Donald Trump is now punishing sexual assault survivors after calling domestic violence ‘a little fight the wife’

20 state attorneys general and the Trump administration are at it again. The group is suing to block a cruel new Justice Department (DOJ) rule that slashes federal aid for sexual assault and domestic violence survivors who can’t immediately prove their immigration status. This lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, comes right after President Donald Trump appeared to completely minimize the reality of domestic violence.

If you can recall, Trump said, “If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime,” during a recent speech. That kind of dismissive language about a devastating crime like domestic abuse is shocking enough, but the new policy being implemented by his administration is a direct attack on the resources that keep vulnerable people safe. Per NBC, it’s set to go into effect on October 31.

The coalition of attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James, isn’t holding back, and honestly, you can’t blame them when you look at what this new regulation actually does. Basically, the DOJ issued a new Legal Services Rule informing states that they can no longer use money from critical programs like the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and the Byrne Justice Assistance Grants to provide legal services to undocumented immigrants.

Survivors of abuse are only helped if they prove themselves to the government

The immediate consequence of this rule is that survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence will be barred from receiving urgently needed legal support if they “cannot immediately prove their immigration status”. I honestly can’t believe how short-sighted and, to use James’s own word, “cruel” this policy is. It goes way beyond just targeting undocumented individuals. The attorneys general have warned that “even lawful residents and U.S. citizens could be shut out from urgently needed services”. Think about that for a second.

If you’re running for your life from an abuser, are you really going to have your passport and immigration papers on you? Of course not. The AGs pointed out the devastating reality that “People fleeing abusive households often do not physically have the legal documents needed to demonstrate immigration status,” and they explained why this is the case: “Abusers will frequently restrict a victim’s access to important legal documents as a means of control and as a tactic to prevent them from escaping the dangerous situation.”

It’s a calculated move by the abuser, and now the federal government is essentially backing them up by weaponizing that control. New York Attorney General James was absolutely right when she said, “Sexual assault and domestic violence survivors turn to our courts for safety and protection,” and that “They should never be turned away because of who they are or where they come from.”

If we, as a society, are serious about public safety, then we have to make it as easy as possible for victims to leave a dangerous situation, full stop. By forcing service providers to screen and deny aid based on a person’s ability to produce documentation in the middle of a crisis, James argues that the “DOJ is endangering families, silencing survivors, and threatening public safety.”