After this story was told, I asked another woman why her husband was still here and she said that he was laid off a couple months before the raid and was therefore not arrested. She then proceeded to tell me that her husband beats her. She told me that a couple years ago the police came after an incident of battering and social workers were brought in to document her case and whatnot. She said that she asked about 7 lawyers for help with her case and all of them told her that they could not help her because if the case were to be brought to court, she would just be deported because of her undocumented status. One lawyer finally thought he could help her, but I think she must have decided not to press the charges because she told me that her husband did not know about any of it. (Later she told me that this lawyer is helping her apply for permission to stay here and work, and she doesn't think she can do anything about her husband until that is figured out. She also said that she does not want to do anything because he is the father of her children and the youngest children do not know that any of this is happening, so they would not understand.) She said that she is still having problems will her husband treating her badly. She used the word "golpear", which means to hit or punch someone. She also said that he treats her like a servant. One thing that she said really struck me. Roughly translated, she said, "Everybody pays attention to the people who's families are separated and the women who are missing their husbands, but they forget about the women who do not want to be with their husbands." I was really caught off guard by this, but it is very true. There is so much going on and so many needs in Postville, that there are simply not enough people to address anything other than the direct repercussions of the raid.
This woman's story says a lot about the intersectionality of oppression that immigrant women often face, and her story is far from unique. She told me that she knows many other women who have also been abused. (Later she told me that it is part of the culture and therefore she cannot do anything about it. However, after some conversation she seemed to accept that if she does at some point want to address the situation there are resources available for her.) Because of the way privilege and power are set up in our society, these women are oppressed because of their nationality and their sex. Because of their citizenship status, they are criminalized and treated as less than human. In addition, within their own ethnic group they are oppressed because of their sex. Domestic Violence, contrary to popular opinion, is not committed because the batterer has anger issues or problems with alcoholism or anything else. It is simply done out of the desire to control another person. This is obvious, when one considers that battering is always done in private by someone who seems like a normal decent person from the outside. If battering were caused by uncontrollable anger, it would happen in public, not just in private. It is also not done because the woman provokes it or "is asking for it", which I think is an unspoken but prevalent assumption. Another thing that is very hard to understand is why women stay in these relationships. Women often stay out of concern for their children or because they are financially dependent on their abuser. However, even the most independent of women who do not have deportation hanging over their head are still kept in relationships because they have been manipulated and conditioned to do so by their partner and have been repeatedly told that they are worthless until they believe it. It was very hard to hear this woman's story. But it clearly illustrates the layers of oppression that immigrant women in the U.S. must confront every day.
