Feminist Peace Network

July 3rd, 2008

Rape Along The Border Of The U.S. And Mexico

The exploitation of people crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. is certainly nothing new. But one of the aspects of this abuse that has received very little notice is the sexual abuse against women that is taking place. Several months ago we were horrified at reports of Iraqi women being forced to work as prostitutes after having to flee their homes. I am dubious that we will accord the same horror to the sexual abuse of women coming into our own country. Below are snippets from the Tucson Weekly’s excellent coverage of this story, I recommend reading the piece in its entirety on their site. Many thanks to the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights (NCIWR) for bringing this story to our attention:

“According to experts, rape is now considered “the price of admission” for women crossing the border illegally.

But this scourge goes largely ignored, and is suspected to be vastly underreported. Not surprisingly, few women care to describe their ordeals to authorities in stark government detention facilities. And if they do, it’s often as they’re already being deported back across the border–sometimes back into the very situations where the assaults occurred.

This grim scenario played out in early May, when three women–ages 16, 17 and 20–reported having been raped by masked men. A few days later, two more women were found alive but badly beaten near Arivaca, south of Tucson. That same week, yet two more women reported having been raped. The reports didn’t slow deportation proceedings against them.

Further complicating matters, it’s often difficult to determine whether the assaults occurred on U.S. soil or in Mexico. But such details probably matter little to the victims. Civilian border-watchers tell of hearing these women’s cries.”

“(H)ard numbers are tough to come by. According to the United Nations, up to 70 percent of women crossing the border without husbands or families are abused in some way.”

“(The) saga of exploitation isn’t limited to the desert, and points to well-documented incidents of U.S. Border Patrol agents or other officials pressuring migrants into having sex in exchange for their freedom. Other times, the women are raped by those with the power to deport them.”