Battered Immigrants in Arizona Find Few Havens

[ccharles000]

De Colores hides quietly in a tree-populated street of Phoenix. The shelter looks like any other house in the Latino neighborhood. Inside, a small kitchen leads onto a patio were children run. Some families have as many as three bedrooms. It's a welcoming place for women who often arrive, like Milagros, with just a suitcase.

"I feel at peace here, I don't want to leave," said Milagros, an assumed name she asked to use to protect her family. She spoke from one of her favorite spots on the patio, where colored cubes provide a seating area. "I value the help I got here, from these people that don't even know me. I got from them the help I couldn't get from my family. Here I grew and I was born again."

Milagros is one of the fortunate ones. The shelter cannot meet current demand. Bilingual and bicultural counselors are difficult to find, and it's even harder when state funding for domestic violence services has been slashed. Moreover, shelter operations are not eligible for special federal funding.

An undocumented migrant, Milagros recalls the decision she made three years ago that led her here. Her husband was dragging her up a set of stairs and the back of her head hit the steps.

Similar things had happened over a decade of marital abuse. The 41-year-old hadn't reported him to law enforcement because she feared that if she went to the authorities her husband, also an undocumented immigrant, would retaliate.

http://www.womensenews.org/story/immigration/091103/battered-immigrants-in-arizona-find-few-havens

[ccharles000]

1. kick

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. The nation of which she's a citizen should do a better job looking out for her.

Criminals such as her husband would be deported to face justice in their own country if the victims would report them.

[UndertheOcean]

4. "The nation of which she's a citizen should do a better job looking out for her." It doesn't n/t

[wildflower]

3. Thank you for this, ccharles

K&R

[UndertheOcean]

5. kick