FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Medhini Kumar
Associate Director, Communications
[email protected]
Washington, D.C. (September 8, 2026) – Ahead of the 21st Annual Domestic Violence Counts Day, Ayuda is proud to join over 2,000 domestic violence programs nationwide in this important data collection effort. Our frontline providers are witnessing a concerning trend: Even as domestic abuse persists at high levels, formal requests for help and civil court engagement are dropping, driven by heightened fear and systemic instability.
“Tomorrow is DV Counts Day, but today, we are facing a crisis of silence,” said Cheryl Chado, Ayuda’s Managing Attorney – Domestic Violence and Family Law. “Abusers are weaponizing deportation threats with devastating effectiveness, while survivors weigh the danger of domestic violence against the terror of encountering immigration enforcement on the metro or at the courthouse door. What this national census data may not show are those too afraid to reach out at all. Their absence from these numbers does not mean violence is not happening. Rather, it underscores the importance of ensuring that immigrant survivors can access safety and support without fear.
Trends Ayuda’s Frontline Providers Are Seeing
- Abusers weaponizing status: Nearly all of our clients report that their abusers threaten to alert ICE or local police, threatening to get them deported as a means of coerced compliance or revenge.
- Fear of engaging with law enforcement: Survivors consistently express reluctance to report physical or sexual violence to the police, citing pervasive fears that local authorities will collaborate with federal enforcement and are biased against immigrants.
- Disengagement with the court system: Immigrant survivors are abandoning or declining to file civil cases for protective orders, divorce, custody, and child support to avoid entering courthouses or appearing in public records and out of fear for their safety.
- Surge in contingency planning: Staff report a significant rise in families seeking Custodial Power of Attorney, Standby Guardianship forms, and passport applications in anticipation of sudden detention or family separation.
One Client’s Story: A Case Study
At the height of increased National Guard and immigration enforcement in D.C., Ayuda represented an immigrant survivor who was seeking a protective order against her abuser. Although she desperately needed the protection of the court, she was terrified to leave her home and worried about what she might encounter on the way to the courthouse. Her Ayuda attorney worked with her to safety plan for the trip, including arranging to meet her several blocks from the courthouse so they could enter together. With that support, the survivor ultimately decided that seeking protection was worth the risk and felt safe enough to come to court. These are the conversations our attorneys and advocates are routinely having with immigrant survivors: helping them weigh the risks of seeking help and safety plan around fears that extend far beyond their abusers.
Data from Ayuda’s DVSA Clinic: Service Patterns Shift Toward Trusted Networks
Ayuda’s Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault (DVSA) Clinic provides free, confidential legal information and referrals to immigrant survivors in the District of Columbia through walk-ins, calls, and texts, with many clients accessing our services for the first time.
Data from the past few years showcase how fear has altered where survivors have turned for help:
- Decline in walk-in clinic referrals: The share of new domestic violence and family law referrals coming through the walk-in DVSA Clinic dropped significantly this year, following holding steady for three years. The rates have lowered from 42% to 40% to 41%, and then to 29% for FY23, FY24, FY25, and FY26, respectively.
- Reliance on vetted networks: While public-facing walk-ins have slowed, referrals from trusted immigration attorneys, community partners, and returning Ayuda clients have risen.
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About Ayuda:
Ayuda provides direct legal, social, and language access services to low-income immigrants in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Since 1973, Ayuda has served more than 150,000 immigrants throughout the region. Ayuda is the only nonprofit service provider in the area that provides a wide range of immigration and family law assistance, social services, and language access support for all immigrants – including women, men, and children – from anywhere in the world. Visit www.ayuda.com to learn more.