The Struggles Facing Women Asylum Seekers

By Allison Zajac

Introduction

Migrating to the United States (U.S.) poses special challenges for the women who undertake the task. Not only do these women face the same dangerous conditions that male migrants face, but they are also frequently the targets of sexual violence. A survey conducted by Amnesty International in 2010 found that approximately “six out of ten Central American migrant women and girls were raped while on the move in Mexico” [1]. Sexual violence is so pervasive that many women have sought to obtain emergency contraception in anticipation of being sexually assaulted, whether for survival or for “payment” for their passage [2]. For women who do successfully make it to the United States, the challenges are far from over. The immigration process is woefully unable to address the specific problems that female migrants face once they arrive [3]. Migrant women who may need obstetric or gynecological care have the added difficulty of locating services and maintaining contact with their physicians [4] or even face continued exposure to dangerous conditions while in the custody of U.S. officials [5].

New York City’s Roosevelt Hotel: Ellis Island 2.0 [6]

For the approximately 100,000 migrants who have arrived in New York City over the last year, Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hotel is a jumping point where service providers make contact [7]. Women migrants in need of prenatal care are referred to The Women’s Health Center at Bellevue Hospital, where the medical staff does their best to treat these women and their babies [8]. The vast majority of these women have had little-to-no prenatal care over the course of their journey to the U.S., which causes major concern for the health of the women and their children [9].

Additionally, many women who were sexually assaulted may have become pregnant from the incident and are re-traumatized by carrying the child of someone who assaulted them [10]. If the patient is under twenty-four weeks pregnant, the patient and their doctors discuss terminating the pregnancy [11]. However, in a post-Roe America, this option is not available to a lot of migrant women in the United States [12]. It is unknown how many women migrants who are sexually assaulted become pregnant, and further, how many are able to, if they choose to, terminate their pregnancies [13]. The United Nations advocates for more research to be done in this area, but most studies on migrants do not address the issues specifically facing women, nor do they capture many demographics that would be helpful in addressing these issues [14].

Despite all of the challenges, about 300 babies have been successfully born to migrant women in New York City over the last year or so [15]. However, some problems remain, such as how to maintain contact with these women – and their babies – when they do not have stable housing or even a way to be contacted [16].

What Happens Next?

The Biden Administration has recently extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to certain migrants arriving from Central America: namely, those migrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua [17]. Venezuela is also included in the countries which are currently eligible for Temporary Protected Status, but its application period was not extended by the Department of Homeland Security [18].

TPS is an immigration status granted by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to certain individuals already in the U.S. who come from countries where conditions in the country prevent the individual from returning safely [19]. Being granted TPS allows an individual to work and live legally in the United States but is not a guarantee that the individual will be allowed to permanently stay [20]. However, applying for or being granted TPS does not preclude someone from obtaining nonimmigrant status or another immigrant benefit or protection [21].

The New York State Department of Labor is launching a program to help connect eligible migrants with jobs in industries facing labor shortages, like food service and health care [22]. This program may also help to address a problem that specifically drives women to migrate from Central and South America to the U.S.: currently, labor shortages in the U.S. align with types of labor that are attractive to women migrants, which serves as an extra incentive to brave the jungles – and face potential sexual assault – to make it to the United States [23]. The sexualized division of labor which exists in most of the world drives women into jobs as domestic and care workers [24]. These two problems may actually be able to collide in a way which may be advantageous to the domestic economy by placing women migrant workers, who often already have experience in areas of the U.S. workforce which are currently understaffed, in positions where they have an opportunity to thrive.  

Conclusion

While they are beneficial, domestic programs like the Biden Administration’s expansion of TPS to certain migrant groups or New York’s programs which help migrants seek jobs and health care can only go so far to tackle the problems facing women migrants. The reality is that much more research needs to be done on the conditions women migrants face as they come to the United States, and the challenges they face once they arrive. While sexual assault is most common while migrant women are traveling to the U.S., the threat does not end once they reach their destination. Many migrant women are assaulted while in the custody of U.S. immigration officials, often by other migrants [25]. More needs to be done to protect these especially vulnerable women who have already been through so much.

[1] Amnesty International, Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico. Amnesty International London, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (April 28, 2010).

[2] Id.

[3] UN Women, How migration is a gender equality issue, (2020). https://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/explainer/migration/en/index.html.

[4] Jasmine Garsd, Migrant mothers arriving in New York find support, hope – and lots of challenges, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, (October 10, 2023). https://www.npr.org/2023/10/10/1204273159/migrant-mothers-new-york-bellevue-womens-health-pregnancy#:~:text=In%20the%20last%20year%2C%20NYC,mothers%20returning%20with%20their%20newborns.

[5] Amnesty International, supra note 1.

[6] Garsd, supra note 4.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Id.

[11] Id.

[12] See Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). But see Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, 597 U.S. __ (2022), which overturned Roe and permitted individual states to decide their own restrictions on abortion.

[13] The State of New York allows abortion up to 24 weeks gestation. Center for Reproductive Rights, After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State: New York, CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, (2023). https://reproductiverights.org/maps/state/new-york/#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20New%20York%20enacted,York%20access%20abortion%20via%20telemedicine.

[14] UN Women, supra note 3.

[15] Garsd, supra note 4.

[16] Id.

[17] U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Temporary Protected Status, (2023). https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status.

[18] Id.

[19] Id.

[20] Id.

[21] Id.

[22] New York State, Governor Hochul Announces 18,000 Jobs Available to Asylum Seekers and Migrants as Part of Statewide Initiative to Move Individuals Out of Shelter and Into Independent Living, NEW YORK STATE, (October 2, 2023). https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-18000-jobs-available-asylum-seekers-and-migrants-part-statewide.

[23] See UN Women, supra note 3.

[24] Id.

[25] Amnesty International, supra note 1.