EXCLUSIVE: Escondido woman turned over to immigration after domestic violence incident

This makes me ill. Melgar—the man who *beat* the woman turned over to ICE—was released. the *victim*, is now trapped in a world of violent bureaucracy and imprisonment. All for *reporting* him.

And it’s worth noting here that there were *several* fucked up moments in this arrest. first—both victim and abuser were arrested because “she hit him too.” There is no understanding of “power”—no recognition that a man beat a woman because she refused to clean. He was attempting to *control* her—and when she refused that control, he *beat* her. Which would make her hitting him back *self protection*—not abuse.

Also notice that 1. no charges were filed at all against her boyfriend, and 2. although it is not stated in this particular essay, notice the potential for continued abuse of the survivor here. Cabrera (the survivor) has an immigration petition pending as a victim of domestic violence from a previous situation. And here she is getting abused all over again. In this fucked up world where we can’t understand why any abuse victim would stay with an abusive partner—what happens to immigrant women when they go back to their partners and get abused again? All with immigration papers pending?

Do pissed off judges refuse to give them permission to stay? because the “abuse” can’t be that bad, or she’d leave? Do police arrest her even tho she’s clearly a victim? Because she’s “just trying to anchor herself here’? Do judges let her abuser go without charges (as this judge did), because she’s just trying to work the system to get citizenship?

(via midwestmountainmama)