Whose Safety? Women of Color and the Violence of Law Enforcement By Anannya Bhattacharjee

A JUSTICE VISIONS WORKING PAPER

American Friends Service Committee Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment 2001 Whose Safety? Women of Color and the Violence of Law Enforcement By Anannya Bhattacharjee

A JUSTICE VISIONS WORKING PAPER

American Friends Service Committee Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment

© 2001 Anannya Bhattacharjee. Permission is granted to reproduce this material for noncommercial educational use, provided that any such use credits the author, Anannya Bhattacharjee, and the sponsor- ing organizations, AFSC and CWPE.

Editor: Rachael Kamel

CWPE-AFSC Editorial Committee: Rajani Bhatia, Patricia Clark, Betsy Hartmann, Rachael Kamel, Kathryn Kurtz, Janna Shadduck-Hernandez, Jael Silliman, Andrea Smith, Jennifer Yanco

Downloadable (PDF) versions of this working paper are available through the publishers’ websites (www.afsc.org and www.cwpe.org). Printed copies are available at cost from AFSC’s Community Relations Unit.

Community Relations Unit American Friends Service Committee 1501 Cherry Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 tel. 215/241-7126 e-mail [email protected] Contents

Executive Summary ...... 4 Preface ...... 10 Author’s Foreword ...... 11

Part I: Overview Introduction ...... 13 The Evolution of Law Enforcement ...... 15 Organizing Against Violence...... 21

Part II: Enforcement Violence and Women Denial of Reproductive and Sexual Autonomy...... 30 Violence in the Home and Family...... 38 Violence Against Women in the Workplace...... 47

Part III: Looking Forward Gender and Enforcement Violence...... 51 Caregiving and Criminalization...... 52 Bridging the Immigration–Criminal Justice Divide...... 52 New Alliances, New Strategies...... 53 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Whose Safety? Women of Color and the Violence of Law Enforcement By Anannya Bhattacharjee

omen of color, both immigrant and agencies. In all of these movements, women have U.S.-born, have been increasingly affected been well represented, both as advocates and as by the dramatic expansion of law enforce- members of affected communities. Nonetheless, a W 1 ment in the United States over the past thirty years gender perspective has been weak and sometimes — an expansion that has resulted in widespread entirely absent in the way the issue of enforcement and persistent violations of civil, constitutional, violence has been framed and discussed. and human rights. Both in absolute numbers and At the same time, organizations focusing as a percentage, women are increasing substantially on violence against women have often failed to among populations of prisoners, arrestees, border appreciate the impact of enforcement violence. crossers, undocumented workers, and detainees. Today, growing numbers of women of color and Between 1985 and 1996, for example, the allies are challenging the women’s anti-violence population of women in U.S. prisons increased movement to expand its understanding of the threefold, with the increase mostly consisting of nature of violence against women and to adopt women of color, particularly African American strategies that take into account not only violence women. The experiences of women affected by by individuals but also violence perpetrated by immigration detention or the Border Patrol reveal the state — whether through law enforcement; many similarities. Across the board, women are political, cultural, and economic domination; or mainly incarcerated for nonviolent offenses, and military intervention.2 the circumstances in which their behavior is judged to be “criminal” are heavily shaped by racialized stereotypes and societal definitions of women’s roles. 1 The term “law enforcement” is used to cover the full range Enforcement violence, of course, affects not of agencies discussed in this working paper, including local and state police agencies; prison systems at the local, state, only women but communities as a whole — again, and federal levels; the U.S. Border Patrol and interior with the impact heavily concentrated in communi- enforcement operations of the Immigration and Naturaliza- ties of color, both immigrant and U.S.-born. In tion Service (INS); and the rapidly expanding INS detention response, a broad variety of community-based system. organizations and advocacy groups have emerged 2 The Color of Violence conference, which brought together to challenge abuses and to press for greater ac- thousands of women of color and allies in April 2000, was a countability on the part of law-enforcement landmark event in the development of this perspective.

4 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Enforcement Violence and Gender hensive gender analysis of enforcement violence requires an exploration that crosses all of these This working paper explores enforcement divisions. violence against women as a gendered experience. This working paper draws on the experiences A gender perspective on enforcement violence is and perspectives of activists and organizations from important not only for reasons of inclusiveness, across the United States who are responding to but also because it is indispensable to the develop- enforcement violence and violence against women. ment of cohesive, effective, and strategic social It describes the disparate and sometimes conflict- movements. A gender perspective can help us to ing strategies that progressive social movements in appreciate how enforcement violence affects our the United States have adopted in organizing communities overall, by exposing its impact on against diverse forms of violence and abuse. While such areas as reproduction and sexuality, home life, there are some important exceptions and no lack of caregiving, and paid work — all social arenas in mutual sympathy, in general these movements which women play a central role. have yet to develop a common understanding, Although women face particular gender- common strategies, and common initiatives.3 related issues in their encounters with law enforce- Although our purpose is to offer a critique, ment, the system is by no means fair for men. Our we do so as participants in and supporters of the purpose is not to show that women suffer more social movements we are critiquing. The full range than men (although significant numbers may) or of issues raised by these movements is vital to the that more women suffer than men; the point is well-being of our communities — and their rather to counter the invisibility of women’s weaknesses weaken us all. In the conclusions, we experience. Common wisdom holds that women suggest possible directions for dialogue and col- have less contact with law enforcement than men; laboration to advance a broadly integrated agenda however, this is a limited and ultimately distorted for anti-violence work. Given the broad scope but view. modest resources of this initiative, this working The examples discussed in this working paper paper should be understood as a contribution to are considered under the broad categories of what must inevitably be an ongoing process. “policing” (including incidents involving police agencies, the Border Patrol, and INS interior enforcement operations) and “jailing” (including Denial of Reproductive Autonomy jails, prisons, and INS detention facilities). We do Enforcement violence frequently entails not follow the usual custom of considering “immi- violations of women’s reproductive rights — at the gration” and “criminal justice” as separate issues. border, on the street, in the workplace, and in For more than a decade, both activists and re- prisons and jails. Integrating such experiences into searchers have noted the increasing integration of more familiar notions of reproductive rights these seemingly distinct law-enforcement systems. affords a fuller understanding of the ways in which Reviewing them together, as we do here, reveals the state limits women’s reproductive freedom, that their impact on women and their communi- particularly in communities of color. ties is closely related. By contrast, enforcement accountability movements are mainly fragmented among distinct racial or ethnic constituencies, between immigrant and U.S.-born populations, and along agency lines 3 Among all of the movements discussed in this working (police, INS, prisons, and so on). Such fragmenta- paper, the prison movement is probably the most developed tion compounds the problem created by the overall in responding to the particular needs of women prisoners. The full-length report offers a more detailed discussion of lack of communication and collaboration between particular movements, organizations, and initiatives, citing enforcement accountability movements and examples of emerging collaborations between enforcement women’s anti-violence organizations. A compre- accountability groups and women’s groups.

5 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Enforcement violence affects women’s reproductive The mainstream women’s anti-violence choices in two main ways: movement has sought to protect women from • Through direct intervention in the outcome of a battering largely by advocating for a more vigorous pregnancy, often justified through appeals to the response by police agencies. Over the past thirty “welfare of the fetus”; years, the achievements of this movement have • Through active endangerment or neglect of been substantial, involving significant changes in pregnant women, causing adverse results up to and police and court practices and legal standards, as including termination of the pregnancy. well as a profound transformation of public In either case, state intervention causes awareness. For communities of color in particular, women to lose control over their pregnancies, for however, this strategy of reform has sometimes whose outcome they may nonetheless be held backfired, because such communities also face a legally responsible. In the name of “fetal protec- significant threat of violence in the home from tion,” women who have tested positive for drugs law-enforcement authorities. For women in this have been arrested for deciding to carry their situation, the promise of police protection from pregnancy to full term, without evidence being battering is an empty one.4 introduced of harm to the fetus. Pregnant women Enforcement violence in the home frequently who test positive for drug use on even a single occurs during drug or immigration raids, which occasion have been charged with child abuse or are often undertaken on the flimsiest of legal even murder. grounds. Home intrusions by law enforcement By contrast, such concern for the fetus is have sparked numerous legal challenges and nowhere in evidence in INS raids or police stops, community-based campaigns. Unfortunately, such during which authorities frequently disregard the efforts by enforcement accountability groups have consequences of their actions for the outcome of a generally reflected little understanding of how pregnancy. Under such conditions, a pregnant women may be caught in an unbearable double woman may deliver prematurely, go into early bind when they face violence from both batterers contractions, or lose her fetus; even if the preg- and law enforcement. nancy is not compromised, women face enormous physical and mental trauma. Numerous such cases have been documented by immigrants’ rights and Motherhood and Caregiving police accountability organizations. The term “motherhood” has traditionally Effective strategies for protecting women’s evoked the experiences of economically secure reproductive freedom need to be based in a thorough women living in nuclear families — as homemak- appreciation of the varying mechanisms of restriction, ers, or, increasingly, as affluent professionals. criminalization, and devaluation faced by women — Working-class women, women of color, and whether they are imposed through legal restrictions lesbians have fought to expand the discussion of on access and funding for abortions, involuntary motherhood to include women who are impover- sterilization, coercive drug tests and coercive uses ished or working poor, single mothers, lesbian of contraception, criminalization of immigrant mothers and their families, and physically absent women, or abuse of pregnant women in prison. mothers such as live-in domestic workers or migrant workers. Survivors of enforcement vio- lence challenge us to expand these notions once Violence in the Home again to include an understanding of how women’s Both home and family have been pivotal caregiving role is shaped by their encounters with concepts in the development of women’s move- the state. ments. This working paper challenges us to rethink our understanding by detailing how the suppos- 4 A partial exception is provided by the Violence Against edly private spaces of the home and family are Women Act, which protects undocumented battered women another significant site of enforcement violence. from deportation in certain circumstances.

6 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

With women representing an ever-larger Violence Against Women proportion of immigrants, increasing numbers of in the Workplace mothers, including single mothers, are affected by INS raids. In addition to the difficulties faced by Women in low-income communities have most mothers in juggling the responsibilities of always been important wage earners; today, they jobs and parenting, immigrant women face the increasingly bear this burden alone as single heads enormous burden of being continually alert to the of households. In either case, enforcement violence possibility of having their family life turned upside in the workplace adds significantly to the pressures down in a matter of hours. they face, both as breadwinners and as caregivers. U.S.-born women of color face similar risks Whenever the struggle to earn a living is in encounters with law enforcement. Prisoners’ defined as a criminal activity, the door is opened to rights initiatives have challenged the ways in which enforcement violence in the workplace. In some incarceration provokes major disruptions of family cases, the criminalization of women’s work stems life, including the possibility of losing children to from the heavy reliance of certain economic sectors the foster care system. More than two-thirds of on undocumented labor. In other instances, women prisoners have children under eighteen, women’s work is criminalized due to the under- and the majority of them are single mothers. The ground nature of certain types of work, such as sex attitudes and actions of law enforcement, in work or drug sales. Anecdotal evidence suggests tandem with other state agencies such as the foster- that women are a major portion of those who care system, reflect another familiar double bind, survive through a combination of small drug sales in which women of color are prevented from and erratic sex work, trapped in cycles of substance caring adequately for their children and then are abuse, domestic violence, and, frequently, both. accused of child abuse and neglect. A focus on enforcement violence reveals As mothers, partners, and community mem- many parallels between these disparate experiences bers, women often bear primary responsibility for of women’s work, even though they are seldom dealing with the aftermath of an arrest, raid, or considered together. Extensive documentation by deportation — by supporting an incarcerated human rights organizations, labor unions, and friend or family member; by advocating for the immigrants rights groups verifies that INS work- legal rights of loved ones; by helping to ensure the place raids affect women’s ability to support their survival and well-being of children and other families and ensure their children’s safety; fre- vulnerable people. In this sense, enforcement quently endanger pregnant women; and may violence requires a major expansion of women’s involve various types of sexual assault. The care-giving role and the types of responsibility criminalization of women’s work thus targets women assume. Sometimes, this has led to the women as caregivers, as breadwinners, as mothers politicization of care giving, as when mothers of or mothers-to-be, and as sexual beings. In addi- prisoners or mothers of detainees have formed tion, women immigrants, who must contend with grassroots organizations to advocate for the needs class and gender bias in immigration policies, find of their children or loved ones. that such bias carries over into their interactions This dimension of women’s experience is with immigration authorities. often rendered invisible when accountability Sex work is likewise well known for its campaigns focus exclusively on the experience of a constant confrontations with the police. Further, single (usually male) victim of enforcement vio- in cities where immigrant women are increasingly lence. We believe that emphasizing the central role working as prostitutes, police may also cooperate of women as caregivers for prisoners and other closely with immigration authorities. victims of enforcement violence does not detract In recent years, labor and immigrants rights from efforts to support the victim, but rather organizations have increasingly joined in contest- illuminates how such abuse affects the entire ing the criminalization of immigrant workers. The community. lens of enforcement violence permits us to see that

7 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT in the end, the distinction between “legal” and its impact on safety and self-determination for the “illegal” work is as limiting as the distinction community as a whole. Only from such a stand- between “legal” and “illegal” workers. point can we fight for self-determination for both women and the communities we live in. Looking Forward: New Alliances • The situation is similar with regard to mother- hood and, more generally, caregiving. Enforcement and New Strategies violence in poor communities and communities of What does it mean in practice to fight vio- color disrupts the ability of caregivers to fulfill lence against women of color while simultaneously their responsibilities. At the same time, the legal addressing the structural violence faced by the apparatus of the state is used to accuse women of community as a whole? Social movements that child abuse and neglect — with such charges have come together around the issues of domestic sometimes stemming from the very situation in violence, reproductive rights, sexual assault, immi- which the actions of law enforcement or other grants rights, INS detention, police accountability, public authorities have endangered the welfare of or prisoners’ rights bring sharply divergent experi- children. Our understanding of the challenges ences and perspectives to this question. It is pre- facing women as caregivers must be expanded to cisely by working through these differing and take account of how caregivers are affected by the sometimes opposing views, however, that we can massive growth of law enforcement in the United begin to address the complexities of the relationship States. between our communities and the state — and the • An even more extreme example is that of the centrality of women to the development of work- incarceration of women under the banner of “fetal able strategies for community self-determination. protection,” in which a supposed concern for Some of the initiatives described in this children is hypocritically used to justify the incar- working paper represent important first steps ceration of women of color, particularly African toward the development of new alliances and new American women. By contrast, in other circum- strategies to address the devastating impact of stances, enforcement violence effectively treats the violence, in all its forms, on low-income commu- outcome of a pregnancy as an unimportant con- nities of color. As noted at the outset, however, this cern, secondary to the imperative to maintain “law discussion is not intended to propose an answer or and order.” From a community standpoint, the even model strategies for accomplishing this goal, safe birth of children is only the first step in the but rather to argue for the importance of dialogue community’s ability to reproduce itself, so that involving all of these movements and their con- women’s reproductive rights are intrinsically a stituencies. community issue as well as an issue of individual Useful considerations for framing such a self-determination. dialogue include the following points: • The emergence across the United States of local • The home is a location in which women experi- grassroots organizations of mothers and other ence both “private” violence (for example, from supporters of prisoners and detainees is a vital step intimate partners) and “public” violence (from in mobilizing communities to resist police brutal- state authorities). By opening up the parameters of ity, INS raids, and mass incarceration. Feminist how we understand violence in the home, we will organizations, in turn, could gain far more rel- be able to better understand how law enforcement evance to the lives of poor women and women of operates in communities of color: targeting the color by recognizing and addressing the caregiving home when it comes to raiding it while neglecting issues that are vital to such communities. it when it comes to protecting the people inside, • Supporters of women’s rights may also want to particularly women and children. In communities consider the implications of assaults on the rights of of color and poor communities, it is impossible to poor women of color, both immigrant and U.S.-born, defend women from intimate violence while for the rights of women who do not presently face sidestepping the pressing issue of state violence and similar intrusions from law enforcement. The

8 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT state’s approach to such women — whether they are and economic privilege. As long as each type of undocumented workers, asylum seekers in deten- border is understood separately, however, tion facilities, pregnant defendants with substance unexamined beliefs about public safety (on the one addiction, or prisoners — may be taken as indica- hand) and national security (on the other) will tive of the true value accorded by our society to continue to foster mutual suspicion and mistrust motherhood, family, home, and women’s paid labor. between immigrant and U.S.-born sectors of the The constant erosion of constitutional protections population. Until immigrant and U.S.-born for the rights of women of color and poor women communities of color can work together to chal- weaken such protections for all women. lenge the full range of threats posed by enforce- • Law enforcement is increasingly a seamless web, ment violence to community security and in which authorities may move without hindrance self-determination — including the gendered between a traffic stop and deportation, or a hospi- nature of such threats and their differential effect tal visit and prison, or the airport and a maximum- on women — they will continue to be hampered security cell. At the same time, a variety of regres- by divisions and isolation. sive legislation enacted in recent years has sharply We offer this contribution knowing that real restricted avenues for legal redress for those who forward motion will only be possible through the are caught up in the law-enforcement net. The active involvement of many individuals and logic of such policies is similar, whether the spe- organizations in various types of dialogue, joint cific language refers to “quality of life” policing, activities, increased communication, compilation drug interdiction, counter-terrorism, or national of comparative data, and coordinated outreach security. The major difference is that some such efforts. Needless to say, such a process of collabora- measures purport to protect the national borders of tion should emerge in a way that is grounded in the United States, while others seek to defend local realities and includes all relevant and inter- interior borders based on institutionalized racism ested parties.

9 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Preface his working paper reflects an intensive volunteers include people of many faiths, races, research effort by its author, Anannya and nationalities. AFSC programs in some fifty TBhattacharjee. It also reflects a collabora- locations around the United States, as well as tive endeavor by two activist organizations: the twenty other countries, work for social and eco- Committee on Women, Population, and the nomic justice, peace and demilitarization, dialogue Environment (CWPE) and the American Friends and reconciliation, and humanitarian service. Service Committee (AFSC). Both the struggle for immigrants’ rights, and The decision by these two groups to resistance to the systemic violence and dehumaniza- copublish this working paper offers an example of tion of the criminal justice system, are major elements the very type of cross-fertilization that the docu- of AFSC’s work for justice within the United States. ment argues is necessary to strengthen the effec- Each, we believe, is a central focus of the complex tiveness of activist strategies. CWPE, formed in intertwining of violence, social exclusion, and 1992, is a multi-racial network of women whose economic exploitation in U.S. society — and each activism spans a broad array of issues, including represents a profoundly significant site of resistance women’s health, reproductive rights, immigrants’ and grassroots mobilization. As one of several rights, violence against women, environmental ongoing efforts to document and share AFSC’s justice, and more. For nearly a decade, it has experiences at the grassroots, staff from AFSC’s provided an indispensable haven for activists and community-based programs in each of these arenas researchers who are committed to working for have contributed their reflections to this project. women’s empowerment in a way that is fully The collaboration represented by this work- integrated with a commitment to racial justice, ing paper is a first for both organizations. It draws immigrants’ rights, indigenous rights, and economic deeply on the experience and perspectives of both justice, in the United States and internationally. in order to draw a richer and more complete Working from this wholistic vision of justice picture of how violence and the abuse of authority (and injustice) has led to many fruitful alliances by law-enforcement agencies affect women of and intersections. CWPE has critiqued the resur- color, both immigrant and U.S.-born. Our goal in gence of alarmist rhetoric about “overpopulation” undertaking this exploration has been to develop a as an attempt to lend renewed legitimacy to widely way of understanding violence against women that discredited policies of population control. It has acknowledges both state violence and intimate helped expose the newest expression of this ten- violence: that helps integrate our understandings dency: the “greening of hate” — that is, the of class, race, and gender oppression. cloaking of immigrant-bashing in environmentalist In the end, such theoretical endeavors are garb. It has challenged the distribution of danger- worthwhile if they serve as a resource for activism, ous contraceptives and attempts to restrict repro- and it is in that spirit that we offer this working ductive choices, for women in developing coun- paper. As stated in the text, we are aware that it tries as well as U.S. women of color. represents one small contribution to a much AFSC, founded in 1918, is a practical expres- broader process of dialogue, exploration, and sion of the spiritual principles of the Religious critique. We are grateful to all of those who have Society of Friends (Quakers), which include made this contribution possible. nonviolence and a belief in the infinite dignity and — Rachael Kamel, series editor, worth of all people. The organization’s staff and Justice Visions Working Papers

10 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Author’s Foreword

t is perhaps appropriate to describe briefly how police accountability, or abuses of domestic work- I became interested in this project. I have been ers — I have found fear of law enforcement to be a Iorganizing in New York City for more than ten common denominator, whether or not it served as years, especially in Asian immigrant communities. a focal point for organizing. Later on, in my In the process, I helped to start some of the first involvement with a community-based coalition community organizations in one of the newest and mobilizing around abusive conditions in an most rapidly growing immigrant communities in immigration detention center in New York, I also the city, the South Asian community. witnessed the lack of coordination among prison Over the years, I have been intimately in- groups and immigration groups, although there is volved with organizing initiatives focusing on no lack of mutual sympathy. domestic violence; police brutality; racially moti- I believe that this type of fragmented vision vated violence; the abuse of immigrant workers, seriously inhibits the ability of our communities to especially domestic workers; and INS detention. develop both a deeper understanding and pro- Having a foot in all of these political arenas has active strategies to effectively counter all these brought into vivid focus the gaps and contradic- types of oppression. Women of color are particu- tions that are caused by the difficulties faced by larly ill served by frameworks for organizing that U.S.-based progressive movements in developing ask us to choose between working against gender and working from an integrated analysis of race, oppression or against racial and class oppression. class, and gender oppression. Through ground-breaking efforts, exemplified In working with domestic violence organiza- most recently by the Color of Violence conference tions, I have observed the lack of a critical perspec- in the spring of 2000, women of color have begun tive on law enforcement. I have also seen how a to assert our own experience, our own vision, and community organizing approach is frequently our own strategies for working from an integrated displaced in such organizations by an exclusive understanding of the violence of colonialism, the focus on providing services to individual battered violence of racism, and the violence of patriarchy. I women. Similarly, in police accountability work, I am deeply appreciative of this opportunity to have seen the lack of a gender perspective, despite contribute to what I believe is a critically needed the preponderance of women activists (with groups forward step for progressive movements in the addressing sex workers’ issues standing out as an United States and elsewhere. exception). Yet another aspect of this experience is the rare and tenuous nature of alliances between Acknowledgments immigrants and U.S.-born people of color in seeking accountability from law-enforcement As researcher and author of this document, I agencies, including local police as well as the am grateful for the financial, practical, and intel- federal Immigration and Naturalization Service lectual support I have received in this endeavor (INS). from the American Friends Service Committee Over time I reached the conclusion that the (AFSC) and the Committee on Women, Popula- lack of a gender analysis of law enforcement does tion, and the Environment (CWPE). The decision not occur because women are less affected by by AFSC and CWPE to copublish this document enforcement violence but rather because of the way reflects the commitment of both organizations to these issues have been defined and portrayed. In all cross-issue analysis and work. of my experiences as an organizer — whether the I am also deeply indebted to numerous specific issue was racially motivated violence, individuals and organizations for their assistance in

11 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT the preparation of this working paper — far too Enforcement Monitoring Project, Terry McGovern, a many, in fact, to thank in this constrained space. Soros Fellow at the Open Society Institute and the Many of them are named in the text, but to many founding director of the HIV Law Project, Sue others who contributed I can only express my Osthoff of the National Clearinghouse for the thanks collectively and in spirit. Defense of Battered Women, Lynn Paltrow of I would like to express special thanks to National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Hollis Rachael Kamel of AFSC, a fellow member of Pfitsch of the Washington Alliance for Immigrant CWPE’s Steering Committee, who has been an and Refugee Justice, Mary Powers of the National excellent companion throughout this project, Coalition on Police Accountability, Dorothy assisting me in countless ways, reminding me of its Roberts of Northwestern University and the worth, and persevering untiringly in her rigorous National Black Women’s Health Project, Loretta editing. I am also extremely fortunate to have Ross of the Center for Human Rights Education, worked with an Editorial Committee that helped Renee Saucedo of La Raza Centro Legal and INS shape this project and commented on various earlier Watch, Shawna Virago of Community United (and much heftier) drafts, helping me to sharpen Against Violence, Donna Wilmott of Legal Ser- my focus: Rajani Bhatia, Betsy Hartmann, Judith vices for Prisoners with Children, and Johanna Scully, Jael Silliman, Andrea Smith, and Jennifer Yoder of Border Links. I would also like to thank Yanco of CWPE and Patricia Clark, Kathryn S. Shankar for his invaluable support and insight. Kurtz, and Janna Shadduck-Hernandez of AFSC. Although this working paper is the product I would also like to thank the following of a particular research effort, it would have been individuals who, perhaps unknown to themselves, impossible for me to write it without everything contributed to this project logistically, or by setting that I have learned over many years as a commu- a context for me, or by referring me to other nity activist. For that learning, I must express my extremely useful sources: Mary Barr of the South deepest gratitude to hundreds of committed and Forty and Motivational Movement, Elizabeth courageous individuals and organizations that I Ebrahimian of Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee have had the honor to know and work with. Their Services, Marlene Fried of the Civil Liberties and voices and teachings have helped me to shape my Public Policy Program at Hampshire College, own voice. Isabel Garcia of the Derechos Humanos Coalition, Ruben Garcia of Annunciation House, Jo — Anannya Bhattacharjee Hirschmann of the Ella Baker Center for Human New York City Rights, Maria Jimenez of AFSC’s Immigration Law March 2001

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——— Part I ——— Overview

Introduction members of affected communities, in the various support and accountability movements mentioned ver the past thirty years, the entire above. Nonetheless, a gender perspective has been apparatus of law enforcement in the weak and sometimes entirely absent in the way OUnited States has expanded dramatically, these issues have been framed and discussed. becoming more punitive, more highly integrated, A gender analysis is important not simply more heavily funded, and more technologically for reasons of inclusiveness, but also because it is sophisticated. At the same time, a range of public critical to the development of an analysis of en- institutions, such as welfare agencies, schools, and forcement violence that can sustain cohesive, hospitals, have become increasingly permeated by effective, and strategic social movements. (The what might be described as a culture of law en- term “enforcement violence” is used here to cover forcement. In some cases, such institutions have violence and the abuse of authority by the full assumed law-enforcement functions or integrated range of law-enforcement agencies named above.) law-enforcement personnel into their operations. Understanding how such violence is experienced In response, a broad variety of community- by women helps us to go beyond a specific inci- based organizations and advocacy groups have dent, a specific victim, and her or his specific fate begun to challenge persistent violations of civil, to see how law enforcement affects our communi- constitutional, and human rights and to press for ties overall. Such an analysis exposes the impact of greater accountability on the part of law enforce- law enforcement on issues of basic security such as ment, including local and state police agencies; home life, caregiving, reproduction and sexuality, prison systems at the local, state, and federal level; and paid work, all social arenas in which women the U.S. Border Patrol and interior enforcement are central actors. Finally, a gender analysis of law agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service enforcement can help illuminate key tendencies in (INS);5 and, most recently, the rapidly expanding the relationship between the state (that is, the govern- INS detention system. Such violations have prima- ment) and various sectors of the community. rily (although not exclusively) affected communi- The arenas we have named — home and ties of color, both immigrant and U.S.-born. family, caregiving, reproduction and sexuality, and Throughout this period, women (again, paid work — have framed organizing by women’s primarily women of color) have progressively movements over the past generation. Some of these become a more significant presence, both numeri- cally and proportionately, among the populations 5 Border control operations also include the U.S. Customs of prisoners, arrestees, border crossers, undocu- Service, which is part of the Treasury Department; some mented workers, and detainees. Women have also reports of violence and abuse by Customs agents are also been well represented, both as advocates and as included in this working paper.

13 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT movements have defined themselves as “feminist,” immigrant and U.S.-born communities; and while others have not. In either case, a particular between activists and advocates concerned with thrust of women’s organizing has been to name immigration and criminal justice. This in turn can and challenge violence against women, including give us an understanding of some of the inconsis- domestic violence, sexual assault, and the denial of tencies and gaps in our own movements, as well as reproductive freedom. This broad movement a sense of future possibilities for deeper and more against violence against women has formulated its strategic organizing. own strategies regarding law enforcement, and This document is divided into three parts. these strategies also need to be evaluated in terms Following this introduction, Part I continues with of their effectiveness in promoting safety and self- a brief overview of the law-enforcement machinery determination for women, especially women of that is relevant to this discussion. It also offers a color, and their communities. broad outline of how women’s movements have The present analysis of enforcement violence organized around domestic violence and reproduc- against women considers the practices of different tive rights and how enforcement accountability law-enforcement agencies, separating them, when movements have organized around immigrants’ relevant, into the broad categories of “policing” (by rights, police accountability, INS detention, and local and state police agencies, the Border Patrol, prisoners’ rights. In Part II, enforcement violence and INS enforcement operations in the interior against women is analyzed through three lenses: United States) and “jailing” (including jails and reproduction and sexuality, home and family, and prisons as well as INS detention facilities). We do the workplace. Part III draws some conclusions not, however, follow the usual custom of considering regarding the main arguments advanced in this “immigration” and “criminal justice” as separate issue working paper and offers suggestions for future areas. For more than a decade, both activists and discussions and collaborations to advance a broadly researchers have noted an increasing integration of integrated agenda for anti-violence work. Given these seemingly disparate law-enforcement systems, the broad scope but modest resources of this which has been brought about through legislation, initiative, the result may best be viewed as an funding, institutional restructuring, sharing of initial contribution to what must inevitably be an technology and personnel, and joint operations. ongoing process. Further, regardless of official legal frameworks, in The analysis presented here is intended as a practice law-enforcement operations do not contribution to the efforts of social movements distinguish among people according to whether addressing both enforcement accountability and they are undocumented, legally documented, or violence against women. It is based on the experi- citizens, but rather rely on racial profiling. ences and perspectives of activists working on these Reviewing immigration and criminal justice issues across the United States, including service together, as we do in this document, reveals that providers, organizers, advocates, lawyers, research- their impact at the community level is indistin- ers, and members of watchdog organizations. guishable. By contrast, enforcement accountability Representatives of close to eighty organizations in movements are mainly fragmented among distinct at least thirteen states have given generously of racial/ethnic constituencies, between immigrant their time and resources. and U.S.-born populations, and along agency lines This document also draws on reports that (police, INS, prisons, and so on). have been published by the American Friends A comprehensive gender analysis of enforce- Service Committee, Amnesty International, ment violence requires an exploration that crosses Human Rights Watch, National Coalition of Anti- all of these divisions. Our hope in undertaking this Violence Programs, National Network for Immi- exploration is to foster a new kind of dialogue and grant and Refugee Rights, The Sentencing Project, cross-fertilization: between movements for enforce- Washington Alliance for Immigrant and Refugee ment accountability and those addressing violence Justice, Women’s Commission for Refugee Women against women; between movements based in and Children, and many others. Where published

14 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT reports have been harder to find, it relies on case In summary, the objectives of this working reports collected by watchdog groups, such as paper are: police watch groups. We describe only a few • To provide a gender analysis of law enforce- specific cases to highlight certain points and ment, at a moment when women represent an illustrate the formidable volume of cases that have increasingly significant proportion of those who been documented. face law enforcement, directly and indirectly; This effort has also benefited from books, • To go beyond individual encounters in order to essays, and letters by activists, scholars, prisoners, profile the impact of law enforcement on issues and survivors, and from the websites and newslet- of basic security, particularly in communities of ters, newspapers, and conference presentations of color, both immigrant and U.S.-born; numerous organizations, as well as visits to a small • To juxtapose issues and perspectives regarding number of organizations in various parts of the enforcement violence and violence against women; United States. The research and writing took place • To explore the potential for more consistent mainly in 1999 and the initial months of 2000. movement building across the issue areas of While this document offers a critique of law immigration and criminal justice. enforcement, it is important to remember that government serves many different functions. Our intention is not to argue for less government, but The Evolution of Law Enforcement rather to critique the philosophy that underlies the This section outlines some of the main policies and practices of the U.S. government. This features of the law-enforcement bodies that are note of caution is essential given the current discussed in this document.7 climate of attacks on the very notion of public, and publicly accountable, institutions. In this The incarceration explosion — The United States, context, it is important to remember that contem- which is home to 5 percent of the world’s popula- porary critics of “big government” voice strong tion, incarcerates 25 percent of all prisoners opposition to a government role in promoting worldwide. The number of people in U.S. jails and social welfare, while simultaneously calling for an prisons reached two million by the year 2000, a ever-larger role for every type of law enforcement. world record.8 Calls for privatization of government functions not While the percentage of women prisoners only open the door to profiteering and corruption, remains relatively small, it is growing at a much they also sharply reduce the possibilities for public faster rate than the incarcerated population as a accountability by every type of government agency, whole. Between 1985 and 1996, the population of particularly law enforcement. women in prison increased threefold. According to It is also not our intention to negate the the Sentencing Project, “African American women reality that some people do commit acts of vio- have almost single-handedly expanded the gender- lence and other offenses, or that every society needs a system for protecting public safety. How- ever, as author and activist Luana Ross has noted 6 Luana Ross, Inventing the Savage: The Social Construction of in reference to Native Americans and criminal Native American Criminality (Austin, TX: University of justice, “[a] thorough analysis of Native criminality Texas Press, 1998), p. 12. must include the full context of the criminal 7 For a more detailed analysis, see Timothy Dunn, The behavior — that is, their victimization and the Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978–1992: Low- criminalization of Native rights by the United Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home (Austin, TX: 6 University of Texas Press, 1996), and Christian Parenti, States government.” In the current social order, Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis we believe that the very concepts of criminality (New York: Verso, 1999). and the appropriate state response are heavily 8 Vincent Schiraldi and Jason Ziedenberg, “The Punishing shaped by the many injustices and structural Decade,” Justice Policy Institute, San Francisco and Wash- inequalities that exist in our society. ington, DC, Dec. 1999.

15 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT end of the prison industrial complex.”9 Over the condition that clearly violates basic human rights. last ten years, criminal justice activists have seen a Organizations such as the Detention Watch marked increase in the incarceration of younger Network and the Women’s Commission for women between the ages of sixteen and eighteen.10 Refugee Women and Children have played an Close to 50 percent of women prisoners report important role in investigating conditions, dis- that their first experience with the criminal justice seminating information, and developing a national system was as a juvenile. Women are incarcerated awareness of the problems in INS detention. most often for drug-related violations; in New Some detainees are long-term legal U.S. York, for example, drug charges account for 91 residents who have served prison sentences for a percent of the increase in women’s imprisonment broad variety of criminal convictions, including between 1986 and 1995.11 many nonviolent or minor offenses. Under Most women are incarcerated for nonviolent IIRAIRA, they are subject to detention and depor- crimes (such as passing bad checks or drug viola- tation, even though they may have left their tions). The circumstances in which women’s countries of origin as young children and may not behavior is judged to be “criminal” are heavily have ties there. In 1999, The New York Times shaped by social definitions of women’s role. For reported that the INS “deported 62,539 immi- example, women are often convicted of child abuse grants with criminal records. …That is up 72 or neglect when a male partner committed the percent since Congress expanded the types of actual abuse. Survivors of domestic violence are crimes that can result in deportation, including imprisoned for acts of self-defense. Prostitutes are some nonviolent offenses such as felony shoplift- jailed while their clients walk away. ing. … [IIRAIRA] permits people to be deported The most rapidly expanding prison system in even if they committed their crimes decades ago the United States is the immigration detention and served their sentences.”14 system, with a cost to taxpayers of millions of Prison activist Donna Wilmott, a former dollars a year.12 The explosive growth of detention political prisoner herself, reports that some 40 is one of many changes that were set in motion by percent of the prisoners at the Federal Correctional the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Institute in Dublin, California, are foreign-born. Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) of 1996, Notes Wilmott: “If you are foreign-born and in which imposed unprecedentedly harsh conditions prison, the unspoken feeling around is that you are on immigrants. The INS has estimated that by the year 2001, it will detain 300,000 people annually, an increase of 76 percent from 1997.13 Overcrowding, lack of communication with 9 Briefing Sheet, The Sentencing Project, Washington, DC, the outside world, lack of access to legal and 1997. medical services, and isolation mark life in INS 10 Interview with Jana Schroeder, Criminal Justice Program, detention centers. Such conditions are worse for American Friends Service Committee, Dayton, OH, 1999. women, whose needs are characteristically given 11 Marc Mauer, Cathy Potler, and Richard Wolf, “Gender the lowest priority. For example, women detainees and Justice: Women, Drugs, and Sentencing Policy,” The face the most severe overcrowding. The total Sentencing Project, Washington, DC, Nov. 1999. number of women in INS detention doubled 12 “Immigration Detention in the United States,” Lutheran between 1995 and 1998. Immigration and Refugee Service, Baltimore, MD, 1998. Many detainees are held in temporary facili- 13 Deanne M. Pearn, “And Justice for All: Understanding ties or moved without warning from one state to and Addressing Human Rights Abuses Against Women in another, thus making access to lawyers, translators, Immigration Detention Centers,” unpublished presentation, and human rights advocates almost impossible. Women’s Institute for Leadership Development for Human Some INS detainees also face the possibility of Rights, San Francisco, 11 May 1998. arbitrary and indefinite incarceration without any 14 Eric Lipton, “As More Are Deported, A ’96 Law Faces process for determining the length of stay, a Scrutiny,” New York Times, 21 Dec. 1999.

16 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

inferior,” which she believes is a reflection of anti- neighborhood, streets, or parking lots — in short, immigrant prejudice outside.15 any place at all. It is important to note that both border control operations and INS raids invariably Policing in the era of mass incarceration — Local target legal residents and citizens as well as undocu- and state police agencies are among the most mented people, with agents using racial profiling pervasive and mobile law-enforcement bodies. (that is, stopping people who “look foreign”) as if it They also cooperate with and help gain entry for were an indicator of immigration status. officials of other agencies, such as the Border Patrol, other INS agents, or drug enforcement Social justice or “law and order?” — All of these agents. developments may be understood as manifesta- In the 1990s, New York City was credited tions of a broad tendency to redefine profound with inaugurating an unprecedentedly violent and issues of social inequality as problems of “law and abusive style of policing— so-called “quality-of- order.” From this standpoint, laws mandating life” policing — under William Bratton, then more punitive and violent law enforcement are commissioner of the New York Police Department offered up as a substitute for real solutions, which (NYPD).16 New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani would require a structural transformation of “has been explicit in his intention to physically power.20 At the same time, procedural restraints on remove and contain any of the visible effects of law enforcement that protect civil and constitu- poverty (i.e. homelessness) that dare to share space tional rights are constantly eroded. with gentrification … In 1997 and 1998, officers A key example of a social problem that has with the NYPD’s street crimes unit frisked more been reframed as a question of “law and order” is than 45,000 people thought to be carrying guns, drug trafficking. The redefinition of drug addic- but they arrested fewer than 10,000. This policing tion as a legal problem (rather than, for example, a strategy allows the police to detain, question, and problem of public health) has provided an effective thus regulate tens of thousands of mostly low- rationale for dramatically expanding the powers income people of color.”17 and resources of law-enforcement agencies. In the The philosophy and practices employed by words of drug policy reform advocate Ethan the NYPD, one of the largest police forces in the Nadelmann, “police officers, generals, politicians United States, have now made their way across the … qualify as drug czars – but not, to date, a single country. In response, community-based move- doctor or public health figure. … [D]rug policies ments nationwide have been challenging the are designed, implemented, and enforced with increase of police brutality against communities of color, particularly young people from such com- 15 Interview with Donna Wilmott, Legal Services for munities. Prisoners with Children, San Francisco, 1999. At the federal level, parallel trends are observ- 16 able in immigration enforcement. The INS an- “Police Brutality and Excessive Force in the New York City Police Department,” AMR 51/36/96, Amnesty nounced in 1998 that “it employs more armed International–USA, New York, June 1996.

agents than any other federal agency, including the 17 18 Daniel HoSang, “The Economics of the New Brutality,” FBI.” Funding for the Border Patrol, which is Colorlines, Winter 1999-2000. part of the INS, increased 149 percent between 18 1980 and 1988 and has continued to rise steadily Joel Najar, “The Historical, Political, and Legislative Context for INS Raids,” in Portrait of Injustice: The Impact since then. Within the INS, the growth of enforce- of Immigration Raids on Families, Workers, and Communities, ment operations has dramatically outstripped that National INS Raids Task Force, National Network for of the agency’s service operations (processing Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Oakland, CA, Oct. 1998. applications for visas, work permits, citizenship, 19 Dunn, op. cit., pp. 49, 63. 19 political asylum, and the like). INS raids, nomi- 20 Interview with Maria Jimenez, Immigration Law Enforce- nally intended to capture undocumented immi- ment Monitoring Project, American Friends Service grants, can take place in the workplace, home, Committee, Houston, TX, 1999.

17 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT virtually no input from the millions of Americans what the Feds call “improper use of the tele- they affect most: drug users.”21 phone”: answering the phone for what later Another example is provided by the contem- turned out to be a drug sale. … All these women porary catchphrase “quality of life,” which is used had boyfriends, or husbands, or acquaintances who used them and then let them hang. … My to give a humanitarian gloss to the new generation roommates are 48, 50, and 58 years old. Sweet, of strategies for urban policing described above. talented ladies. Grandmas … It all seems so Such strategies focus on harassing, arresting, or pointless and tragic.25 incarcerating people who are poor, homeless, or simply hanging out on the street with the wrong Similarly, federal laws like IIRAIRA and the skin color or the wrong clothes. Also targeted are Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, those who work on the streets, such as vendors, sex both enacted in 1996, are directly responsible for workers, artists, and the like. One might well the huge increases in the numbers of incarcerated question exactly whose quality of life is being immigrants, both by increasing the number of protected. deportable offenses and by imposing penalties Young people of color are among those most retroactively. In essence, all of these state and affected by the intensification of policing. Accord- federal laws have been posed as solutions to a ing to New York City Police Watch, “With de- broad range of problems associated with poverty clines in funding and roughly one in fourteen and global economic inequality, for which the U.S. youths arrested annually by the NYPD, youths government and U.S.-based corporations bear a aged thirteen to twenty have a greater chance of large share of the responsibility. getting arrested than they do of getting a job after From this standpoint, one might argue that school or having a community youth program to the primary goal of law enforcement is to contain go to after school.”22 those segments of the population that are most Jasmine Barker of the Third Eye Movement, likely to rise up and threaten a public order that an anti–police brutality youth group in the Bay protects the privileged. This perspective is Area, describes four patrol cars swooping down on grounded in well-known statistics such as these: her for making an illegal U-turn.23 Third Eye has African Americans and Latinos make up 22.8 been conducting know-your-rights workshops in percent of the population but account for 47.8 schools and mobilizing for direct action in cases percent of those living in poverty; African Ameri- like that of a young woman in a car who was shot cans are 13 percent of drug users, yet represent 35 and killed by a San Francisco officer who was in percent of drug arrests, 55 percent of drug convic- pursuit of the driver, a young man of color. tions and 74 percent of those imprisoned for drug The two fastest growing incarcerated popula- convictions.26 Similarly, “[B]lacks under the age of tions are women of color and immigrants of color. 18 make up 15 percent of their age group, but 26 Women of color have been especially affected by laws mandating mandatory minimum sentences 21 for all drug offenses, which spread across the Ethan A. Nadelmann, “Commonsense Drug Policy,” Foreign Affairs, Jan.-Feb. 1998, Vol. 77, No. 1. nation following the enactment of the Rockefeller 22 Drug Laws in New York State in the early 1970s. “How to Deal with the Police,” resource packet, NYC Police Watch, New York, n.d. As noted by the Sentencing Project, this “elimi- 23 Interview with Jasmine Barker, Third Eye Movement, nates from judges the option of referring first-time San Francisco, 2000. nonviolent offenders to scarce, financially strapped 24 Briefing Sheet, The Sentencing Project, Washington, DC, drug treatment, counseling, and education pro- 1997. grams.” 24 In the words of one prisoner, 25 Maia Szalavitz, “War on Drugs, War on Women,” On the Issues, ISSN 0895-6014, Winter 1999, Vol. 8, No. 1, out of the 300 women here, I’d say 80 percent … p. 42 ff. (newsletter of CHOICES Women’s Medical Center, [are] first-time, nonviolent, low-level drug New York). offenders. I’ve met women who got five years for 26 Parenti, op. cit., p. 239

18 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT percent of those young people arrested … 44 few aspects. In the prison system, this enforcement percent of those detained in juvenile jails and 32 culture results in longer sentences for less serious percent of those found guilty of being a delinquent. violations as well as more punitive behavior from Similarly, young [B]lacks account for 46 percent of guards. These developments have been accompa- all juveniles tried in adult criminal courts … and nied by an increasing reliance on isolation of 58 percent of all juveniles confined in adult prisoners in special “control units” and the emer- prisons.”27 gence of entire prisons, known as “supermax” (super maximum security) prisons, that rely on Harsher and more militarized law enforcement — isolation.31 “In New York, use of isolation units in The increasingly harsh legal regime described state prisons is up by more than sixty percent in above has been accompanied by a growing reliance just five years, even as funding for rehabilitation on military-style tactics and weaponry by law programs such as drug treatment and job training enforcement at every level. This militarization of has been reduced.”32 domestic law enforcement has been brought about through dramatic increases in funding, increasing Interagency collaboration — Over the past two use of advanced military technology, sharing of decades, interagency task force efforts have become personnel and equipment with the military, and far more common, whether justified in the name of promotion of a war-like culture. Long-term the “war against drugs” or by concern over undocu- women prisoners report changes such as increasing mented immigration. It is increasingly common for numbers of guards wearing fatigues and buzz cuts officials of different agencies such as local or state and conducting themselves in military style: police, the Border Patrol or other INS units, and making women march in single file for everything, the county sheriff’s department to show up at the being more physically aggressive, using rubber same time for law-enforcement encounters ranging bullets, and generally having more “toys.”28 from traffic stops to house raids. Such developments, As such trends have progressed, law enforce- initially reported in the Mexico-U.S. border ment itself has intensified dramatically. Advocates region, have now spread throughout the country. report sharply increasing levels of violence by In reporting on human rights violations in police and prison guards, overnight stays in local southern California, for example, an AFSC report jails for actions that would have warranted at most found it necessary to address the actions of federal a ticket a couple of decades back, and greater agencies including the Border Patrol, the Customs criminalization of immigrants and young people, especially from communities of color. In New York City, for example, a seventeen-year-old was de- 27 Eileen Poe-Yamagata and Michael A. Jones, “And Justice tained for fifty hours waiting to be arraigned on a for Some,” National Council on Crime and Delinquency, trespassing charge.29 Under IIRAIRA, an immi- San Francisco, 2000, cited in Fox Butterfield, “Racial Disparities Seen as Pervasive in Juvenile Justice: A Snowball- grant who has lived legally in the United States for ing Effect,” New York Times, 26 June 2000, p. 1. most of his or her life can be arrested and deported 28 Interview with Cassandra Shaylor, Legal Services for for a minor offense committed in the distant past Prisoners with Children, San Francisco, 1999. At the time of as a juvenile, wrenching the person from family this interview Shaylor was conducting doctoral research and community. Immigrants’ rights lawyer Gail about women and solitary confinement at Valley State Pendleton comments that “the criminal justice Prison for Women in Chowchilla, CA. 29 system now increasingly determines the outcome David Rohde, “Drug Arrests Overloading the Court System,” New York Times, 17 Feb. 2000, p. B1. of the immigration system, which was never 30 30 Interview with Gail Pendleton, National Immigration supposed to be the case.” Project, National Lawyers Guild, Boston, 2000. At both the state and federal level, criminal 31 Interview with Cassandra Shaylor, Legal Services for justice legislation enacted in recent decades has Prisoners with Children, San Francisco, 1999. transformed policies around bail, sentencing, 32 Sasha Abramsky and Andrew White, “Rage in the Cage,” parole, and the death penalty, to mention just a City Limits, June-July 1996.

19 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Service, and U.S. Port Security; the San Diego and Privatization and profit — As incarceration ex- Riverside County Sheriff’s Departments; munici- pands at every level, new opportunities for profit pal police departments in San Diego, Vista, San have been created through prison construction Marcos, and Fallbrook; the California Highway contracts, the privatization of health care and food Patrol; and the California National Guard.33 In services, and even the privatization of entire Newport, Rhode Island, community groups and institutions. All of these economic arrangements residents have complained about INS-police are undergoing rapid expansion, as is the use of cooperation in searching for people suspected of prison labor by private corporations. Prisoners, violating immigration laws and have noted the use who may be paid next to nothing, also serve as the of abusive procedures in such arrests.34 In Salt most controllable workforce, since they cannot Lake City, Utah, a store was raided for drugs and unionize. AFSC criminal justice staff have ob- weapons, none of which was found. The raid was served cases in which prisoners who are “good” conducted by “Salt Lake City Police Department, workers have been denied parole, as the institution County Sheriff, SLC task force on drug preven- does not want to lose their labor.39 tion, SLC swat team, Utah Attorney General, Utah The INS also serves as a growing source of Department of Commerce, U.S. Attorney’s Office, income for county jails, which are rented out for FBI, IRS, DEA, and INS.”35 immigration-related detention. “At an average cost As communication between agencies in- of $58 per day per detainee,” according to Human creases, one agency can threaten individuals by Rights Watch, “the INS spends nearly a half- invoking the powers of another. For example, in million dollars each day to house its detainees in New York City, when a woman of Indian origin local jails. This arrangement provides a source of found herself in the police station with her boy- profit for county governments; in some, county friend, the latter was threatened by the police with debts have been paid and some taxes eliminated deportation even though he is a legal immigrant due to revenue from holding immigrants in local with a work permit and the police do not directly have powers of deportation.36 In the case of 33 immigrant women caught in situations of domes- “Human and Civil Rights Violations on the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1995-1997,” U.S.-Mexico Border Program/ tic violence, the increasing collusion between the Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Project, police and immigration authorities makes it American Friends Service Committee, San Diego, CA, 1998. dangerous to call the police, because they could 34 Comments on listserv of National INS Raids Task Force deport either the woman or the man against the (sponsored by National Network for Immigrant and woman’s wishes.37 Refugee Rights, Oakland, CA, 2000). As noted in a report from the National 35 Portrait of Injustice: The Impact of Immigration Raids on Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Families, Workers, and Communities, National INS Raids Guild, “There is … no requirement that a victim Task Force, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Oakland, CA, Oct. 1998, p. 28. or witness state her place of birth or immigration 36 Case report, NYC Police Watch, New York, 1 Jun. 1998. status when filing a complaint or a police report. 37 Under federal law, the police have no duty to Interviews with Gloria Hernandez, Immigrant Women Access Project, Fresno, CA, 1999, and Rebecca Brockman, inquire into the immigration status of a victim, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, El Paso, TX, witness, or arrestee. … Despite this fact, some 1999. As noted on page 15, the Violence Against Women judges and law-enforcement officers do inquire Act offers battered undocumented women some protection into immigration status in domestic violence cases. from deportation in certain circumstances. Such inquiries during police investigations or at 38 Gail Pendleton and David Neal, “Local Police Enforce- trial significantly erode community confidence in ment of Immigration Laws and Its Effects on Victims of Domestic Violence,” National Immigration Project, the judiciary and cooperation with the police. For National Lawyers Guild, Boston, 1999. victims of family violence this practice can be 39 Interview with Patricia Clark, National Representative for 38 lethal.” Criminal Justice, American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia, 2000.

20 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT jails. … Officials at Euless City Jail in Texas told Organizing Against Violence Human Rights Watch that they had lowered their Progressive social movements in the United per diem rate from $68 to $55 in order … ‘to be States have developed disparate, and sometimes more competitive’. … The Chief of Security for conflicting, strategies for organizing against all CCA [Corrections Corporation of America]…even these forms of violence and abuse. The section asked Human Rights Watch researchers if they below on “enforcement accountability” reviews the knew of ways to get more INS detainees.”40 approaches of organizations advocating for immi- grants’ rights, border rights, police accountability, Impact on other institutions — The punitive logic the rights of INS detainees, and prisoners’ rights. of law enforcement has had a pervasive impact on Next, our discussion of women’s anti-violence other public agencies that supposedly serve an organizing discusses movements focusing on entirely distinct mission. For example, welfare domestic violence, sexual assault, and reproductive recipients increasingly find that welfare services rights. The balance of this working paper explores resemble the criminal justice system. Processes like in more detail how enforcement violence affects the Eligibility Verification Review, welfare organiz- women and suggests some common ground for ers say, reflect the culture of criminalization.41 In a these two types of movements. household of people with varied immigration While our purpose here is to offer a status, the mother may be afraid to open the door critique, it is important to affirm that we do so as when a welfare case worker comes on a house visit, participants in and supporters of the social move- as she is scared of exposing any undocumented ments we are critiquing. The issues raised by all of relative who may be staying there. Through these movements are vital to the well-being of our workfare programs, welfare recipients are obliged communities — and their weaknesses weaken us all. to work almost for free and are not allowed to unionize, similarly to prison workers.42 A workfare worker in New York City may be paid $1.80 an hour Enforcement Accountability in a job cleaning courthouses, as compared $18–$20 Broadly speaking, enforcement accountability per hour for a union worker doing the same job. movements have focused on confronting the many The foster care system and child protective types of violence and abuse engendered by the services also increasingly employ punitive measures, unrestrained growth of law enforcement. The especially toward women of color. Foster care constituencies of these movements are diverse, agencies may view treatment for mothers with substance addiction as being too expensive or as 40 taking too long. Investigations by child protective “Locked Away: Immigration Detainees in Local Jails in the United States,” G1001, Human Rights Watch, New services evoke considerable fear, as they are closely York, Sept. 1998. 43 tied to the criminal justice system. The original 41 Elaine Kim (Community Voices Heard, New York), mission of these agencies, that of protecting and unpublished presentation, “Women of Color: The Forgotten helping children at risk and their families, has been Members of the New Economy,” New York University, 28- eclipsed by the drive to exact punishment in 29 Mar. 2000. response to the complex problems of impoverished 42 Minerva Delgado (Puerto Rican Legal Defense and families. As with law enforcement, it is communities Education Fund, New York), unpublished presentation, “Women of Color: The Forgotten Members of the New of color that bear the brunt of these punitive systems. Economy,” New York University, 28-29 Mar. 2000. Many low-wage workplaces that rely on immi- 43 Interview with Martha Matthew, National Center for grant labor have also begun to resemble law-enforce- Youth Law, Oakland, CA, 2000. ment institutions. In one well-documented case, 44 Deborah Fink, “Workplace Violence: Working to Survive, immigrant workers in an Iowa meatpacking factory Invisible and Unregulated,” unpublished presentation, were routinely subjected to body searches, supervi- “Violence: Shredding Social Fabrics, Destroying Global Health,” University of Iowa, Iowa City, 14–16 April 2000. sion in bathrooms, drug tests, video surveillance, See also Deborah Fink, Cutting into the Meat-Packing Line locker searches, and a lack of medical services.44 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998).

21 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT spanning immigrant as well as U.S.-born commu- Rights Watch and Amnesty International have nities of color (as well as growing numbers of compiled comprehensive reports on human rights white allies, especially among youth). abuses by police agencies, immigration authorities, The prisoners’ rights movement is perhaps and prisons — but so far such documentation has the best established of the enforcement account- been gathered and analyzed separately for each ability movements. Diverse organizations such as type of law-enforcement system. Justice Works or Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, among numerous others, work on The invisibility of gender — Among the enforce- different aspects of prisoners’ lives in all parts of ment accountability movements, the prison the country. Prison support groups have advocated movement is the most organized with regard to for various alternatives to incarceration. Justice women, with a range of organizations focusing on Works, for example, advocates for alternatives like such issues as sexual violence by guards, medical community service work, restitution, employment care, parole, child custody, visitation, and extended and job training assistance, alcohol and substance caregivers’ programs. It is unusual, however, to find abuse treatment, conditional or supervised release, sustained alliances between the work of such and residential care and counseling.45 organizations and women’s anti-violence organiza- Also widespread are grassroots police account- tions. The violence against women movement has ability groups, such as Bay Area Police Watch or not taken ownership of women prisoners’ concerns, New York City Police Watch. Networking among and prison groups have not placed themselves in such groups is facilitated by the National Coalition the context of the violence against women effort. on Police Accountability (NCOPA), based in Immigrants’ rights organizations have docu- Chicago. The work of all these groups on docu- mented and publicized violence inflicted on menting specific instances of police brutality are women by immigration authorities, especially at crucial in gauging the scope of the issue in differ- the Mexico-U.S. border, where immigration law ent communities. enforcement has been a focus of community Similarly, violence and abuse directed against concern for a longer period of time. Nonetheless, immigrants has been extensively documented by documentation and organizing efforts have seldom local groups like the Washington Alliance for reflected a sustained focus on how women experi- Immigrant and Refugee Justice. The systematic ence border crossing and associated abuses of their abuse of human rights at the Mexico-U.S. Border, rights. In one case, when immigrants’ rights particularly by the Border Patrol, has been brought lawyers and advocates organized a campaign to national attention by AFSC’s Immigration Law- around a woman who was raped by a Border Patrol Enforcement Monitoring Project. The National agent, they did so with virtually no links or discus- INS Raids Task Force of the National Network for sions with women’s organizations in the area, Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) has because no prior relationships had been estab- played a key role in publicizing the growing impact lished.46 Further, immigrants’ rights groups as well of INS raids in interior regions of the country. as human rights watchdog groups have often As we have noted, the links among these described INS abuse in gender-neutral terms, diverse movements for enforcement accountability referring to the impact on “families” and the loss of are still relatively weak. Among national coalitions, “wage-earners.” Such terms erase the singular NCOPA has played a pioneering role in bringing hardships that women bear and continue to together police accountability and immigrants’ keep the discussion male-dominated by default, rights groups, often with the support and collabo- ration of AFSC. A new national network, Critical Resistance, has sponsored conferences on both 45 Kristen Flurkey, “Working for Alternatives to Incarcera- coasts and ongoing follow-up activities, contribut- tion,” Peace and Freedom, Nov.-Dec. 1999. ing substantially to strengthening such links. 46 Interview with Jesus Romo, attorney and activist, Tucson, Human rights organizations such as Human AZ, 1999.

22 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT obscuring the considerable leadership women abusive nature of law enforcement in poor com- provide in immigrants’ rights organizing. munities of color. In the process, it has restricted Significant numbers of women of all ages are its focus to the ways in which women may be actively involved in organizing against police vulnerable to violence from individual men, brutality. Nevertheless, the focus of such initiatives overlooking the ways in which women are also continues to be disproportionately masculine subject to violence from authorities of the state. (although mothers of victims of police brutality, Over the years, this has resulted in a growing who have created their own organizations, have tension between the mainstream anti-violence broadened the discussion). Recently, a string of movement and women-of-color organizations cases of police brutality and police killings in New concerning the posture of women’s organizations York City have sparked broad community outrage, toward governmental agencies. Fundamentally, this gaining national publicity. During the same time- is an issue of how progressive movements under- span, the case surfaced of a battered woman who stand the role of the state. Does the state apparatus called the police while she was being beaten by her hinder or help women’s efforts to ensure the safety partner. The police took her to an isolated spot, and well-being of themselves and their communi- beat her up brutally, and left her there with the ties? In the balance of this section, we explore warning that next time they found her, they would various ways in which this tension has surfaced. kill her.47 Her story was never taken up by the groups actively protesting the undeniably tragic Reproductive rights — In the 1960s, women’s right and unjust deaths of male victims. to choose safe and legal abortion became a focal demand of the emergent the women’s movement. The Women’s Anti-Violence Movement Over the years, women of color and poor women have fought to expand the issue, initially by Over the past thirty years, women’s anti- including economic as well as legal barriers to violence organizations have broken the silence access to abortion. In the 1970s, the concept of about many types of violence whose existence was “reproductive rights” was introduced in order to previously denied or trivialized. Prior to the reframe the movement for reproductive freedom emergence of this movement, even life-threatening by acknowledging and addressing restrictions faced instances of sexual assault or domestic violence primarily by women of color, beginning with were commonly treated as purely “private” matters sterilization abuse. undeserving of official intervention, while the Building on the 1970s critique of sterilization victims of such violence were routinely stigmatized abuse and racist population control policies, and publicly humiliated if they dared to speak out. progressive scholars and activists have continued to The achievements of the women’s anti-violence deepen their analysis of the particular character of movement are substantial, involving significant assaults on the reproductive rights of women of changes in police and court practices and legal color. Today, the criminal justice system plays an standards, as well as a profound transformation of increasingly prominent role in governing reproduc- public awareness. tive choices for women of color. As we saw in the The successes of this movement, however, previous section, the “war on drugs” has served as a have come at a price. Women’s anti-violence blanket rationale for the dramatic expansion of law organizations have evolved a considerable distance enforcement and accompanying weakening of away from their origins as a grassroots, commu- constitutional protections. In recent years, rightwing nity-based groups; today, most are professionally opponents of abortion have also found that they staffed agencies providing social and legal services. could make headway by situating their drive for In seeking to hold police agencies accountable for enforcing laws against sexual assault and domestic violence, the women’s anti-violence movement has 47 Greg Smith and Tara George, “Officers Accused of Beating largely sidestepped the problem of the violent and Woman,” Daily News (New York), 2 Mar. 2000, p. 2.

23 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT greater state control of women’s bodies within the excludes women who opt for abortions, this type framework of the war on drugs — beginning, of punitive legislation, justified as an anti-violence naturally, with the bodies of women of color. measure, is widely considered to be a backdoor One well-known illustration of this trend is strategy to assist rightwing abortion opponents in the case of Whitner v. State,48 in which the South their drive to secure legal recognition of the Carolina Supreme Court upheld the notion that a “personhood” of the unborn fetus.57 According to pregnant woman who uses illicit drugs or engages the National Right to Life Committee, similar laws in any other behavior that might endanger her have already passed twenty-four state legislatures. fetus can be prosecuted as a child abuser and Long-acting contraceptives like Norplant sentenced to prison. As Lynn Paltrow of National have also been used as a tool of coercion by the Advocates for Pregnant Women comments, “the criminal justice system. The safety of Norplant has prosecutors are in fact seeking to have the judiciary create a new crime of drug use, and then only for 49 one group of people — pregnant women.” 48 492 S.E. 2d 777 (S.C. 1997), cert. denied, 118 S. Ct. The Whitner case prompted a major debate 1857 (1998). 50 within legal circles. The New York–based Center 49 Lynn M. Paltrow, “Pregnant Drug Users, Fetal Persons, for Reproductive Law and Policy joined the and the Threat to Roe v. Wade,” Albany Law Review, Vol. 62, defendant in appealing the original ruling, and 1999, p. 1022. amicus briefs were filed by numerous organiza- 50 As we go to press, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a tions, including medical, public health, and similar case (Ferguson v. City of Charleston), that testing women’s groups.51 pregnant women for drugs without their consent and Almost all of the pregnant women who have sharing results with police violates the constitutional been arrested under this ruling in South Carolina prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure. are African American, although one survey re- 51 Amici in this case included the American Medical vealed that “the typical drug-using woman in the Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Public Health Association, the South is in fact a white woman, in her thirties, American Nurses Association, the National Council on divorced or never married, with two or three Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Planned Parenthood of children.”52 On a national level, while white and South Carolina, the National Women’s Health Network, the affluent drug users are placed in treatment pro- NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the grams, poor people of color are incarcerated for Women’s Law Project, among others. substance abuse. According to Dorothy Roberts, 52 Lynn M. Paltrow, “Our Common Struggle,” Harm author of Killing the Black Body and a member of Reduction Communication (newsletter of the Harm Reduc- tion Coalition, New York), Spring 1999, No. 8. the board of the National Black Women’s Health Project, “crack exposure is now the leading 53 Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body: Race, Liberty and grounds for newborn foster placement” in New Reproduction (New York: Pantheon, 1997), p. 160. York City.53 Such practices continue regardless of 54 “Cocaine and Pregnancy,” Lindesmith Center, New York, extensive medical research challenging the wide- 1996, rev. 1999. spread conception that cocaine is harmful to fetal 55 As we go to press, the Journal of the American Medical development, while reconfirming the well-estab- Association has published a major review of 36 separate lished harmful effects of poverty, malnutrition, clinical studies, which found “no consistent evidence” of a negative impact of cocaine exposure in utero (Deborah lack of prenatal care, and use of alcohol or tobacco Frank et al., “Growth, Development, and Behavior in Early during pregnancy.54 , 55 Childhood Following Prenatal Cocaine Exposure: In October 1999 the U.S. House of Repre- A Systematic Review,” JAMA 285:12, pp. 1613–1625). sentatives passed a bill that established criminal 56 This bill failed to clear the 106th Congress, and was penalties for anyone who injures a fetus in the reintroduced in February 2001. commission of another federal offense, which 57 Noy Thrupkaew, “Republicans Work Overtime for could cover batterers as well as pregnant women ‘Unborn Victims of Violence,’” Sojourner: The Women’s themselves.56 Although the federal bill specifically Forum, Nov. 1999.

24 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

been challenged by women’s health organiza- Anti-immigrant groups have also faulted tions,58 which have also argued that use of such immigrants for “causing” overpopulation in the contraceptives places medical practitioners more in United States, which is then interpreted as the control of women’s bodies than the women them- source of various social ills, including environmen- selves. In California’s Central Valley, Darlene tal degradation, crime, and urban sprawl. In 1994, Johnson, a pregnant African American welfare when California’s Proposition 187 ushered in several recipient, was convicted on charges of child abuse; years of immigrant-bashing (culminating in the the judge who sentenced her gave her a “choice” passage of IIRAIRA two years later), reproductive between Norplant and a longer jail sentence.59 health services for immigrant women were the first This decision carries several chilling messages: that to be targeted for abolition. Such developments once women have been convicted, the state has the demonstrate the connection between anti-immi- right to control their reproductive choices, and grant scapegoating and support for a population that the machinery of law enforcement can be control agenda for the Third World (as well as for invoked to assert such control. U.S. communities of color).62 For certain groups Dorothy Roberts cites a study conducted by of women, motherhood is deviant or pathological; Stanford and University of Chicago professors who their fertility is construed as a negative force that attributed the drop in crime rate during the 1990s must be controlled, within and beyond the borders to abortions by poor women of color.60 The study of the United States. argues that the rise in abortions by young, poor The contemporary reproductive rights women of color during the 1970s prevented the movement has responded unevenly, even weakly, birth of unwanted children who would have gone to all these trends toward increasing state repres- on to commit crimes fifteen to twenty-five years sion of women of color: pregnant women being later. On this basis, they argue that legalized incarcerated for drug use, welfare payments or abortion can be credited for as much as 50 percent prison sentences being tied to women’s use of birth of the substantial drop in crime rates between control, punitive measures to protect fetuses by 1991 and 1997. punishing pregnant women, anti-immigrant Somewhat defensively, the two professors scapegoating, and programs that link the dissemi- affirm that they are merely concerned to find the nation of contraceptives to a population control true causes for dropping crime rates, stating agenda. Part II of this discussion looks in more specifically that they do not mean to suggest that poor women of color should be encouraged to terminate their pregnancies. Although it was never 58 See “Essential Principles for Responsible Health Care 61 published in any academic journal, this study Reform,” National Latina Health Organization, San received extensive national press coverage — due Francisco, 1993, and “Norplant: A New Contraceptive with perhaps to its propaganda value for attempts to the Potential for Abuse,” California Pro-Choice Education justify the expansion of state intervention in the Fund, San Francisco, 1997. lives of women of color. 59 Kathy Holub, “When Worlds Collide,” San Jose Mercury Similar sentiments regarding “bad” mothers News, 7 Jul. 1991. and their children are manifested toward immi- 60 John Donohue III and Steven Levitt, “The Impact of grant communities of color. At the Mexico-U.S. Legalized Abortion on Crime,” working paper 8004, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, border, the Border Patrol often accuses pregnant Nov. 2000. Dorothy Roberts mentioned press accounts of immigrant women of coming to the United States this study in remarks at a reproductive rights conference at to have children so that they can benefit from the Hampshire College in April 2000. child’s automatic U.S. citizenship. This is not unlike a 61 The study was ultimately released by a conservative “think Black welfare mother being told that she is having tank,” the National Bureau of Economic Research, as cited children to receive larger welfare checks — and only in footnote 60. a step away from her being told that she must use 62 Al Knight, “This Time Aspen Leads the Way,” Denver Norplant in order to receive the next check. Post, 19 Dec. 1999.

25 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT detail at enforcement violence and its impact on surfacing from over-reliance on the criminal legal women’s reproductive choices, suggesting a more system. Twenty-five years ago, women of color complete framework for seeking common ground were saying that we should not turn to the crimi- between the reproductive rights and enforcement nal legal system. But we put all our eggs in one accountability movements. basket without seeking other creative ways of community intervention. The battered women’s Domestic violence and sexual assault — The growing movement has contributed to the increase in the tension between women of color and the main- police state and the increase of men in prisons. We stream women’s anti-violence movement is not a are telling battered women to turn to a system that question of who is “included” in the movement, is classist, sexist, homophobic, arbitrary, and not but rather reflects fundamentally contradictory unlike the batterer.” She asserts that it is impos- understandings of the impact of collaboration with sible to create a just society in a climate of hatred the state. Over time, the efforts of anti-violence of defendants and with a spirit of vengeance.65 organizations to develop working relationships Mainstream strategies have many unintended with law-enforcement agencies, coupled with their consequences that affect women negatively. Bat- reliance on government funding, have restricted tered women who assault or kill their spouses are their ability to challenge a repressive state agenda. detained longer before trial, face higher bails, and The demand for more state protection — in essence, receive longer sentences than any other type of more law enforcement — has displaced critical and defendant. A desperate battered woman may innovative thinking about alternative community- believe she has no alternative but to kill her based strategies for promoting public safety. batterer when he is asleep. The U.S. legal system In the process, the concerns of women of considers such a killing only as an isolated inci- color, who are far more likely to experience law dent, disregarding the reality of domestic violence; enforcement as a threat to themselves and their the woman’s act is thus judged not as a desperate communities, have been marginalized. Some critics measure of self-defense but as premeditated mur- have argued that public pressure to increase arrests der. Shamita Das Dasgupta of Manavi, a South for domestic violence is inevitably translated into Asian domestic violence organization in New increased arrests of men of color. For undocu- Jersey, comments that large numbers of battered mented immigrants, police summoned in a case of women are arrested when police erroneously domestic violence may notify the INS, with the identify them as the primary aggressor in a domes- result that both the woman and her male partner tic conflict or file criminal charges against them for may be deported.63 acts of self-defense. Many women may then accept No one would dispute that women’s safety is a plea bargain, since they have no realistic oppor- fundamental; the issue is rather how it is best tunity to defend themselves against such charges.66 achieved. Leni Marin of the Family Violence Sociologist Beth Richie has coined the phrase Prevention Fund in San Francisco, which has “gender entrapment” to illuminate how survivors fought to improve the responsiveness of the criminal justice system, comments that interven- tion in domestic violence cases can be dangerous 63 Interviews with Lynn Coyle, Lawyer’s Committee for or even fatal to battered women. Achieving protec- Civil Rights Under the Law of Texas, San Antonio, 1999, tion and safety in such situations is no easy matter. and Juanita Genis, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Over the long term, Marin believes that punitive Center, El Paso, TX, 1999. measures cannot change people’s behavior and in 64 Interview with Leni Marin, Family Violence Prevention fact may well cause greater instability in women’s Fund, San Francisco, 2000. 64 lives. 65 Interview with Sue Osthoff, National Clearinghouse for Sue Osthoff of the National Clearinghouse the Defense of Battered Women, Philadelphia, 2000. for the Defense of Battered Women argues em- 66 Interview with Shamita Das Dasgupta, Manavi, Union, phatically that “unintended consequences are New Jersey, 2000.

26 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT of domestic violence are criminalized through a protects undocumented battered women from variety of circumstances that stem from their deportation in certain circumstances. Some of the violent lives.67 She cites cases of women who may women who participated in this grassroots process commit crimes at the demand of the batterer, have gone on to take leadership around the issue of hoping to stop the abuse. Joan Porter of Lifers, an domestic violence in their communities. organization supporting women prisoners in Beckie Masaki of the Asian Women’s Shelter Pennsylvania, says women “are often merely in San Francisco observes that “domestic violence accompanying their male companion [in a drug organizations working with battered immigrant sale]…when something goes wrong. The male is women find themselves in a curious position at the more knowledgeable about the legal system. He intersection of anti–violence against women work plea bargains and she, feeling herself innocent, and enforcement accountability work. Remedies does not, so the District Attorney comes down through law enforcement are somewhat important heavy on her.”68 but the emphasis is misplaced given the As New York official Sujata Warrier warns, underutilization of this remedy in our communi- however, there is no clear consensus around the ties. It is telling that only five incidents of police role of law enforcement among women-of-color intervention in domestic violence calls took place anti-violence activists.69 For example, Lori in the Asian community in San Francisco during Humphreys, an attorney with Ayuda, a domestic 1998, although 35 percent of the population is violence agency in Washington, DC serving Asian. Women-of-color or immigrant groups will immigrants, maintains that mandatory arrests and also find that although the issue of cultural speci- more policing are needed to protect women of ficity is important in ensuring sensitivity, certain color from domestic violence, although she too agrees monolithic or patriarchal definitions of culture are that often the survivor has no control over the invariably used by law enforcement in order to criminal justice process once it is set in motion.70 excuse violence or to maintain a policy of nonin- Warrier also critiques the process of state- terference.”72 initiated reform following the passage of the Masaki notes that training programs for Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994.71 police initiated (and, often, provided) by domestic VAWA, which is widely hailed as a signal achieve- violence organizations have brought about a more ment for the women’s anti-violence movement, friendly relationship between domestic violence resulted in significant funding for reform of how organizations and law-enforcement as compared to domestic violence cases are processed. Such funding, ten or twenty years ago. This has placed domestic however, was channeled directly to the criminal violence organizations on a strange footing with justice system, often without any input from domes- organizations that fight against enforcement tic violence organizations. The resultant reforms violence, such as anti–police brutality organizations. have led to such practices as police threatening a woman to force her to testify against her batterer. At the same time, VAWA is also a good 67 Beth Richie, Compelled to Crime: The Gender Entrapment example of grassroots involvement as well as cross- of Battered Black Women (New York: Routledge, 1996). issue collaboration between immigrants’ rights 68 Interviews with Joan Porter, Lifers, Philadelphia, 1999 groups and domestic violence groups, through the and 2000. National Network on Behalf of Immigrant Bat- 69 Interview with Sujata Warrier, Director, Health Care tered Women. Through this coalition, small Bureau, New York State Office for the Prevention of community organizations were involved in collect- Domestic Violence, New York City, 2000. ing stories of undocumented women in order to 70 Interview with Lori Humphreys, managing attorney for make the case for the inclusion of the self-petition- domestic violence, Ayuda, Washington, DC, 2000. ing measure in the act, which permits battered 71 VAWA was reauthorized in October 2000. immigrant women to file INS applications directly, 72 Interview with Beckie Masaki, director, Asian Women’s without depending on their husbands. VAWA also Shelter, San Francisco, 2000.

27 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

The gulf between these two types of organizations A Gender Perspective on Law Enforcement has resulted in some lost opportunities as well. The preceding discussion has outlined how Recently, an African American police officer in San women’s organizing for reproductive rights and Francisco with a record of brutality in other against domestic violence must take into account situations was also found to be a batterer. When the increasingly repressive character of law enforce- the officer was fired, elements of the African ment. By the same token, enforcement account- American community came to his defense and the ability movements need to develop a deeper Police Commissioner ultimately reinstated him. understanding of women’s experience. An effective alliance between domestic violence Although women most definitely face par- and anti–police brutality groups could have ticular gender-related issues in their encounters created an occasion to raise crucial issues about with law enforcement, by no means can one say both violence against women and police account- that enforcement is fair for men. Our purpose is ability. In the absence of such an alliance, the not to show that women suffer more than men issues went unexplored. (although significant numbers may) or that more Joan Porter cites instances in which domestic women suffer than men. The point is rather to violence agencies in Bucks County, Pennsylvania counter the invisibility of women. have provided counseling services to women Discussions of law enforcement generally prisoners who are survivors of battering.73 She center on male images. If, however, we look at argues, however, that such efforts are limited by enforcement as a community issue, then the their failure to address issues of safety and self- experience of women comes into sharper focus. determination outside the prison or the criminal This in turn requires an understanding that justice system in a way that breaks the cycle of encounters with law enforcement do not always abuse and criminalization. A new program, the leave behind a paper trail, are not always limited to Intensive Case Management Project for Female one main victim, and continue well beyond an Offenders in Bucks County, makes a link between initial incident. substance addiction and the criminal justice Common wisdom holds that women have system, attempting to break the cycle that leads to less contact with law enforcement than men. This, repeat incarceration by working with women both however, is a limiting and ultimately distorted while they are in prison and after their release. view. What remains untold or unrecorded is how Each woman sets up her own plan and her own deeply women’s lives are affected by such encoun- goals and determines her own progress.74 Such ters or how extensively women become involved in rehabilitative programming, however, has become defending or accompanying men — as their wives, increasingly rare. girlfriends, sisters, mothers, and caregivers in In summary, the safety and self-determination general. For example, police watch groups receive of women of color and poor women cannot be large numbers of calls from women, many of secured in isolation from the safety and self- whom are calling on behalf of a son or grandson. determination of their communities as a whole. In Most men in prison depend primarily on women the long run, by turning exclusively to law enforce- outside to take care of their survival and legal ment for protection, without sufficient community needs inside and outside the prison. organizing and alliance building, the mainstream Women also experience direct encounters movement against violence against women has with law enforcement, on the street and in their instead compromised the safety of women of color and their communities. Women of color under- stand intimately that they cannot demand protec- tion from law enforcement on the one hand and 73 Interview with Joan Porter, Lifers, Philadelphia, 1999. organize around police brutality on the other 74 Interview with Marge Hanna, Intensive Case Manage- hand, as if dealing with two separate entities: only ment Project for Female Offenders in Bucks County, an integrated approach can be effective. Warminster, PA, 2000.

28 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT homes. Again, common wisdom holds that law- (especially women) can be picked up along with enforcement agents operate mainly on the street. him and subjected to similar violence from au- In reality, police and INS agents frequently enter thorities. Often, the woman is released more private dwellings, deeply affecting women’s home quickly and her experience may not leave behind a lives. Even in the case of workplace raids, our paper trail, thus erasing it from the official record. understanding must be extended beyond the image After her release, she characteristically faces a of male workers being hauled away by the INS — daunting burden of responsibility with regard to again, an image that obscures the increasingly large both the fate of the immediate victim as well as numbers of women affected by such operations. those who are indirectly affected, who may include Another way our understanding is distorted is children and other family members. by focusing on the immediate victim of an en- Until we make visible these erasures and counter with law enforcement, echoing the struc- acknowledge these extensions of women’s responsi- ture of the U.S. legal system. Any such incident, bilities, all of which are part of the impact of law however, is better understood as an experience that enforcement, we will continue to see law enforce- involves more than one person — and as a mo- ment as mainly a male issue, imposing, as we have ment in a string of other episodes that precede and argued, serious limitations on the effectiveness and follow it. For example, in the case of a police consistency of our strategies. Examining women’s operation, the immediate victim (say, a man) may experience of enforcement violence is the task that be in a location (say, the home) where other people we take up in the next section of this document.

29 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

——— Part II ——— Enforcement Violence Against Women

Denial of Reproductive and even murder. In one such case, cited by Lynn Sexual Autonomy Paltrow, “[p]rosecutors argued that arrest was … justified because evidence of a woman’s drug use during pregnancy is predictive of an inability to Reproductive Rights parent effectively.” Paltrow points out that “fathers nforcement violence affects women’s identified as drug users are not automatically reproductive choices in two main ways: presumed to be incapable of parenting.”76 Dorothy Ethrough direct intervention in the outcome Roberts also cites evidence that pregnant defen- of a pregnancy, often justified through appeals to dants in such cases may “receive harsher sentences the “welfare of the fetus,” or through active endan- than drug-addicted men or women who are not germent or neglect of a pregnant woman, causing pregnant.”77 Ironically, such women may be adverse results, including termination of her sentenced to prisons where fully a third of preg- pregnancy. In either case, state intervention results nant women are known to miscarry.78 in women losing control over their pregnancies, for By contrast, such ostensible concern for whose outcome they may nonetheless be held protection of the fetus is nowhere in evidence in legally responsible. INS raids or police stops, during which authorities frequently disregard the consequences of their Policing — In the name of “fetal protection,” actions for the outcome of a pregnancy. Under women who have tested positively for drugs have such conditions, a pregnant woman may deliver been arrested for deciding to carry their pregnancy prematurely, go into early contractions, or lose her to full term, without any evidence of harm to the fetus. Even if the pregnancy is not compromised, fetus. Such operations have focused almost entirely women face enormous physical and mental trauma. on women of color. In Killing the Black Body, The combination of advanced pregnancy and Dorothy Roberts describes such arrests as scenes coercive interrogation may provoke a life-threaten- “in some totalitarian regime, not the sanctity of a

maternity ward. Police arrested some patients 75 within days or even hours of giving birth and Roberts, Killing the Black Body, op. cit., p. 166. hauled them off to jail in handcuff and leg 76 Lynn M. Paltrow, “Prosecution and Prejudice: Judging shackles. The handcuffs were attached to a three- Drug-Using Pregnant Women,” in Julia E. Hanigsberg and inch wide leather belt that was wrapped around Sara Ruddick, eds., Mother Troubles: Rethinking Contempo- their stomachs. Some women were still bleeding rary Maternal Dilemmas (Boston: Beacon Press, 1999), p. 71. from the delivery.”75 77 Roberts, op. cit., p. 180 78 “The Violation of Incarcerated Women’s Reproductive Pregnant women who test positive on even a Rights,” information packet, National Women’s Health single occasion may be charged with child abuse or Network, Washington, DC, n.d.

30 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT ing condition. One such incident resulted in the women crossing the Mexico-U.S. border.82 death of a woman who was crossing the Mexico- Documenting and publicizing such abuses is U.S. border when she was eight-and-a-half often the first crucial step. Legal challenges to such months pregnant: practices have also been mounted by advocates of immigrants’ rights, reproductive rights, and, in the While being interrogated, [she] showed signs of case of the Customs Service, the American Civil physical and emotional distress… difficulty in Liberties Union. breathing, spitting up, loss of vision, incoherence, profuse sweating. … She began to lapse into brief Jailing — When women are incarcerated, whether periods of unconsciousness. … Despite her critical condition, the officers did not administer by immigration authorities or the criminal justice rudimentary first aid, nor did they check her system, these state institutions frequently disregard eyes, breathing, or pulse. … [She started] exhibit- their legal and ethical responsibility for providing ing symptoms of cardiac arrest.79 basic health services. As a result, women’s safety during pregnancy is often endangered or neglected, The doctor who eventually attended her later as are other women’s health needs. testified that she had suffered a fatal heart attack According to Amnesty International, “[m]any that was most likely “caused by the coercive women enter jail and prison pregnant. In 1997-98, interrogation.” In ruling on a federal civil suit filed more than 2,200 pregnant women were impris- by her husband,80 the court found that the INS oned and more than 1,300 babies were born in agents’ negligence had not caused the woman’s prisons…. In at least 40 states, babies are taken death, and no damages were merited – a decision from their imprisoned mothers almost immedi- that was upheld on appeal. With redress denied by ately after birth or at the time the mother is U.S. courts, the case was forwarded to the Inter- discharged from hospital.”83 American Commission on Human Rights of the In INS detention centers, women face inad- Organization of American States. equate and uncaring medical services and disre- For undocumented immigrants in the spectful prison officials. The problem is com- Mexico-U.S. border region, the increasingly dense pounded by language barriers and the fact that presence of the Border Patrol also functions as a detention center personnel face no sanctions for deterrent to seeking health care. Local service providers who previously would help transport women to health clinics now hesitate to do so 79 Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human because of the increased number of checkpoints Rights of the Organization of American States, submitted by the women would have to pass through.81 AFSC, four other U.S. and Mexican organizations, and seven individuals, 12 Aug. 1992, pp. 12-13. Although more The U.S. Customs Service has also received than a decade old, many of the incidents cited in this increasing media attention for aggressive searches document still ring true. of women of color, especially African Americans 80 Contreras, et al. v. Obed Gonzales, et al. No. B-78-150 and Latinas, at various U.S. ports of entry. Women (Southern District of Texas). have been held incommunicado for hours, forced to undergo intrusive “body cavity” searches to 81 Interview with Terry McGovern, Open Society Fellow and determine whether they were carrying drugs, and founding director of HIV Law Project, New York, 2000. forced to drink laxatives to induce bowel move- 82 In May 2000, the ACLU and the woman involved sued ments. Some have delivered prematurely due to the the Customs Service in U.S. District Court, charging that stress they endured. One well-publicized case the agency’s response to her initial complaint was inadequate (see “ACLU Sues U.S. Customs Service Over Degrading involved an African American professional from Search in Case of ‘Flying While Black’,” American Civil the Upper East Side of Manhattan. In this in- Liberties Union, New York, 12 May 2000). stance, even economic privilege did not shield an 83 “Not Part of My Sentence: Violations of the Human affluent woman of color from the kind of treat- Rights of Women in Custody,” AMR 51/01/99, Amnesty ment routinely handed out to poor migrant International–USA, New York, Mar. 1999

31 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT neglecting the needs of detainees.84 The lack of her. She was finally unshackled only moments female medical staff also creates a deterrent to use before her baby was born.88 of already limited services. Under such conditions, The inadequacy of care for pregnant women pregnancy and even routine physiological events reflects the overall lack of services for women like menstruation can wreak havoc in a woman prisoners’ basic health needs. The prisoner activist detainee’s life. One Haitian detainee described her at ORW cited above writes that: experience with a miscarriage in these words: The entire “central services” (i.e. commissary, big All the clothing I had on me was soaked in blood, laundry, dental, medical, mental health, rec, CFS, the sheet where I was laying was filled with blood food warehouse, etc.) was designed for 500 … [they] put chains on my feet and chains on my inmates. We now have 2000 …The plan is really hands. … I was very, very ill and I started not to to up our population to 4000 without improving see well, my stomach when I was walking felt like any central service.89 it was opening. … Everywhere I went in the hospital I’m in chains, in the surgery room chains The same prisoner reports that mammograms, are on my feet.85 pap smears, or any other health services particular to women are rare or entirely absent. About In both detention facilities and prisons, dentists, she writes, incarcerated women have described the extreme humiliation of having to beg for sanitary pads. A It takes months to get an extraction, which is all prison activist at the Ohio Reformatory for they do. … I have teeth slated for REPAIR since Women (ORW) writes that: 1995! No amount of grieving does a damn bit of good. … It took over one week, personal begging 90 Women … bleed all over everything because of … to get some ibuprofen! no proper sanitary protection for disposal and no tampons are issued, bloody unwrapped sanitaries are in every dorm john, every trash can, and While health services and other conditions blood on every faucet handle … and everywhere for male prisoners also fail to meet minimal imaginable. This excludes the humiliation factors. standards, women’s needs are consistently accorded We have male staff in housing units.86 an even lower priority. At ORW, prisoner activists report that women prisoners suffer greatly from Those who successfully carry a pregnancy to the lack of fans in intense summer heat. While a term may give birth shackled to a hospital bed and facility for male prisoners provides electric fans, surrounded by armed guards. At California’s Valley State Prison for Women, prisoners are transferred to the Madera County Hospital, where 84 Pearn, op. cit. prisoner-patients … are held in a specially 85 “Liberty Denied: Women Seeking Asylum Imprisoned in designated secure ward. Despite the presence of four the United States,” Women’s Commission for Refugee armed guards in the ward, each inmate was chained Women and Children, New York, April 1997, pp. 18-19. to the bed by her ankle. … It is hard to see how 86 Letter to Diane Malloy from prisoner activist, Ohio seriously ill women, or women about to give Reformatory for Women, Marysville, OH, 1999. Malloy is birth (or who have just given birth) would ombudsman for the Ohio chapter of CURE, a national present a security risk requiring mechanical organization of prisoners’ friends and family members. restraint, especially in a locked ward closely 87 87 “Findings of a Visit to Valley State Prison for Women, supervised by armed guards. California,” AMR 51/53/99, Amnesty International–USA, New York, April 1999. In one case documented in Cook County, Illinois, 88 Ibid. a woman prisoner was shackled to a hospital bed 89 Letter to Diane Malloy from prisoner activist at Ohio during her twelve hours of labor, since the attend- Reformatory for Women, Marysville, OH, 1999. ing physician could not find an officer to release 90 Ibid.

32 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT women are allowed to use only ineffective battery- had organized links with the women’s anti-violence operated fans, for which they have to buy the movement. batteries themselves. When the women com- When rapes committed by law-enforcement plained, prison authorities replied that the wiring agents become public knowledge, they are gener- was too old in the women’s building.91 ally portrayed as the individual act of a “bad The prisoners’ rights movement has a rich apple,” who may be disciplined or even termi- history of fighting for the basic human rights of nated. Women’s testimonies about their experi- prisoners, including those of women prisoners. ences — as prisoners or detainees, as border The struggle for adequate medical care inside crossers, and in encounters with police or the INS prisons has been a lengthy one, often spearheaded — paint a far different picture of widespread by women prisoners themselves. Resistance to INS violations of women’s bodily integrity, whose detention is newer, since the dramatic nationwide existence goes unacknowledged and whose victims growth of the detention system is relatively recent. face formidable obstacles in seeking legal redress. Local grassroots organizations, national watch From this standpoint, rape and other forms groups like Detention Watch Network, and the of sexual assault committed by law-enforcement Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and authorities are better understood as a systemic and Children are among the groups in the forefront of deliberate, if unofficial, enforcement practice, this struggle, documenting abuses and raising whose perpetrators are rarely held accountable for awareness around the issues. As in every instance their actions. Women prisoners in particular have we have explored, however, the links among spoken of how rape is used as an explicit tool of different enforcement accountability movements punishment and retaliation by prison guards.92 remain weak or absent, as do links with women’s Such assaults serve as an indisputable reminder to reproductive rights organizations. women of the vulnerability of their bodies — as Effective strategies for protecting women’s well as of the impunity of male law-enforcement reproductive freedom need to be based in a thor- authorities. ough appreciation of the varying mechanisms of Bodily searches, by police, prison guards, or restriction, criminalization, and devaluation faced INS agents, also serve as a frequent occasion for by women — whether they are imposed through sexual assault and harassment. Although such legal restrictions on access and funding for abor- searches are supposedly justified for security tions, involuntary sterilization, coercive drug tests reasons, their excessive frequency, intrusiveness, and coercive uses of contraception, criminalization and lack of a functional purpose lend credence to of immigrant women, or abuse of pregnant women the belief of many prisoners and arrestees that the in prison. goal is one of control and terror, rather than safety. Finally, women’s ability to express their Women’s Bodily Integrity sexuality in positive ways, including through lesbian relationships, is systematically denied in the Struggles against sexual assault have long been coercive prison environment. central to the violence against women movement. The focus, however, has mainly been on rape and assault in intimate relationships. Although the use of rape as a deliberate weapon of war has been widely denounced in an international context, the 91 Interview with Jana Schroeder, Criminal Justice Program, women’s movement has seldom organized around American Friends Service Committee, Dayton, OH, and rape and other forms of sexual assault committed statements from prisoners at Ohio Reformatory for Women, by law-enforcement authorities within the borders Marysville, OH. of the United States. Prison activists and, more 92 It should be noted that rape is also used as a routine, if recently, immigrants’ rights advocates have raised unofficial, tool for control of male prisoners by prison authorities, although the reality of male rape is less often such issues, but by and large their efforts have not acknowledged.

33 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Policing — The case of a group of tenants in Patrol agent Luis Santiago Esteves with making Redwood City, California, who complained to sexually explicit, harassing phone calls for days their landlord about deplorable living conditions, after stopping her and her boyfriend at a border became a watershed issue for community organiz- checkpoint. The Border Patrol took no disciplinary ing locally. The landlord called the INS in retalia- action against Esteves, simply transferring him to tion; the INS in turn called local police for assis- another inspection station. Later that year he was tance and together they raided the apartment charged with kidnapping and raping another building. With both female and male tenants Mexican woman. detained in one apartment, the INS agents de- Esteves was suspended after this incident, but manded that some of the women expose their was reinstated without further disciplinary action breasts to the agents and the other detainees.93 when the complaining witness failed to appear in This incident is a clear example of the court. When another immigrant accused him of gendered nature of enforcement violence. It rape two years later, he was arrested and convicted reminds women of their vulnerability to law in both cases; his conviction, however, was reversed enforcement, even inside their homes. From the on appeal. This case illustrates the many difficul- conventional perspective of the men in the com- ties faced by border crossers and border communi- munity, it reinforces the power of (male) enforce- ties in obtaining legal redress, a major reason why ment officers to humiliate male members of the human rights advocates at the border believe community by dramatizing their inability to abuses are seriously underreported.96 protect their female neighbors and family members It is not uncommon for the INS to hide from abuse by authorities. The sexualizing of this records of agents’ past misconduct, such as rape or incident is a demonstration of the power of law- harassment, which then may affect the successful enforcement authorities to do anything they prosecution of rape cases. In a particularly well- please, usually without being held accountable. known case, a Border Patrol agent, Larry Selders, The raid described here resulted in arrests, raped several women over a period of time. When deportation, and further human rights abuses for one victim finally sued for damages, it took over those involved. Ultimately, community outrage three years of legal battle to uncover Selders’s over this incident led to a victory for enforcement previous record. In this case, a sustained effort by accountability advocates. INS Watch, a collabora- ILEMP and its local community partners ulti- tive project of the San Francisco–based Ella Baker mately ensured his exposure, and the Border Patrol Center for Human Rights and La Raza Centro was ordered to pay the plaintiff damages of more Legal, “worked with the tenants to successfully than three-quarters of a million dollars. 97 More pressure the Redwood City Police Department to establish a ‘no collaboration’ policy between local police and the INS.”94 93 Interview with Renee Saucedo, coordinator, INS Watch, a The isolation and seclusion of the Mexico-U.S. joint project of La Raza Centro Legal and Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, San Francisco, 2000. border region makes it especially dangerous for 94 Ibid. women. AFSC’s Immigration Law Enforcement 95 “U.S. Strategies for Eliminating Sexual Violence Against Monitoring Project (ILEMP) reported receipt of Women,” in Proceedings, “National and International 346 abuse reports from 92 women between Janu- Strategies for the Elimination of Sexual Violence,” 5th ary 1993 and August 1995. The abuses docu- Annual Symposium, University of Texas School of Law, mented included illegal detention, inappropriate Austin; published in Texas Journal of Women and the Law, or abusive interrogation, and sexual assault.95 Vol. 6, No. 2, Spring 1997. 96 Once a woman has been stopped by authori- “Global Report on Women’s Human Rights,” 01009946, Part 21, Sexual Assault by U.S. Border Patrol Agents, ties, agents have access to her address, leaving her Human Rights Watch, New York, 1995, pp. 183-191. in danger of being stalked and harassed, especially 97 “Arizona Rape Case Challenges Negligence of INS if she is a local resident. In one notable case, a Supervision of Border Patrol Agent,” U.S. Newswire Mexican woman filed a complaint charging Border (Washington, DC), 13 Aug. 1999.

34 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT often, however, the resources for such persistence pull my pants down, tearing a big hole in my are not available. underwear (I have the underwear as evidence) Similar cases have often been reported in while the other … officers held me down during 100 U.S.-born communities of color. A woman who the humiliating physical search. rejects a police officer’s sexual advances may find Threats of sexual assault can serve to deter herself facing trumped-up charges: women from challenging law-enforcement officers In Newark, New Jersey, a woman was waiting for or filing complaints. Mary Powers, coordinator of a friend at the train station when a police officer the National Coalition on Police Accountability, approached and started flirting with her. When recounts the case of one young woman who wanted she indicated no interest, the officer told her to to file a complaint about police harassment. The take a walk. She walked a bit and the officer officer involved called her at home to say that if she approached her again. When she asked to be left wanted to file a complaint, then he would come to alone, the officer told her that she was under pick it up.101 In another case, a Native American arrest. She was handcuffed and charged with woman was approached by two officers who were resisting arrest and creating a public disturbance. She complained that the cuffs were too tight, to seeking to serve her with legal papers. The interac- which the officer responded with a curse and tion became hostile; when she asked one of the broke her wrist. She was taken to the precinct, officers who he was, he answered, “walk over to the where she overheard the officer telling someone car and get in and I will show you who I am.”102 else that she was under arrest because she had Shawna Virago of Community United turned him down. She was finally released with a Against Violence in San Francisco observes that it court summons, at which point she asked for an is common for law-enforcement officers to assume ambulance because of her wrist. The police that transsexual women are sex workers. Transsexu- refused.98 als may thus be arrested and searched anywhere — Interrogations can also serve as an occasion in a store while shopping, for example — and for sexual assault. In Encinitas, California, a border accused of prostitution even when accompanied by enforcement agent who was questioning a woman their husbands and carrying their marriage li- 103 “asked if she worked as a prostitute”; then he made censes. Groups tracking hate violence against her pull her shirt up and touched her, while lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) looking around to make sure no one was around. people “are particularly concerned with the emerg- He made her pull her pants and underwear down ing pattern of police officials targeting transsexual and penetrated her with his finger.99 and transgendered people.” The National Coali- Sexually humiliating searches can even take tion of Anti-Violence Programs registered a 20 place in full view of the public, as in this incident percent increase over just one year (1997-1998) in reported to NYC Police Watch: reports of law-enforcement personnel perpetrating anti-LGBT violence.104 I was riding my bike … when five officers approached me and threw me off … The officers 98 Case report, NYC Police Watch., New York, 30 Mar. further proceeded to throw me up against a car 1999 (paraphrased). and started searching me forcibly for no possible 99 Petition to Inter-American Commission on Human reason … [the] most degrading experience any Rights, op. cit., p. 27. civilian can be subjected to … [One officer] put 100 on rubber gloves and started taking my clothes Case report, NYC Police Watch, New York, 9 Feb. 1999 101 off in front of the other man officers while Interview with Mary Powers, NCOPA, Chicago, 1999. [another officer] held me down for the illegal 102 Case report, Citizens Alert, Chicago, 4 Jun. 1997. search. Two other officers threw me on the floor 103 Interview with Shawna Virago, Community United on my stomach in the street in front of my Against Violence, San Francisco, 1999. building while all my neighbors watched in 104 “Anti–Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Violence dismay. The neighbors started to yell, to stop the in 1998,” National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, brutality, and they continued to violate me and New York, 1999, p. 54.

35 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Stephanie was walking to a night club when she for use of rape as a tool for reinforcing male noticed a police car following…When she arrived control of women’s bodies. In federal prisons, for at the bar, she immediately went to the women’s example, 70 percent of guards are men.107 bathroom, …a police officer barged into the Medical care may often serve as an occasion bathroom, grabbed her and arrested her for prostitution. Later at the precinct, in front of a for sexual harassment or rape, for example when number of officers, he started to strip search her doctors subject women prisoners to unnecessary with everyone taunting her. One officer pulled her gynecological exams. Involuntary and unnecessary hair so hard, claiming it was a wig, that her scalp pelvic exams, pap smears, and similar tests became began to bleed. She was thrown into a cell naked an issue in the Valley State Prison for Women in and left in the cold night. She had no criminal Chowchilla, which came to light in a particularly record but was charged with solicitation.105 embarrassing fashion for the prison officials. Knowing that Ted Koppel was going to The nature of sexual harassment and assault interview the head medical officer of VSPW on by law enforcement does not vary a great deal Nightline, Legal Services for Prisoners with Chil- among different agencies or according to whether dren, a prisoners’ rights organization in California, they are immigration- or criminal justice–related. informed Koppel about VSPW inmates’ com- Most advocates believe that such abuses are seri- plaints that they were subjected to unnecessary ously underreported and are frequently covered up. pelvic exams when seeking treatments for head- Records of such incidents by police accountability aches.108 When Koppel asked the prison’s 71-year- organizations are crucial for uncovering the extent old medical director a question related to this, he of such abuses. In the Mexico-U.S. border region, replied, “I’ve heard inmates tell me that they organizations like ILEMP and its local grassroots would deliberately like to be examined. It’s the partners play a crucial role in documenting and only male contact they get.”109 investigating such abuses. Missing, however, are On the other hand, since sexual contact is the voices of women’s organizations and their officially forbidden in prisons, it is difficult for presence when the community mobilizes. prisoners to obtain accurate information on HIV If women’s anti-violence organizations were and other sexually transmitted diseases, and to join campaigns around such issues, they could educational materials on such topics may even be promote a stronger understanding of the gendered banned.110 nature of law-enforcement violence. Such links Amnesty International describes “male guards could also help women’s organizations to develop touching prisoners’ breasts and genitals during an approach to anti-violence work that incorpo- rates a critique of the involvement of the state as a direct perpetrator of violence against women. Similarly, although both immigrant and U.S.-born 105 Ibid., p. 64 (paraphrased). women of color have very similar experiences of state 106 Numerous such cases are documented in “All Too violence, the opportunities for the cross-fertilization Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons,” of their organizing experiences are very rare. Human Rights Watch, New York, Dec. 1996, and a follow- up report, “Nowhere to Hide: Retaliation Against Women in Michigan State Prisons,” Human Rights Watch, New Jailing — Women in prisons frequently report rape York, Jul. 1998. or harassment by guards and medical practitioners. 107 Gary Delsohn, “Prison Doctor Loses Post over TV In an environment characterized by isolation, Comment,” Sacramento Bee, 15 Oct. 1999. authoritarian control, and an active philosophy of 108 dehumanization, rape, and harassment serve as the Interview with Donna Wilmott, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, San Francisco, 1999. ultimate opportunity for guards and others to assert their authority.106 Needless to say, the 109 As quoted in Delsohn, op. cit. predominance of male guards and medical person- 110 Interview with Jana Schroeder, Criminal Justice Program, nel makes women’s prisons an especially potent site American Friends Service Committee, Dayton, OH, 1999.

36 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT daily pat-down and strip searches, watching plaints and infractions of disciplinary rules. women as they shower and dress and, in some Cassandra Shaylor comments that women at Valley cases, selling women to male inmates for sex.”111 State Prison for Women who speak up and fight A strip search conducted by or in front of back are more likely to end up in isolation in the men is a frightening experience for any woman; it prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU). For ex- is all the more so for immigrant women who may ample, if a woman is raped by a guard and be- come from a culture in which no man has ever comes pregnant but refuses an abortion, she can be seen them naked except their husbands. Additional sent to SHU. In essence, Shaylor argues, women constraints, such as lack of knowledge of English prisoners become property of the state.114 At the or of what recourse is available to prisoners, can Women’s Correctional Center in Montana, accord- render the situation even more traumatic. In a ing to Luana Ross, both gender and race are report on women asylum seekers incarcerated in an treated as forms of deviance warranting additional INS detention facility in rural York County, punishment. Notes Ross, “Native women are Pennsylvania, the Women’s Commission for disproportionately represented in maximum Refugee Women and Children describes what security: out of eleven women, six are Native. This happened when a Ugandan woman fleeing extreme … relates directly to Native prisoners’ relationships violence in her country broke down emotionally: with white guards.”115 Homophobic practices are also intensified in The prison deemed [her] breakdown a suicide the prison environment. Lesbian relationships are attempt and sent in a “Quick Response Team.” interpreted in an exclusive context of violence and The team consisted of four men, three of whom victimization, with no recognition of consensual were wearing riot gear. They also brought dogs… The men, without the presence of a female guard, relationships. Some women may be lesbians stripped [her]. She begged them not to remove independently of their incarceration; for others, a her bra and panties… they placed her naked and lesbian relationship may serve as an adaptation to spread-eagled in four-point restraints on a cot.”112 the prison environment. In either case, homopho- bic, voyeuristic, and oppressive labeling of lesbian Most women prisoners and detainees are relationships can make intimate relationships survivors of physical and sexual violence. Prisons difficult or impossible to maintain, even though and detention centers are seldom equipped to they may be fundamental to prisoners’ sanity. Any support women in recovering from such trauma, expression of affection, whether sexual or not, may and in fact are far more likely to aggravate it with be penalized. Lesbian couples that are identified as additional sexual violence. According to one analysis of Department of Justice statistics, “48 percent of women in U.S. jails reported being sexually or physically abused prior to their deten- 111 Barbara Vobejda, “Abuse of Female Prisoners in U.S. Is tion; 27 percent reported being raped. Given the Routine, Rights Report Says,” Washington Post, 4 Mar. 1999, general underreporting by women in the area of p. A-11. sexual assault, the actual percentages are likely to 112 “Forgotten Prisoners: A Follow-up Report on Refugee be much higher.”113 The INS incarcerates many Women Incarcerated in York County, Pennsylvania,” women asylum seekers who are fleeing gender- Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, New York, Jul. 1998, p. 7. based violence in their home countries; such women may be detained for years without outside 113 “Women in California Prisons,” information packet, contact. Both detainees and prisoners receive little Women’s Institute for Leadership Development for Human Rights and Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, San support in facing nightmares, depression, suicidal Francisco, May 1998. impulses, and other symptoms resulting from 114 severe trauma. Interview with Cassandra Shaylor, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, San Francisco, 1999. Sexist and patriarchal notions about women affect the way guards respond to women’s com- 115 Luana Ross, op. cit., p. 142.

37 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT such may be separated and beaten. Women who Amendment guarantees against unreasonable are seen as butches may be viewed as always trying search and seizure — are heavily conditioned by to make sexual advances to other prisoners, even racial and economic status. though male guards may pose a far greater threat. Police trainings promoted and administered Books and publications about lesbianism, or a by domestic violence agencies have brought about lesbian prison visitor, may be thrown out.116 undeniable improvements in the way police Jackie Walker, AIDS Information Coordina- respond to domestic violence calls. In some ways, tor of the ACLU National Prison Project, com- however, this strategy of reform has backfired. ments that lesbian partners of prisoners may be Women who turn to police for protection from harassed during visitation. Individual wardens may battering may still face humiliation or abuse from impose arbitrary policies prohibiting women from officers, implicit and sometimes overt encourage- touching one another or even doing one another’s ment of the batterer, and wrongful arrest of hair.117 Luana Ross argues that homophobic women as the primary aggressor. Such problems fantasies, fueled by media stereotypes, “see the may be compounded through deportation of the imprisoned women as the ‘hardened bull-dyke’ batterer against the woman’s wishes or dispropor- lurking in the halls, waiting to rape her next victim. tionate arrests of men of color. Gay women can also be seen as ‘unfit mothers’ and Women — primarily but not exclusively denied visits with their children, punished exces- women of color — must also face the intrusion of sively, and put in maximum security.”118 law enforcement into their homes in the pursuit of drug or immigration raids, often on the flimsiest of legal grounds. Since home is a space where women Violence in the Home and Family are often found, either as homemakers or as The supposedly private space of the home primary caretakers (in addition to any role they and family is another significant site of enforce- may play as breadwinners), enforcement violence ment violence against women. The discussion in the home affects women’s lives in a central way. below explores two key concepts: intrusions by law Numerous cases have been documented in enforcement into the home; and the impact of which law-enforcement authorities have illegally enforcement violence on women’s roles as mothers, entered private homes, often when it should have and, more generally, caregivers. Both home and been clear that the person they were seeking did family have been pivotal concepts in the develop- not even live there. Women often face the brunt of ment of women’s organizing; the present discus- such raids, either directly or when they come sion challenges us to rethink our understanding of under suspicion of being accomplices or possessing these social arenas. information about the primary suspect. Such raids can lead, at the minimum, to the destruction of Home: When the State Intrudes property, violence, and illegal arrests, as well as to As noted in the previous section, the main- more drastic consequences such as the temporary stream women’s anti-violence movement has or permanent separation of mothers from children, sought to protect women from battering by deportation, and the break-up of families. Factors advocating for a more active response from police agencies. The underlying assumption of this strategy is that government intervention is the best 116 Information provided by Jana Schroeder, Criminal Justice way to protect women from intimate violence in Program, American Friends Service Committee, Dayton, their private homes. As we have argued, however, OH, based on presentations at the October 1998 Critical communities of color, both immigrant and U.S.- Resistance conference in San Francisco. born, also face a significant threat of violence in 117 Interview with Jackie Walker, AIDS Information the home from state authorities. The supposed Coordinator, ACLU National Prison Project, Washington, privacy and sanctity of the home is a very relative DC, 2000. concept, whose application — like that of Fourth 118 Luana Ross, op. cit.

38 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT that can render home intrusions particularly with American justice was when my lawyer told traumatic for women include the presence of me to cooperate or they would give me 20 years.121 children, pregnancy, state of undress, and the sense During a house raid by INS, whether or not of responsibility for the home and everything in it women are directly targeted, they often feel a sense that women carry as primary caregivers. of responsibility for the home and everyone in it, House raids by immigration authorities are a which may provoke great tension and anxiety. In frequent occurrence in the Mexico-U.S. border communities threatened by INS raids, it is often region. Amnesty International has documented women who come together to strategize about how cases of homes being invaded and searched without to avoid house raids, as an extension of their notice and family members being deported if they responsibility for caring for the home. Case files were unable to produce appropriate identification.119 from the Washington Alliance for Immigrant and Tucson attorney Jesus Romo represented a Refugee Justice quote one woman as saying that if family subjected to such a raid in Nogales, Ari- the INS is around, she turns the lights and televi- zona. Their complaint against the Border Patrol sion off so that the house appears empty. notes that the woman of the house and her child Home invasions by police are similar to are U.S. citizens; her husband is a permanent those by immigration agents, with frequent reports resident. One evening in 1997, Border Patrol of the destruction of property or forced entry. agents “pounded” at their home; when the hus- According to one case report, band answered the door, In New York, a fifty-year-old African American one of the agents threw the sliding door open and woman was lying in her room and her daughter burst in … Once inside, the agents asked [the and dog were in the living room. The daughter man] for his papers and then proceeded to heard a drilling noise and went to the door to confront the frightened child and mother, check it. Just then the cops burst in. … The screaming for “papers.” The agents proceeded to daughter ran out of the room scared — they shot search the house without ever asking for permis- after her and the bullet went into the wall. She sion from anyone in the house. They … stayed in ran to her mother’s door. The cops grabbed and the household for approximately thirty minutes, pulled her back and broke down the bedroom causing panic and terror to the occupants. … door. Five officers ran in cursing, wearing riot They never asked for permission, and during gear with their faces hidden. They told the their entire stay … they acted as if the Plaintiffs woman “to shut the fuck up.” They picked up the were under arrest and the agents had the absolute bed and said, “there is nothing there.” They right to go through the Plaintiffs’ personal 120 claimed they had reports of heavy drug activity property and rooms without permission. but the women told them they had the wrong house. They made the mother and daughter As a result of the trauma of this incident, the stand in the hallway in full view of the neighbors woman of the house, who was two months preg- while they searched the house. They took them to nant, miscarried within forty-eight hours. the precinct, kept them locked up for several hours, Donna Wilmott of Legal Services for Prison- and gave them a summons for half a joint and a $3 ers with Children cites the case of Danny, a Co- bag of marijuana they said they had found.122 lombian woman who was serving a twenty-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in 119 “Human Rights Concerns in the Border Region with Dublin, California. In an interview with Wilmott, Mexico,” Report AMR 51/03/98, Amnesty International- Danny commented that: USA, New York, May 1998. 120 Complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Tucson, Arizona, When I was arrested my house was raided 1997. illegally; they had no warrant for my arrest. I was 121 Cited in Donna Wilmott, “The War on Immigrants – given a public defender who was an immigration Behind the Walls,” unpublished presentation, Women’s lawyer and had no real experience in criminal Studies Forum, San Francisco State University, Oct. 1998. law. … She never even investigated the illegal 122 Case Report, NYC Police Watch, New York, 1 Feb. 1999 circumstances of my arrest. … My first disillusion (paraphrased).

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Women may be suspected of withholding wealthy employers’ home was held to be invio- information if they are related to a man police are late, while the plight of an immigrant worker looking for. In other cases, homes have been being held in a condition of involuntary servitude 125 broken into in by police searching for people who was not serious enough to merit police action. did not even live there. The type of home intrusions described here In San Francisco, a police car pulled up at the have resulted in numerous community-based home of a thirty-four-year-old African American campaigns and legal challenges, from legal activ- woman. The police burst into her house pulling ists, immigrants’ rights organizations, and a variety out guns. They went up the stairs without any of watchdog groups. In particular, house raids by permission, scaring her young son, yelling and immigration authorities have been a major focus cursing. They were apparently looking for a man for organizations seeking to stop INS raids. As in who did not live there. They had no search other instances we have cited, however, there has warrant and informed the woman that they did been little involvement by women’s organizations not need one as they could do whatever they wanted.123 in such initiatives, while efforts by enforcement accountability groups have reflected little under- Case reports from police accountability standing of women’s experience of violence, groups paint a picture of police behavior that particularly the ways in which women may be caught includes physical violence, shows of weapons, use in an unbearable double bind when they face vio- of helicopters, wanton destruction of property, and lence from both batterers and law enforcement. false arrests. The scale of such actions is entirely disproportionate to any legitimate law-enforce- Motherhood and Caregiving ment objective. One sixty-year-old Afro-Caribbean The term “motherhood” has traditionally woman in New York City, whose house was evoked the experiences of economically secure searched for no reason when she and an older women living in nuclear families — as home- relative were home, commented that police were in makers, or, increasingly, as affluent professionals. “full gear as if prepared for war.”124 Working-class women and women of color have The aggressiveness displayed in drug and fought to expand the discussion of motherhood to immigration raids is very much at odds with the include women who are impoverished or working behavior of law enforcement when called upon to poor, single women, and “physically absent” defend the rights of those who are vulnerable and mothers such as live-in domestic workers or oppressed. A personal experience of the author is migrant workers. Our understanding of mother- illustrative: hood and caregiving has also expanded to reflect In 1999, I received information about a live-in the experiences of lesbian families, extended domestic worker, a recent South Asian immigrant families (which are more common in communities working in the home of a wealthy suburban of color), and other “nontraditional” (that is, non- professional couple. She was working around the nuclear) families. clock for almost no wages and was forbidden to Survivors of enforcement violence challenge communicate with the outside world. She was us to expand these notions once again to include desperate and wanted to escape but did not know an understanding of how the caregiving role is how. As immigrants’ rights advocates, my then- coworker and I knew that if we simply showed up at the home where the woman was being held, we would be lied to or accused of trespassing. We 123 Case report, Bay Area Police Watch, San Francisco, 30 contacted the police discreetly since she was Aug. 1999 (paraphrased). undocumented. They said they could not help us 124 Case report, NYC Police Watch, New York, 12 Jan. 1999. communicate with her employers and that if we 125 Personal experience of Anannya Bhattacharjee as repre- approached them, we would be charged with sentative of Andolan: Organizing South Asian Workers, trespassing. In this case, the privacy of these New York, 1999.

40 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT shaped for some women by their encounters with hiding there. They put me in the van and I gave the state. The stories presented in this section my name and answered other questions they illuminate how women may be held responsible asked. I have five children and I told the agents for parenting even when they have little control that I wanted to be with my children. The agents were trying to convince everyone to sign volun- over it. We will see how enforcement violence may tary departure. They said a bus was coming and cause women to be criminalized as “bad” mothers they could get on it and be in Mexico faster. I, — or to see their lives violently disrupted as they along with another woman, said I would sign strive to fulfill the responsibilities of motherhood. voluntary departure if I could get my children to Ultimately, violence and other abuses of come with me. The agents told us they would get human rights by law enforcement reconfigure a bus for all of them and they would go get our motherhood as a tool for greater state control of children. They said this to scare them into women and their communities. As members of signing, thinking we would not want the INS to go get our children. But I told them that was fine extended families — grandmothers, aunts, sisters, with me — I just wanted to be with my and so on —women must also face violent and children.I called my children and told them to protracted disruptions of family life caused by get ready to go.127 enforcement violence, even when authorities did not “come for them.” In addition to the difficulties faced by most Such experiences have given rise to organiza- mothers in juggling the responsibilities of job and tions led by mothers and caregivers who support parenting, immigrant women face the enormous each other and organize around enforcement burden of being continually alert to the possibility violence and its effects on their families. Examples of having their family life turned upside down in a include Parents Against Police Brutality in New matter of hours. Both legally documented as well York; Mothers for Freedom in Miami, which as undocumented women may be detained and focuses on INS detention; and the Boycott Crime even deported in INS raids. Coalition in Newark, New Jersey, a grassroots Immigrant mothers must devise contingency coalition addressing both police brutality and plans for their children in case they are taken away, abusive prison conditions. Legal Services for given that once they are detained, there is little Prisoners with Children, one of the first organiza- opportunity to make alternative child-care arrange- tions to work with prisoners and their children, ments. Women may need to decide whether or not helped start the Grandparent Caregiver Advocacy to take their children with them if they are de- Project, in recognition of the role of extended ported. Children also increase women’s vulnerabil- families in prisoners’ lives. Locally based grassroots ity to coercion by the INS, which may use children organizations focusing on these issues exist in as leverage to induce women to sign documents many parts of the country. (such as voluntary departure) that they could legally refuse to sign.128 Policing — As women represent an ever-larger proportion of immigrants, increasing numbers of mothers, including single mothers, are affected by 126 Statements collected by Washington Alliance for Immi- INS raids. According to statements compiled by grant and Refugee Justice, Brewster, WA, 1997. See also the Washington Alliance for Immigrant and Refugee “Civil Rights Under Siege: The Impact of Immigration Justice, a series of INS raids at the Brewster Raids on Washington State,” WAIRJ and National INS Heights Packing Plant in 1997 and 1998 picked Raids Task Force, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Oakland, CA, Oct. 1998. up “lots of women who are single moms with kids 127 in school here in Brewster.”126 One mother de- Statement by worker at Brewster Heights Packing Plant to WAIRJ, Brewster, WA, 1998. scribed a raid in March 1998 in these words: 128 “Women at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Violation of Women’s I hid behind a machine… After they found me Rights as Human Rights in Border Crossings,” Immigration the first time, I escaped again and hid in the Law Enforcement Monitoring Project, American Friends bathroom. Four agents came in and found me Service Committee, Houston, TX, Sept. 1995.

41 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Case reports from watchdog groups bear resulting in possible eviction and other problems. witness to the extreme shock experienced by Women’s options for managing such situations women when their efforts to earn a living in order may be extremely limited, particularly since their to take care of their families are treated as a crimi- immigration status may well be as insecure as their nal activity. While detained, women describe being husband’s. Returning to their country of origin strip-searched as if they were smugglers. In Miami, may expose them and their children to utter a Mother’s Day action in 1998 denounced an destitution, violence, or both. abusive and violent workplace raid by the INS the U.S.-born women of color face similar previous month, in which legally documented as anxieties in encounters with police. Mothers may well as undocumented women were rounded up.129 be threatened with major disruptions of family life, As primary caregivers, women are often including losing their children to the foster care accompanied by their children while they are system. In California, “there is no law requiring running errands. In border towns, being stopped police officers to allow parents to make arrange- by law enforcement on such everyday occasions is ments for the care of their children at the time of not uncommon. Mothers have been humiliated by arrest.”131 The examples below are drawn from being abused by agents in front of their children case reports collected by police watch groups: and have witnessed their children being violently handled while they are helpless to do anything [An African American woman] was coming up th about it. 112 Street [in Manhattan]. … She was with her Lynn Coyle of the Lawyers Committee for eight-year-old daughter. The cops asked for her license and she gave it to them. She had just Human Rights Under the Law in El Paso, Texas, purchased new insurance and she didn’t have the filed a complaint on behalf of a husband, wife, and papers on her. … Another cop car rode up and at their three children who were illegally detained this point there were six cops all huddled in the and incarcerated by Border Patrol near Amarillo, street talking. … They asked if anyone was at Texas. Even after the rest of the family was re- home in her house, and she said no. They said if leased, the mother and her thirteen-year-old no one was home they would have to send her daughter were detained and subjected to physical daughter to foster care. Her daughter started and emotional abuse, including being threatened crying. [The woman] kept asking why they were stopping her … and the cop said, “I’m not going with rape. Each was manipulated through threats to discuss this with you in the street.” … They to the other to induce them to cooperate with put her daughter in a police car and then hand- Border Patrol agents. One agent told the daughter cuffed her in front of her daughter. They took her that if she did not convince her mother to sign a to the 28th precinct and booked her and put her document, he would physically harm her mother. in a cell. … Several times she heard superior Another agent told the mother that he would rape officers saying, “this girl should never have been her daughter if she refused to sign. Agents called arrested.” She was in custody for seventeen hours the mother a “bitch,” “daughter of a whore,” and without food. At 6:00 p.m. the next night she was arraigned and they sent her home with three “fucking bitch” in front of the daughter. Ulti- tickets – headlight missing and insurance papers mately, both were released into a freezing night not on her. The criminal ticket did not have the 130 without transportation, money, or warm clothing. charge written on it. She went to the court on the Women who are not directly targeted by INS or Border Patrol agents generally assume responsi- bility for taking care of the needs of family mem- 129 “Portrait of Injustice,” op. cit., p. 21. bers who have fallen into the hands of authorities. 130 Complaint No. 2-94-CV-344, filed in U.S. District This expanded caregiving role may include seeking Court, Amarillo, TX, 7 Dec. 1994 (incident of 8 Jan. 1993). legal representation, bringing necessary papers to a 131 Thorn Ndaizee Meweh and Dorsey Nunn, “Mass detention center, and the like. In other cases, an Incarceration and Communities of Color,” Political Environ- entire family may be left without income when a ments (newsletter of Committee on Women, Population, man who is the sole breadwinner is deported, and the Environment), No. 7, Fall 1999–Winter 2000.

42 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

day it said and she was waiting all day. They Several blocks from our house police began eventually told her that the paperwork was lost following his car and then they pulled him over. and the case was dismissed.132 The police said they were looking for drugs and guns, but they never searched the car. They called In Stockton [California], a 27-year-old Latina an eleven-car back-up. In the end, four kids were mother was getting her kids ready for school. The arrested, two of whom lived with me. They took police loudly banged on her door, broke it in the kids down to the precinct and roughed them with guns although she was going to open it, up a bit. I was really quite concerned, not only knocked her over bleeding and almost uncon- for my children, but for what was happening in scious. Her kids were thrown all over the place. our communities. … We have made accountabil- They claimed that they were looking for crack ity a buzzword. And we’ve had an impact on the 133 and some man who clearly did not live there. arbitrary use of the felony stop.136

As in the immigration cases cited above, it is A different type of problem is faced by usually women who deal with the aftermath of an women of color who are arrested or accused of encounter with law enforcement, beginning with negligence. One well-known case is that of teenage finding money for bail. Mothers frequently try to mother Tabitha Walrond, who was unable to ensure fair treatment for their sons at the hands of obtain adequate medical advice for her newborn the police; in the process it not uncommon for due to processing delays and mix-ups by Medicaid them to be assaulted and detained, as illustrated in and the hospital involved. After the death of her the extracts below: baby boy, she was charged with recklessly causing his death and was convicted of criminally negligent An African American woman went to the police homicide, a verdict that could have drawn a prison station to straighten out her son’s arrest for disorderly conduct. Some officers started “beating sentence of four years. Walrond’s case drew a great her down” in the room she was in and debating deal of public attention and she was ultimately whether she should also go to jail. She was sentenced to five years of probation with manda- released on bond for a battery charge. She had tory counseling.137 done nothing.134 The stigmatization of women of color as “bad” mothers leads to women internalizing these A fifty-three-year-old African American woman was working as security in a building in New notions. In California’s Central Valley, AFSC’s York, when someone came and told her that her Pan-Valley Institute has brought together recent son was being beaten up. She went to the place immigrant women from different ethnic groups to where this was happening and approached the reflect on their experiences. In such gatherings, police to ask what was going on. The officer mothers have expressed great concern about their asked her who she was and she said she was the sons’ involvement with gangs and intimidation by mother. The officer told her to “back the fuck off” and pushed her. When he was about to push her again she raised her hands up and the officer ordered her arrest. Her hand was pushed into a 132 Case report, NYC Police Watch, New York, 9 Sept. 98 school fence and was fractured. She was taken to 133 Case report, Bay Area Police Watch, San Francisco, 4 Central Booking. In the meantime her son was Nov. 1999. taken to Riker’s Island although they did not find 134 135 Case report, Citizens Alert, Chicago, 1 Oct. 1997 what they were looking for on him (a gun). (paraphrased). 135 Case report, NYC Police Watch, New York, 19 Jul. 1999 Harriett Walden of Mothers for Police Ac- (paraphrased). countability in Seattle describes how the group was 136 Interview with Harriett Walden, Mothers for Police formed: Accountability, Seattle, 1999. See also “Harriett Walden: Crusader for Police Accountability,” People’s Weekly World, “Mothers” got started after an incident happened 24 Apr. 1999. with one of my sons and the police. My son was 137 “What Kind of Justice? The Case of Tabitha Walrond,” coming home from a Black community festival. Sojourner: The Women’s Forum, Nov. 1999, p. 11.

43 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

the police. In the absence of an analysis of institu- ever getting them back. Both conventional prisons tional racism in the surrounding culture, they tend and INS detention are designed in ways that, to hold themselves entirely responsible for their rather than aiding women to maintain a bond with sons’ “getting into trouble,” experiencing depres- their children, instead make it as hard as possible. sion and increased isolation as a result.138 Women sentenced to federal prison are generally The attitudes and actions of law enforcement shipped out of state, where they may lose touch and other agencies of the state reflect a familiar with their children and families.141 Such services as contradiction, in which women of color, both do exist to support family reunification owe a great immigrant and U.S.-born, are prevented from deal to sustained pressure by advocates and af- caring adequately for their children, while they are fected communities. simultaneously accused of child abuse and neglect. If a woman with a child is arrested, she often A white suburban housewife who stays home to turns to female relatives — her mother, grand- care for her children is applauded, while a poor mother, aunt, sister, or older daughter — to act as woman of color who seeks state support to do the caregivers until she is released. Such relatives are same is stigmatized as lazy. An undocumented routinely investigated by child welfare authorities, mother who crosses the border in order to be able and any past criminal record may lead to the child to provide for her children is seen as negligent for being placed in foster care. Even in the absence of exposing her children to the considerable risks a criminal record, such investigations may lead to involved — even though such risks have been arbitrary conclusions, as in the case cited below of entirely created by shifts in state policies over a prisoner who asked her mother to care for her child: recent years. [The social worker] stated a few things that I feel Jailing — “More than two-thirds of all incarcer- should not disqualify my mother from having my ated women,” according to Human Rights Watch, daughter. My mother has trouble reading. Her not being able to give an address for school or her “have at least one child under the age of eighteen, home at a moment’s notice does not prove that 139 and the majority of these are single mothers.” she cannot take care of my child. I feel that my Motherhood is a compelling force in the lives of mother is capable of caring for my children.142 many women prisoners, and their children may provide a fundamental motivation for them to Even when a woman is able to obtain a rebuild their lives. Women caught up in the caregiver or guardian, she still faces serious ob- criminal justice system, however, are stigmatized stacles in maintaining a relationship with her far more harshly than men, resulting in profound children, who may be her only lifeline. Factors suspicion by authorities of their ability to be such as intervention by child welfare authorities, “good” mothers. the loss of a caregiver, or the caregiver’s lack of The rapid rise in the incarceration of women commitment to keeping the mother in contact of color has led to situations in which mothers and daughters from the same family, and even grand- mothers, may all be incarcerated. AFSC criminal 138 Interview with Myrna Martinez, Pan Valley Institute, justice staff have observed that children with an American Friends Service Committee, Fresno, CA, 2000. incarcerated parent are especially targeted by law 139 “Nowhere to Hide,” op. cit. enforcement, thus increasing the likelihood of 140 Interview with Patricia Clark, National Criminal Justice their criminalization and incarceration.140 In the Representative, American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia, 2000. process, mothers are held solely accountable for 141 society’s inability to provide a healthy environment “Impact on Children of Women in Prison,” Fact sheet No. 3, Rights for All Campaign, Amnesty International– for their children. USA, New York, n.d. See also “Not Part of My Sentence,” An overriding issue for incarcerated mothers op. cit. is the lengthy separation they face from their 142 Letter from prisoner to Legal Services for Prisoners with children, coupled with the diminishing hope of Children, San Francisco, 10 May 1999.

44 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT with her child may lead to permanent loss of citizen children. … Stacey went to the [INS] to custody. The consequences of such a loss may be apply for U.S. citizenship. … In doing a back- devastating — for the woman herself, for her child, ground check, the INS discovered that Stacey had and for the community at large, which faces the been convicted of petty larceny as a teenager. This minor crime made her subject to removal, prospect of “lost generations” growing up without 143 despite her strong ties to the United States. … parenting. The INS came to her house … arrested her and Once children are placed in foster care, placed her in the Varick Street Detention Center women prisoners face further obstacles in main- in Manhattan. … Her deportation officer taining not only contact but also parental rights. pressured her repeatedly to tell the Jamaican The foster care agency may move the child without consulate that she wanted to return. … They telling the mother; if the mother does not know threatened to transfer her to a jail hundreds of where her child is, she may be accused of neglect miles from New York where she would never see her family. One day, the INS made good on its and abandonment.144 In California, the Depart- threat. … Stacey was placed in the DeKalb ment of Corrections is not required by law to County Prison in Atlanta. … She attempted transport women to foster care hearings, yet judges suicide …Her pro bono lawyers …requested her may regard their absence as evidence of the release …The INS denied the parole request, woman’s lack of interest.145 One woman’s letter to stating the it was now holding her because she is Legal Services for Prisoners with Children recounts a threat to her own safety. … Stacey, meanwhile, how her attempt to regain custody of her child met is giving up hope … wondering how her baby is 148 a roadblock when she was unable to attend the faring without the care of its mother. court hearing: The extension of caregiving — In the case of polic- I filed a notice of motion to get into court so I ing, often there is no clear boundary between the could get visitation rights… I had planned on person who is mainly affected by law enforcement letting the judge know of my wish to enter the and their family members or caregivers. Once CPMP [Community Prisoner Mother Program] someone is incarcerated, however, the sharpest of infant program … I was asking that full physical lines separates those inside prison walls from those custody [be] restored to me… Needless to say the outside. We believe that emphasizing the role of judge refused to submit an oral order of transport women as caregivers for prisoners does not detract for me to be taken to court, so on the day of the from efforts to support the person who is incarcer- hearing the case was dismissed because I didn’t show up.146 ated. Rather, it illuminates how women often become invisible when enforcement accountability Donna Wilmott of Legal Services for Prison- efforts focus exclusively on the experience of a ers with Children underscores the permanent destruction of families caused by the INS deten- 143 Interview with Cassie Pierson, Legal Services for Prison- tion system. “The vast majority of immigrants are ers with Children, San Francisco, 1999. deported after completing their full sentences. … 144 Even if a woman has lived her entire life in the Interview with Mary Fitzgerald, Justice Works, New York, 2000. United States, had children here, and obtained a 145 green card, the chances are high she will be de- Interview with Cassandra Shaylor, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, San Francisco, 1999. ported. … The present policy of deporting people regardless of where their real community ties are is 146 Letter from prisoner to Legal Services for Prisoners with inhumane.”147 Detention Watch describes how Children, San Francisco, 12 May 1999 one young mother was affected: 147 Donna Wilmott, “The War on Immigrants – Behind the Walls,” op. cit. Originally from Jamaica, [Stacey] had been a 148 Wendy Young, “Young Mother’s Detention Nightmare,” permanent resident in the United States since she Detention Watch Network News, No. 13, Feb.-Mar. 2000 was four years old … living in the New York (newsletter of Detention Watch, Lutheran Immigrant and metropolitan area with her husband and two U.S. Refugee Services, Baltimore, MD).

45 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT single (usually male) victim of enforcement vio- of their family members by law-enforcement lence, and reinforces our understanding of incar- authorities. In early 1999, Mothers for Freedom, a ceration as a community rather than an individual group supporting INS detainees, staged a hunger experience. strike to protest conditions in Florida’s notorious Renee Wormack Keels is a member of Silent Krome Detention Center. The organization played Warriors, a Massachusetts support group for mothers a central role in bringing national attention to the with sons and daughters in prison. She writes, issue of INS detention and in successfully pressur- ing the INS to change certain policies. Later that My oldest son is in prison. … I attended the trial year, another mothers’ group helped negotiate an every day until the jury was given the case. … my end to a hostage crisis among INS detainees in son [was] found guilty AND sentenced, all at the same time. I was overwhelmed. … There was no Louisiana, although in that case the INS was later one with whom I could share my grief and accused of reneging on its promises to the mothers heartache. I closed the door to my room and and their incarcerated sons.152 cried most of the day and into the night. … In a very real sense, women caregivers subsi- Each and every one of these young men and dize the U.S. government by taking care of the women has someone who is concerned about largest incarcerated population in the world. Sadly, them. That person may be a mother, a grand- entrenched patterns of sexism mean that women mother, a daughter or a sister or perhaps a wife. prisoners may not receive the same level of support … Regardless of the fact that our sons are in prison, innocent or guilty, there is something we from male partners outside; for example, notes can all do. There are some things we have a right Mary Fitzgerald of Justice Works, women prisoners to know. What is happening to our children? … often receive significantly fewer visitors than male Do they receive adequate medical attention when prisoners.153 Nonetheless, whether from inside or it is required? Do we realize that there are issues outside prison walls, women of color, both immi- of accountability for Department of Corrections grant and U.S.-born, struggle valiantly to prevent and the criminal justice system as a whole? There the state-sponsored destruction of their families are constitutional rights that protect them, but and communities. do we know what they are and how to access that information? No, because we rarely are able to ask these questions without being looked upon suspiciously ourselves.149

On death row, a large majority of prisoners are men; like most prisoners, they rely on women outside (mothers or partners) for most aspects of their lives. Guilt by association leaves women 149 Renee Wormack Keels, “Me and Other Mothers caregivers of death row prisoners heavily stigma- (MOMS),” a message for Mother’s Day, Loves Herself – tized; for some, even buying groceries can become Regardless, Winter 97, Vol. 1, No. 2 (publication of Women’s a traumatic experience. When they visit their loved Theological Center, Newton Centre, MA). ones they are treated with contempt and suspicion 150 150 Interview with Patricia Clark, National Criminal Justice by prison guards. Representative, American Friends Service Committee, When released prisoners rejoin their families, Philadelphia, 2000. everyone in their home may be caught up in the 151 scrutiny and searches of the parole officer. In Interview with Cassie Pierson, Legal Services for Prison- ers with Children, San Francisco, 1999. government-subsidized housing, if a parolee is arrested or anything is found during a search, the 152 Alan Clendenning, “Inmate still being held in Louisiana family can lose their home.151 was promised he would go to Cuba,” Associated Press, 24 In immigrant communities, one reflection of Dec. 1999. the extension of women’s caregiving role is the 153 Interview with Mary Fitzgerald, Justice Works, New leadership women have taken in challenging abuses York, 2000.

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Violence Against Women out that the only type of labor regulation that in the Workplace receives plentiful government funding is control of the undocumented workforce, in sharp contrast to Women in the low-wage and underground the level of government resources devoted to the workforce face a pervasive threat from enforcement enforcement of labor laws that protect workers.156 violence in the workplace. Women in low-income Extensive documentation from human rights communities have always been important wage organizations, labor unions, and immigrants’ rights earners; today, they increasingly bear such burdens groups verifies that workplace raids frequently alone as heads of households. In either case, affect legally documented workers and U.S. enforcement violence adds significantly to the citizens as well as undocumented workers. Immi- pressures of women’s responsibilities as caregivers gration raids are frequently used by employers as a and breadwinners. tactic for disrupting labor organizing efforts. Far The door is opened to enforcement violence from stopping the inflow of undocumented against women in the workplace when the struggle workers, INS raids serve to intimidate immigrant to earn a living is defined as a criminal activity. On workers and keep them more vulnerable to exploi- the one hand, this criminalization of women’s tation by employers. Many of the firms that have work stems from the heavy reliance of certain been raided proactively recruit workers in the economic sectors on undocumented women border region; others, especially in agriculture, rely workers: in service occupations, whether in motels on labor contractors in an effort to insulate them- or restaurants or as workers in private households; selves from legal responsibility. in agriculture, where women represent an increasing While INS raids subject undocumented portion of farm workers; and in such industries as workers to detention and deportation, “employer meat-packing, canneries, or the garment industry. sanctions” provisions enacted in 1986 have seldom In other instances, women’s work is been enforced. In recognition of this reality, in criminalized due to the underground nature of February 2000 the AFL-CIO reversed its long- certain types of work, such as sex work or drug standing support for employer sanctions, joining sales. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women are immigrants’ rights organizations in calling for a a major portion of those who survive through a new amnesty for undocumented workers. combination of small drug sales and erratic sex The cases cited in previous sections have work, trapped in cycles of substance abuse, domes- illustrated the impact of INS workplace raids on tic violence, and, often, both.154 women as caregivers, as breadwinners, as mothers- A focus on enforcement violence reveals to-be, and as sexual beings. It is important to note many parallels between these diverse experiences of as well that current immigration policies favor the women’s work, even though they are seldom immigration of skilled high-tech workers and other considered together. In both instances, women are highly educated people, most of whom are male, subject to harassment, coercion, and outright given their greater access to such occupations globally. violence from law enforcement, whether the Women are more often eligible to immigrate agency in question is the INS or local police. Although there are important differences in how law enforcement handles workers in these different 154 Interview with Mary Barr, Justice Works, New York, circumstances, there are also striking similarities. In 1999. Barr also works with South 40 Corp. and Motiva- the paragraphs below, each is considered in turn. tional Movement, both in New York. As “workers on the lowest rung of the occu- 155 “Women on the Border: Needs and Opportunities,” in pational ladder,” poor immigrant women “are Rachael Kamel and Anya Hoffman, eds., The Maquiladora Reader: Cross-Border Organizing Since NAFTA (Philadelphia: 155 especially vulnerable to exploitation.” Their American Friends Service Committee, 1999), p. 25. workplaces are frequently targeted by INS raids, at 156 Interview with Maria Jimenez, Immigration Law the Mexico-U.S. border as well as in inland areas Enforcement Monitoring Project, American Friends Service of the United States. AFSC’s Maria Jimenez points Committee, Houston, TX, 1999.

47 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT legally through family (especially spousal) sponsor- prostitute women are mothers who can’t support ship, so that they are dependent on their husbands their children on women’s low wages and are being (or, sometimes, fathers) to attain legal status. criminalized for finding a way to survive.”158 Sex Women immigrants thus face both class and work, of course, is well known for its constant gender bias in the way immigration policies are confrontations with the police. In addition, in structured, which carries over into their interac- cities where immigrant women are increasingly tions with the INS. The Washington Alliance for working as prostitutes, police may also work Immigrant and Refugee Justice reports the experi- closely with immigration authorities.159 ence of a woman detained in an INS raid: Sex workers’ encounters with law enforce- ment frequently entail a range of abuses, from “Is it true that he is your husband” he [the INS verbal insults to coerced sex, brutal beatings, and agent] said and pointed to my husband who was there. “Yes, and he put papers in for me,” I said. rape. If the police know a woman to be a sex … There were others that were trying to tell him worker, they may harass her even when she is not that we had papers in process, too. One woman working. Writing in Gauntlet Magazine, Jeremy had some papers to prove that her father had Hay notes that: applied for her to get a green card. … This agent … ripped up her papers. He said we were all liars The most common of police abuses that prosti- when we said we had papers in process. I think tutes face, requests for sex in lieu of arrest and they don’t have the right to rip people’s papers. verbal abuse, are also perhaps the hardest to verify This woman only had two or three years to wait for purposes of complaint. “Blow me and I won’t until her papers came through. She’s now in take you in,” is an offer that many prostitutes Mexico, but all her family is here.157 recount having heard and also having turned down. It seems predicated on the assumption that Such an incident could cause a women’s prostitutes don’t care who they have sex with and application for legal permanent residence to be that they will do anything to avoid arrest. In fact, jeopardized or revoked. Women who have applied most experienced street prostitutes are resigned to as self-petitioners under VAWA could also see their the fact that they will be arrested over and over again, sometimes for questionable charges. What applications jeopardized if they are detained and are they object to most are the fear and indignities thus unable to follow up on the application process. heaped upon them by bad officers who step Domestic work, which is primarily performed beyond the line of normal procedure.160 by poor women of color, both immigrant and U.S.-born, is another industry that is rife with abuse by employers. Given the lack of decent and 157 Statement by worker at Brewster Heights Packing Plant affordable child care, the inexpensive child care to Washington Alliance for Immigrant and Refugee Justice, provided by economically desperate immigrant Brewster, WA, regarding raid on 2 Dec. 1997. See also women makes it possible for many professionals, “Civil Rights Under Siege,” op. cit. particularly women, to go to work every day 158 “USPROS: When Police Priorities Change, Attitudes knowing that their homes and children will be Will Change,” statement by the U.S. PROStitutes Collective and Wages Due Lesbians of San Francisco to the Public taken care of. Immigrant domestic workers fre- Hearing on Violence Against Women and Girls in Prostitu- quently work long hours without any benefits. tion held by the San Francisco Commission on the Status of They are subject to verbal and sometimes sexual Women, 17 April 1997. Published in International Prosti- abuse and are generally paid well below minimum tutes Collective, Some Mother’s Daughter: The Hidden wage. Many are undocumented, and employers Movement of Prostitute Women Against Violence (London: Crossroads Books, June 1999). often use the threat of the police and INS to keep 159 Interview with Jo Hirschman, Ella Baker Center for them under control. Human Rights, San Francisco, 1999. See also “Report of Sex workers describe many parallel experi- Police Harassment of Prostitutes: Statement of the Prob- ences of enforcement violence and its impact on lems,” US PROS, San Francisco, 2 Aug. 1994. women’s efforts to earn a living. The U.S. Prosti- 160 Jeremy Hay, “Police Abuse of Prostitutes in San Fran- tutes Collective (USPROS) notes that “many cisco,” Gauntlet Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 7, 1994.

48 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

In Chicago, Mary Powers describes women In two-and-a-half years on the streets, she was prostitutes being picked up by police at bus stops arrested forty-five times, but never once offered the on their way to and from work. The police ask for option of treatment. sexual services in return for favors.161 In New York Barr recalls how police coerce sexual services City sex parlors, local police may threaten to shut from sex workers. Once a detective followed her down an establishment if they are not given sexual and a customer. He let her john go and then had services. Women picked up in police raids may be sex with her, saying she might as well since the taken away in their underwear and have their john had paid already. On another occasion, recalls possessions confiscated.162 Barr, Transsexual women involved in sex work face abuse in even more complex ways. If the woman is a uniformed officer stopped his car. I was sur- unable to afford a sex-change operation, the legal prised because he was alone — the police never documentation of her gender does not match the make arrests alone. When he got out of the car, I thought he was going to hit me. I was scared. He woman’s own gender representation, so she is said, “get in the back seat” and then started to 163 essentially incorrectly documented. In encoun- drive. Then he stopped the car, said to me, “do ters with police, she may then become the victim what you do best,” and raped me.165 of cruel jokes and other types of verbal abuse. Transsexuals are also subjected to unnecessary and Barr notes that women usually sell drugs to illegal strip searches, presumably for the unofficial support their habits, not as large-scale drug traf- motive of gender identification. fickers. She comments that authorities “didn’t have USPROS participated in a Task Force on money to treat me. But they had money to take Prostitution established by the City of San Fran- away my children,”166 adding that it costs cisco in 1994, in order to ensure that the voice of $750,000 for the state to take care of a child until sex workers was heard. The task force found that the age of eighteen, which is thirty times the cost San Francisco taxpayers pay over $7 million a year of providing a year of substance abuse treatment. for the arrest, processing, and jailing of sex work- Barr estimates that two-thirds of the people in ers, even though most voters believe that victimless prison are addicts — most of whom are offered no crimes like sex work should be a low priority for meaningful access to treatment. police. Groundbreaking recommendations calling In recent years, labor and immigrants’ rights for the decriminalization of sex work have been organizations have increasingly joined in contest- presented to the city. As USPROS observes, “[t]he police use prostitution and/or suspicion of drugs to profile people they don’t like the look of. Anyone 161 Interview with Mary Powers, Chicago, 1999. Powers they decide looks like a sex worker or hangs out coordinates the Chicago-based Citizens Alert and Coalition to End Police Torture and Brutality as well as the National with sex workers, looks transgendered or is Black, Coalition on Police Accountability. Asian, or Latino is stopped on the street, intimi- 162 Interview with Jane Bai and Hyun Lee, CAAAV: Orga- dated, questioned, warrants checked, and very nizing Asian Communities (formerly Committee Against likely arrested.”164 Anti-Asian Violence), New York, 1999. On the street, homelessness, drug addiction, 163 Interview with Jo Hirschman, Ella Baker Center for and prostitution can often form a continuum of Human Rights, San Francisco, 1999. desperate strategies for economic survival. Many 164 US PROStitutes Collective, “Are We Not Human? women who need treatment are met instead with Prostitute Women’s Right to Protection and Other Rights – A Human Rights Issue for Everyone,” statement presented enforcement violence. New York City activist to San Francisco Human Rights Commission in support of Mary Barr was a homeless addict for three years, recommendations of San Francisco Task Force on Prostitu- from 1993 to 1996. Today, she views her substance tion, 11 Feb. 1999. abuse as an escape from the emotional pain of 165 Interview with Mary Barr, Justice Works, New York, separation from her children and a reflection of her 1999. hopelessness about ever living another kind of life. 166 Ibid.

49 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT ing the criminalization of immigrant workers. The ing and sex work, coupled with the lack of “legal” lens of enforcement violence permits us to see that job opportunities, help maintain the cycle of in the end, the distinction between “legal” and violence, incarceration, and social breakdown that “illegal” occupations is as limiting as the distinc- is devastating many urban communities of color. tion between “legal” and “illegal” workers. In the Although sex workers and undocumented case of undocumented labor, enforcement violence factory or field workers may have markedly differ- serves as one of the principal forces keeping wages ent experiences, both reflect the growing low, since workers who live in a state of terror and criminalization of low-income communities of clandestinity are unlikely to report violations of color, both immigrant and U.S.-born. Both, wage and hour laws or to organize to improve their likewise, form part of an unbreakable continuum conditions through collective bargaining. Likewise, of women’s strategies for survival, which are an although such phenomena are less widely recog- expression of their commitment to themselves, nized, the underground economy of drug traffick- their families, and their communities.

50 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

——— Part III ——— Looking Forward

s we have argued throughout this discussion, we briefly describe several ongoing initiatives that until we understand how women experience reflect a more integrated approach. A enforcement violence, we cannot fully understand how such violence affects our commu- nities. A perspective that is grounded in the Gender and Enforcement Violence realities of women of color and poor women, both We have argued that the home is a location in immigrant and U.S.-born, can illuminate how which women experience both “private” violence enforcement violence affects areas in which women (for example, from intimate partners) and “public” are central actors, such as home life, caregiving, violence (from state authorities). The larger project reproduction and sexuality, and paid work. Each of of defending women against violence and abuse these areas is vital to the basic security of our commu- urgently requires us to transcend the artificial and nities, and therefore to community life as whole. damaging divide in which progressive social A community-centered perspective challenges movements tend to focus on one type of violence us to go beyond a more conventional human rights while disregarding the other. framework, which seeks to hold law-enforcement By opening up our understanding of violence agencies accountable for violating the rights of in the home, we will be able to better understand individuals. Understanding abuse as a community how the law enforcement operates in communities problem permits us to focus on what strategies will of color, both immigrant and U.S.-born: targeting best support the safety and self-determination of the home when it comes to raiding it while avoid- communities that currently find themselves under ing or neglecting it when it comes to protecting the siege from agencies of the state. people inside, particularly women and children. Throughout this discussion, we have empha- The situation is similar with regard to moth- sized the importance of integrating the feminist erhood and, more generally, caregiving. Enforce- critique of violence against women with the ment violence in poor communities and commu- critique of state violence advanced by enforcement nities of color disrupts caregivers’ ability to fulfill accountability movements. Similarly, we have their responsibilities. At the same time, the legal argued for the importance of understanding the apparatus of the state is used to accuse women of many parallels between “immigration” and “crimi- irresponsibility and abuse — with charges some- nal justice” issues, and building coalitions that times stemming directly from the harm caused by cross lines of racial/ethnic identity and immigra- law enforcement or other public agencies. tion status. It is, of course, not our intention to argue In this section, we seek to identify some that child abuse and neglect are not serious prob- possible areas for discussion and strategizing lems, or that the larger community should not around these points of intersection. In conclusion, intervene to protect children from abuse. Often,

51 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT however, poor women and women of color are for the dismantling of social welfare, health care, caught in a double bind in which they are held and pension systems; and by securing the daily legally responsible for circumstances over which survival of their families in conditions of deepen- they have little or no control. As in the case of ing impoverishment and economic dislocation. domestic violence, such interventions, far from Today, increasing numbers of women face these protecting children, contribute actively to destabi- challenges as the sole breadwinners for their lizing the lives of women as well as their families families.167 and communities. As we have argued in other cases, this femi- An even more extreme example is that of the nist understanding must be further expanded to incarceration of women under the banner of “fetal take account of how caregivers are affected by protection,” in which a supposed concern for enforcement violence. Such violence represents an children is hypocritically used to justify the incar- assault on the integrity and viability of our com- ceration of women of color, particularly African munities, reflecting broader social processes of American women. In other circumstances, law- criminalization. enforcement authorities treat the outcome of a In numerous instances, women caregivers are pregnancy as an unimportant concern, secondary on the front lines of efforts to survive and resist to the imperative to maintain “law and order.” such attacks. Across the United States, the emer- In each case, women of color are subjected to gence of local grassroots organizations of mothers specialized definitions of criminality and punitive and other supporters of prisoners and detainees is a measures. As a result, they are ultimately deprived vital step in mobilizing the community against of control over their own biological processes. police brutality, INS raids, and mass incarceration. Advocates of women’s rights would do well to Such initiatives could be greatly strengthened consider what implications these assaults on the through a gender analysis illuminating how rights of poor women of color, both immigrant women’s ability to fulfill their social role as and U.S.-born, may have for the rights of women caregivers and community builders is endangered who may not face similar intrusions from law by state violence. Feminist organizations, in turn, enforcement. The constant erosion of constitu- could gain far more relevance to the lives of poor tional protections for the rights of poor women of women and women of color by recognizing and color weaken such protections for everyone. The addressing the caregiving issues that are vital to state’s approach to such women — whether they such communities. are migrant workers, pregnant defendants with substance addiction, undocumented workers, asylum seekers, or prisoners — may be taken as an Bridging the Immigration– indication of the true value accorded by our society Criminal Justice Divide to motherhood, family, home, and women’s work. Law enforcement is increasingly a seamless web, in which authorities may move without Caregiving and Criminalization hindrance between a traffic stop and deportation, or a hospital visit and prison, or the airport and a Our discussion of the politics of caregiving maximum-security cell. This unrestricted integra- reveals many points of intersection with feminist tion of law-enforcement operations is terrifying to critiques of deepening economic inequality. Such contemplate, let alone to experience. Moreover, critiques have highlighted how women, who are according to scholars, such integration, and the vast majority of caregivers, bear the brunt of the accompanying adoption of a national economic restructuring — by working for the lowest wages under the most inhumane working conditions; by working a double and triple shift as 167 While this working paper has focused on conditions mothers, homemakers, and wage earners; by taking inside the United States, the phenomena described here on new caregiving responsibilities to compensate obviously apply on a global level.

52 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT enforcement strategy, is also one of the hallmarks of color can work together in an integrated way to of a totalitarian regime.168 challenge the full range of threats posed by en- At the same time, a variety of regressive forcement violence to community security and legislation enacted in recent years has sharply self-determination — including the differential restricted avenues for legal redress by those who are effect of enforcement violence on women — we will caught up in the law-enforcement net. Reduced continue to be hampered by divisions and isolation. access to the courts and to legal counsel has af- In such a situation, each segment of the commu- fected asylum seekers and other immigrants; nity is vulnerable to manipulation by the rhetoric prisoners, especially those on death row; and all of security and thus may implicitly or explicitly poor people who rely on legal aid. Courts may support expanded powers for law enforcement for now use secret evidence and secret testimony to the group seen as “other” than its own. incarcerate or deport noncitizens accused of “terrorism.” Protections for due process rights, like the constitutional prohibition on unreasonable New Alliances, New Strategies search and seizure, have been seriously eroded by a series of court decisions. What does it mean in practice to fight vio- The logic of such policies is similar, whether lence against women of color while simultaneously the specific language refers to “quality of life” addressing the structural violence faced by the policing, drug interdiction, counter-terrorism, or larger community? The New York–based Institute national security. All of these terms extend a false on Violence, which focuses on how violence is promise of increased safety in exchange for restric- experienced by African American women in tions on constitutional rights. In each case, the Central Harlem, is one of several groups around experiences of immigrant and U.S.-born commu- the country seeking to develop a new model for nities of color reveal many parallels. The major anti-violence work. Working in partnership with difference is that some of these measures purport Harlem Legal Services and the African American to protect the national borders of the United Task Force, the Institute brought together 300 States, while others seek to defend interior borders community members to develop strategies for of institutionalized racism and economic privilege. addressing different levels of violence. The purpose As long as each type of border is understood of this project is to strengthen the capacity of separately, however, unexamined beliefs about different sectors of the community (including public safety, on the one hand, and national residents and business owners as well as health and security, on the other, will continue to foster human services, cultural, religious, and recreational mutual suspicion and mistrust between immigrant agencies) to respond to violence against women and U.S.-born sectors of the community. and to affirm the value of the lives of African In New York City, recent incidents of police American women. brutality, including the sexualized brutalization of In addition to working with community Abner Louima and the killing of Amadou Diallo, organizations and churches to help strengthen both of whom were immigrants, have indicated their ability to address violence against women, the decisively that all people of color are subject to Institute is also considering establishing a Commu- enforcement violence. The coalitions that came nity Police Council. As part of this process, it has together to protest these incidents, such as People’s held nine meetings with groups of residents to Justice 2000, brought immigrant and U.S.-born discuss strategies around the criminal justice sectors of the community together in a powerful system. These meetings brought together senior way. Such coalitions, however, at least in the citizens, survivors of domestic violence, residen- context of New York, have yet to take the further tial drug treatment programs, and people with step of addressing the discriminatory and abusive nature of immigration law enforcement. Until immigrant and U.S.-born communities 168 Dunn, op. cit.

53 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT disabilities. For everyone involved, the police were The initiatives described above are all important a “hot button” issue.169 steps toward the development of new alliances and In exploring alternatives to an exclusive new strategies to address the devastating impact of reliance on law enforcement for protection in violence, in all its forms, on low-income commu- domestic violence situations, the Asian Women’s nities of color. Organizations and social move- Shelter (AWS) in California is attempting to involve ments that have come together around such issues local communities in exploring how domestic as domestic violence, reproductive rights, sexual violence takes place among their members and assault, immigrants’ rights, INS detention, police how to ensure that battered women are safe and accountability, and prisoners’ rights bring sharply supported. One issue that has come up is how to different views and experiences to the discussion. It hold batterers accountable. As organizer Beckie is precisely by working through these differing and Masaki of AWS observes, a close-knit community sometimes opposing views, however, that we can is a prerequisite for community-based models of begin to address the complexities of the relationship accountability. The more communities of color are between our communities and the state — and the affected by multiple forces fostering social break- centrality of women to the development of practi- down, the more difficult such an effort can be.170 cal strategies for community self-determination. Justice Works, a prisoners’ advocacy organiza- The fragmentation of progressive politics — tion in New York, reports the formation of a new due to lack of resources or to a partial analysis — is alliance with domestic violence organizations. hardly a new phenomenon. Progressive organiza- Since 1992, Justice Works has organized a nation- tions or projects, if they are able to access any wide day of demonstrations on Mother’s Day funding at all, are dependent on narrowly catego- around the theme of “Mothers in Prison, Children rized slots defined by foundations or government Left Behind.” Its campaign, which began in New agencies. They are also seriously hampered by a York City, has spread to twenty cities across the dearth of spaces for broader analysis. All of these country. In 2000, Justice Works received support factors promote continued isolation. Over time, for the first time from several domestic violence fragmentation and isolation take their toll, under- organizations, which used campaign materials as mining the judicious use of limited resources, the part of their own educational efforts.171 impact of progressive strategies, and the capacity of In the Boston area, AFSC’s Criminal Justice groups to bring people together. Social activists Program, together with the Dimmock Community who seek to counter such fragmentation know this Health Center, has supported the development of story only too well. a coalition seeking to work in new ways around The present document has sought to contrib- issues of women caught up in the criminal justice ute to ongoing attempts to promote broader system. Under the name “Women in Prison, analysis and strategizing. In the end, it will have Families in Crisis,” this initiative has brought served its purpose if it is able to help promote the together people with experience in health issues, cross-fertilization of experiences among the various substance abuse, domestic violence, legal aid, and community organizing. Several members of the coalition are former prisoners or friends and family 169 Interview with Gail Garfield, Institute on Violence, New of prisoners. Using a community circle model, the York, 2000. group discusses how crime might be redefined as 170 Interview with Beckie Masaki, Asian Women’s Shelter, “harm,” so that the issue becomes how to address San Francisco, 2000. the harm caused to everyone involved in a “crimi- 171 nal” action — the victim, the perpetrator, and the Interview with Mary Fitzgerald, Justice Works, New York, 2000. community. Participants in this effort devoted almost two years to building relationships with 172 Interview with Jamie Suarez-Potts, Criminal Justice each other and developing common values and Program, American Friends Service Committee, Cambridge, mutual respect.172 MA, 2000.

54 WHOSE SAFETY? WOMEN OF COLOR AND THE VIOLENCE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT constituencies of the women’s movement and the Needless to say, such a process of collaboration, various enforcement accountability movements. whose importance we have argued for throughout We offer this contribution knowing that real this document, should emerge in a way that is forward motion can only be possible through the grounded in local realities and includes all relevant active involvement of many individuals and and interested parties. Rather than offering a organizations in various types of dialogue, joint prefabricated solution, we can end this discussion activities, increased communications, compilation only by recommending the initiation of such a of scattered data, or coordinated outreach efforts. process.

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