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New Arizona Law Will Hinder Protection of Domestic Violence Victims

Posted June 27, 2010 by Patrick Young, Esq.
Categories: Hate Watch

The Arizona Republic reports that Arizona’s new SB 1070 anti-immigrant law will seriously retard efforts to protect immigrant women from domestic violence. Here are some excerpts from today’s report:

“The enactment of SB 1070 is absolutely going to prevent immigrant women from seeking domestic violence services,” said Kendra Leiby, systems advocacy coordinator for the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “And not only are women going to be hesitant to leave abusive relationships, but they are afraid to make a call to report someone else’s abuse.”

The Arizona coalition, which represents 35 domestic abuse shelters and other organizations, is among more than 80 groups from across the country to file legal documents in support of an ACLU lawsuit against SB 1070.

The brief was filed by the Los Angeles-based law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips. It claims, among other things, that SB 1070 “will cause immigrants to refrain from seeking federally established protections” and also “undermines the ability of domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, and other victim-services providers to bring crime victims to court, to meetings with prosecutors, and to the hospital for treatments of critical injuries.”

The latter claim is based on the section of SB 1070 that makes it illegal to knowingly harbor illegal immigrants.

According to the legal brief in support of the ACLU lawsuit, “Under SB 1070 an immigrant crime victim will have no incentive to, and in fact will be afraid to, reach out to law enforcement for federally guaranteed crime victim social services in Arizona, for fear of detention, separation from her children, and removal.”

Tags : arizona, arizona boycott, domestic violence, sb 1070

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