LAPD: Latinos Reporting Fewer Rapes and Domestic Violence Amid Deportation Fears

LOS ANGELES, CA — Police Chief Charlie Beck tied a massive drop in reports of sexual assaults and domestic violence in the Latino community to the chilling effect of President Donald Trump's immigration policies.

According to Beck, sexual assault reports have fallen 25 percent, and domestic violence reports have fallen 10 percent. The reduction "far exceeds the reductions of any other demographic group," he said, noting a "strong correlation" between the decreases and fears in the city's immigrant population about increased federal immigration arrests in the city.

“Imagine your sister, your mother, not reporting a sexual assault for fear that their family will be torn apart,” Beck said during an event at the Lincoln Heights Youth Center Complex in East L.A., according to the Los Angeles Times.

Beck made the announcement at an event where Mayor Eric Garcetti signed a new executive directive that ordered the city's harbor police, airport police and fire department to follow the LAPD's policy of not assisting federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws.

In the months since President Donald Trump took office, there have been reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents impersonating local police and making arrests at courthouses in California.

Trump's aggressive rhetoric and actions on illegal immigration have caused Los Angeles' leaders to warn that public safety is being threatened as a result, while Trump has argued that immigrants in the county illegally are the ones who pose a threat to public safety.

Garcetti, City Attorney Mike Feuer and Council President Herb Wesson sent a letter in February to a local U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director asking her to stop immigration agents from identifying themselves as police," and California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye last week sent a letter to the Trump administration asking it to stop federal immigration agents from making arrests in the state's courthouses.

Both of the letters argued that the tactics by ICE agents eroded the immigrant community's faith in local law enforcement and discouraged immigrants from contacting police or going to court.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report. Photo by Renee Schiavone