LYNN — A Lynn woman’s deportation has been placed on hold with help from an overwhelming show of support from the community.
The woman, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, was facing deportation last Friday, but had her date postponed until May 14, an extension that was granted based on her pending sexual assault case.
The woman, who will be called Mary for the purposes of this article, said she was sexually assaulted inside her former Lynn apartment on Sept. 26. She alleges that she was raped by one of her roommates, a man who lived in the same home with his wife and children, while her 14-year-old son was sleeping nearby.
At the crux of the community lobbying effort, which was led by the Lynn Rapid Response Network, was trying to convince the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that Mary could not pursue her sexual assault case against her alleged rapist if she was no longer in the United States.
“We reached out to supporters of immigrants and organizations and they began to bombard the ICE office with calls and calling attention to the fact that this is a person who has been a victim of a crime and is trying to cooperate in that investigation of the crime and can only do that if she’s here in the country,” said Virginia Leigh, co-founder of the Lynn Rapid Response Network.
Ultimately ICE listened, she said, noting that their decision to pause the deportation could have been due to the repeated calls to ICE or their decision to reach out to U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Seth Moulton, who both wrote a letter to ICE on Mary’s behalf.
“ICE acknowledged that they had taken discretionary action and that they would not be pursuing the deportation at this time and would be allowing her to proceed in her local case,” said Leigh.
“I felt supported,” Mary added in Spanish through an interpreter. “I felt extremely happy. I felt that a weight was lifted off my shoulder. (I thought) that people were going to think I was making (the assault) up, that I was lying. I was just extremely happy with the support.”
Mary said she had hesitated to report the rape based on her fears that she would risk homelessness and face a greater risk for deportation if immigration officials doubted her story.
At the time of her assault, Mary was already facing deportation, based on circumstances that caused her to miss an asylum court hearing in Houston, Texas, in the fall of 2015.
She had crossed the border in August 2015 and was subsequently captured by Immigration Naturalization Services, who placed her in a detention center with her child for 20 days, releasing her in September.
While she was staying with family in Houston, Mary and her child developed a severe case of chickenpox, which stemmed from an outbreak of the disease that had occurred while they were detained. She later moved with her child to Maryland to stay with other family members.
While she was in Maryland, Mary received a notice to appear in court for an asylum hearing in Houston. She attempted the cross-country trip by bus, but was unable to get to her court date in time, Mary said.
Mary said she called her court-appointed lawyer to ask him if he could try to get the date postponed since she would be four hours late, but was denied.
Mary later moved to a multi-family apartment in Lynn, where a man, who was one of her roommates, tried to rape her on two occasions this past September.
After the first attempt, which was unsuccessful, Mary decided against reporting the incident, but when he tried again about a week later, and assaulted her, she decided to get the authorities involved.
The man came into Mary’s room while her 14-year-old son was sleeping. Not wanting to wake her son, who had been through other traumatic events, she said she didn’t scream when the man pulled her into his bedroom and sexually assaulted her.
Afterward, Mary went to hide in the bathroom, crying as she struggled with whether she should report the incident to the police. Ultimately, she decided to risk retribution by pressing charges.
“I would rather press charges and face homelessness than take a chance of it happening again,” said Mary through an interpreter.
She had also been deterred from reporting the first attempt because she didn’t want to be accused of making up the incident during her deportation appointment. But when it happened the second time, she decided to take her chances.
“The second time, (I said) this is inconceivable — I have to report it,” Mary said, who wanted to clarify that the man did not penetrate her, but he did perform oral sex and probed her with his finger without her consent.
Mary was able to get set up with another apartment in Lynn after the assault through a church friend, who is part of the Lynn Rapid Response Network, a network of organizations dedicated to helping immigrants navigate crises, support their families, and stay together.
When the Lynn Rapid Response Network learned of Mary’s situation, including how she had been unable to obtain a police report for the assault or get connected with an attorney, the organization decided to get involved, Leigh said.
Leigh said she spoke with the detective on the case multiple times and helped find Mary a lawyer to start the U Visa process, a U.S. non-immigrant visa set aside for victims of crimes committed against them in the U.S., who are willing to assist law enforcement with prosecution of the case.
“Several people who are close with the rapid response network met and strategized about how we could support this mom and ensure she could seek justice in this assault case, which she could only do if she’s present in this country,” said Leigh.
“(The U Visa is) designed to really help people feel safe to report crimes and participate and cooperate in investigations of crimes (regardless of their immigration status). So many immigrants in Lynn are terrified of law enforcement and don’t want to negatively impact their cases by involving law enforcement when something terrible has happened.
“That’s why this legal process existed — allowing a person to remain legally here in the U.S. while they participate in that process is so crucial.”
However, the U Visa process is problematic, Leigh said, which includes a waiting list that is currently five years long. Until she actually receives approval for her U Visa, her deportation can take priority at any time, she said.
For Mary, her fight to remain in the country and her pursuit of justice have become intertwined.
Her alleged attacker still has not been arrested — she said the police have issued a warrant for him, but have been unable to find him (a Lynn Police spokesman said the department can’t release information on sexual assaults).
Mary said she is feeling better now — initially she had felt very sad and depressed, but decided against therapy, choosing to focus on her son’s schooling and “dealing with this on her own.”
