victims

If you're an Arizona resident thinking of providing shelter or other services to victims of human trafficking or domestic violence after July 29, you may want to rethink your strategy. Because if one of those victims turns out to be an undocumented immigrant, you might get in trouble. That's because on top of its 30 gagillion other flaws, the new Arizona immigration law could be used to criminalize services to victims of violence if it kicks in.

Here's an example of what could happen under the new immigration law: Let's say Don is abusing his girlfriend Rita and forcing her to sell sex to support his drug habit. One night, neighbors call the police after seeing a string of men come in and out of the apartment, sometimes accompanied by loud shouting. When police arrive, they witness Don hitting Rita and yelling at her, "You'll have sex with that man if I tell you to!" In any other state, this would be an implausibly obvious scenario for the police: arrest Jose and get Rita into victim services.

But let's say something at the scene makes the police think Rita could be undocumented. And the Arizona law is so broad, this could be anything from an Enrique Iglesias CD to a French language documentary to a neon sign proclaiming her Lithuanian citizenship. But if police get a whiff of a lack of immigration paperwork, they are supposed to try and determine whether or not the person is undocumented. So if poor Rita actually is undocumented (perhaps because Don brought her to the U.S. claiming he'd help her get status), she's now going to be detained for a crime that was committed against her.

Now if these responding police officers are among the thousands who have been trained on how to treat victims of domestic violence and human trafficking (with taxpayer dollars) and follow their training, they'll arrest the perpetrator and take the victim someplace safe. But if the officers bring Rita to a shelter or a hospital or even her sister's house, they could be sued for not enforcing the law. And it's possible that even the shelters that receive Rita, the doctors who repair her injuries, the lawyers who get her protection from Jose, and the counselors who give her therapy could suffer repercussions. There are som exceptions for first responders and social services, but the law is so vague, so grey that it could be used to target anyone who would help domestic violence or human trafficking victims.

Don't let human trafficking and domestic violence victims be abused further by this law. Add your name to the list of thousands who are speaking out against racial profiling in Arizona.

Photo credit: art pets photography