This was originally posted at Citizen Orange, and the post will be updated accordingly there since I can’t edit the text on BMG :(.
UPDATE: CREDO Action just sent an action alert out to 15,000 people in Massachusetts regarding Rep. Fattman. 800 People have already signed.
For the first time I can remember, as long as I’ve been a resident of Massachusetts, local Republican leadership has been silent on the issue of unauthorized migration. It appears State Representative Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton), has finally crossed a line too far by suggesting that undocumented rape victims “should be afraid to come forward” in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Over 100 people have signed my petition asking that Mass. GOP Leadership clarify their position on undocumented rape victims, and almost 500 people have signed a petition started by local women’s rights group, New Hope, Inc., asking the Mass. State Assembly to censure Rep. Fattman. If you haven’t signed my petition, yet, please do so:
Massachusetts Republicans love to beat up on the pro-migrant community. The entire Republican infrastructure, along with local conservative newspapers like the Boston Herald, and talk radio like WRKO AM 680, beat up on us so much it’s hard to know which punches to defend. Folks who follow me know that I don’t say that as a partisan. In fact, I think it’s partly the pro-migrant community’s fault that we’ve allowed ourselves to be punching bags for Republicans, and the first ones to be sold out by a state that is run almost entirely by Democrats. We’re not as well organized as we should be, but you can help us start to build the power we need to take on this nativist infrastructure.
As the pro-migrant community tries to build power here in Massachusetts, we have the gift of a rare misstep by the miniscule Republican caucus, through Rep. Fattman’s remarks, to shine the light of truth on the horrific anti-migrant policies that local Republicans advocate for and local Democrats enable. I wouldn’t be pushing this if Rep. Fattman had apologized. However, it’s clear from his “clarifying” statement (which doesn’t do much clarifying),and the silence of Republican leaders, that they are refusing to take responsibility for his statements. Rep. Fattman’s statements discourage undocumented rape victims from coming forward, and encourage rapists to focus on undocumented women.
As I stated in my first post about this, this isn’t an attempt to play political games, nor is this a hypothetical situation. Unauthorized migrants are frequently preyed on by people who know they’re too afraid to go to the police. Furthermore, this situation gets to the heart of the debate that advocates are having over what I think is currently the greatest threat that migrant communities face across the nation, the [In]Secure Communities program (S-Comm).
The Obama adminstration is trying to turn every local police officer into a border patrol agent by 2013, and local communities around the country are standing up to say that with the broken immigration system we have, this makes us less safe, not more safe. If you turn every local police officer into a border patrol agent through S-Comm, that means that 11 million unauthorized migrants in this country are going to be too afraid to go to a policeman. Including in those 11 million, most of whom commit crimes at a much lesser rate than the native population, is certainly undocumented rape victims.
Normally Massachusetts Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), and House Minority Leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) are only too happy to beat up on unauthorized migrants in public, but ever since Rep. Fattman made his comments and clarified with his non-apology, they’ve been silent. U.S. Senator Scott Brown, who endorsed Rep. Fattman, and targeted Harvard University for advocating on behalf of undocumented youth, has also been silent.
Help me to hold these Republican leaders accountable, and to turn the narrative on Secure Communities here in Massachusetts and I hope around the nation. Sign my petition asking Republican leaders to clarify their position on undocumented rape victims.
When I first read all this stuff on BMG about undocumented rape victims and the Secure Communities program it was my understanding that an undocumented victim upon going to the police would be identified an an illegal alien and deported. That was the reason she was afraid to go to the police. But the information you link to indicates that this is not the case:
What’s the deal then with this hypothetical undocumented immigrant rape victim who is afraid to go to the police? Is her fear ungrounded?
One of the most high profile cases of an unauthorized migrant almost getting deported through Secure Communities is that of Maria Bolaños who was fingerprinted after calling the police after an issue with domestic violence:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/11/01/GA2010110103633.html
The issue here is with forcing local police to enforce federal immigration laws, which Secure Communities does. Whenever local police enforce federal immigration laws, it makes undocumented folks less likely to interact with the police, and in worse case scenarios like above, folks are deported.
Maybe they are thinking of women being afraid to report domestic abuse by their abusive partner who they know is undocumented? They need the police to come and put him in the tank for the night, but they want the police to release him the next day and not have him deported? That’s a stereotype of the loyal and dependent couple, of course, but it might be the case in lots of cases nevertheless that a person would put up with more abuse than they would if there wasn’t a fear of the abuser being deported. A friend or employer also might decide not to report someone that they didn’t think deserved to be deported for their crime.
Or, the fear is that immigrants might not have the best information of trust, and if they think – incorrectly – there is even a chance that they’d be deported if they go to the police about anything. It isn’t just rape, obviously, they’d be afraid to go to the police if their apartment was broken into or they were mugged. So we need to make sure that people know that they can go to the police if they are victims of crime, even if they are also criminals themselves, without being arrested or deported, so that people aren’t afraid to report crimes. That doesn’t just apply to illegal immigrants, but all people who are afraid of being arrested and sent away.
There are any number of situations where undocumented folks don’t want to interact with local police if they’re in the business of enforcing federal immigration law, which is what [In]Secure Communities forces on local communities.
Secure Communities doesn’t mean people can’t “interact with local police” does it? I thought it was only if someone is arrested, then their fingerprints are sent to be checked against federal records (not sure how that works) to see if they are overstaying a visa or are wanted in some other state for something.
If you are worried about people merely thinking they cannot interact or report crimes, then you’re causing the problem with posts like this that make it seem like it nabs people who report crimes.
You should be able to edit your own posts now. When you’re on post’s page, you should see “edit post” next to your name and the date. If that doesn’t work, let me know.
That was a quick fix!
…since that also means they are not exactly jumping to his defense either. I’m always leery (and hate when it happens to us) of fellow party members being called upon to make “regularly scheduled condemnations”.