Las sobrevivientes de agresión sexual merecen atención, seguridad y apoyo, sin miedo

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Sexual assault survivors deserve safety, healing and justice. In the last year, we have witnessed immigration enforcement agencies increasingly invoke sexual violence as justification for expanded operations that terrorize entire communities. This misuse of survivors’ trauma and experience does not protect anyone. Instead, it pushes vulnerable people deeper into the shadows, making them less likely to report violence or seek the help they desperately need.

When survivors fear that reaching out for support could lead to deportation or separation from their families, our work to assist them becomes harder. Perpetrators are emboldened. Survivors and communities become less safe.

Survivors face many barriers to speaking out, and for survivors who are immigrants, the barriers are compounded by lack of language access, fear of authorities and systems, economic instability, and isolation from their support networks. Adding the threat of detention and deportation creates an impossible choice between safety and survival. No one who is healing from the impact of sexual abuse should be forced to make that calculation.

We want to assure survivors regardless of immigration status: you are not alone. Our doors remain open. KCSARC is and will always be a safe place for all survivors, regardless of immigration status. We do not ask about immigration status, nor do we share information with immigration authorities. We are here to provide confidential advocacy, counseling and resources without judgment or fear.

We stand in solidarity with immigrant communities and call for immediate accountability and an end to violent enforcement practices that harm the people we serve. Tomorrow, we are open to survivors as always, but support those participating in the national day of action.

Let us stop using sexual assault as a pretext to harm immigrants.