Immigration authorities detaining domestic violence victims at Michigan facility after police calls
Immigrant women seeking help from abuse are being handed to ICE and detained, even when criminal charges are dropped, as Trump administration eliminates protections for crime victims.
What happened
ProPublica documented cases of immigrant women detained at North Lake Processing Center in west Michigan after calling police about domestic violence. In at least three documented cases, women reported being victims of abuse—including threats, physical violence, and isolation—but were arrested by local police on domestic violence allegations; charges were later dropped or never filed. ICE subsequently detained them, separating them from children and confining them to the facility. A Peruvian woman named Pilar reported her boyfriend accused her of abuse after she tried to escape him; a Cuban woman named Leya was separated from her nursing daughter after being arrested for grabbing her abusive boyfriend's arm during an argument. Kent County jail turned over more immigrants to ICE in the first six months of 2026 than during the entire Biden administration.
Context
The detention of these women reflects a policy shift under the Trump administration. On inauguration day, the administration rescinded guidelines that prevented ICE arrests at sensitive locations including domestic violence shelters and hospitals. About a week later, it eliminated key protections granted to VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) applicants and other crime victims—protections that had existed for decades and enjoyed bipartisan congressional support. For the first time in recent decades, immigration authorities can now disregard these protections and more freely arrest, detain, and deport immigrant victims. The practical effect creates a perverse incentive: immigrant victims of domestic violence now face heightened risk of deportation if they contact police for help, potentially trapping them in abusive situations. Advocates report seeing an alarming increase in detained and deported domestic violence victims, with many immigrants staying in abusive relationships out of fear of calling for help.