When clergy abuse occurs, victim-survivors carry deep wounds often hidden beneath layers of secrecy and betrayal. For undocumented immigrants, these wounds are compounded by fear of deportation and distrust of authorities. Escalating anti-immigration rhetoric and policies intensify social isolation, pushing undocumented victim-survivors deeper into silence as they cope with layered traumas. This paper explores how these factors intersect and proposes pastoral care approaches tailored to undocumented survivors of clergy sexual abuse.
Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and Isolation
During the first Trump presidency, anti-immigrant sentiment and enforcement intensified, prompting a marked decline in sexual assault reporting among immigrant populations. In 2017, for example, sexual assault reports fell by 25% among Hispanic residents in Los Angeles[i] and nearly 43% in Houston[ii]—numbers that suggest not less abuse but more fear. Nationally, reporting rates for sexual violence dropped from about 40% in 2017 to 25% in 2018,[iii] with immigrants disproportionately driving that decrease due to the heightened risk of deportation, distrust of authorities, and cultural barriers.
Research by Carmen M. Gutierrez and David S. Kirk demonstrates that aggressive immigration policies exacerbate trauma by discouraging crime reporting among immigrants, particularly for violent crimes.[iv] Although 2024 data are limited, underreporting remains a concern, according to Tehan Dukaye of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault.[v] Harsh political rhetoric—labeling immigrants “criminals” or threatening to “build the wall”—further stigmatizes immigrants and deters them from seeking help.[vi] Undocumented individuals, in particular, fear that any official contact could result in deportation, allowing perpetrators to exploit their status as a control tactic. Cultural and linguistic barriers, along with social stigma around sexual violence, only deepen isolation.[vii]
Cultural Betrayal in Immigrant Faith Communities
Immigrant faith-based communities often function as extended families, providing language support, cultural navigation, and a deep sense of belonging. Pastors wield particular influence in these settings because they share parishioners’ language, culture, and faith. Yet when an undocumented survivor is abused by a clergy member in the very community meant to protect them, the betrayal is devastating.
In her article, “I Will Surely Have You Deported: Undocumenting Clergy Sexual Abuse in an Immigrant Community,” Susan Bigelow Reynolds highlights how perpetrators threaten deportation to silence survivors. She cites the case of Peter Edward Garcia, a Los Angeles priest from the 1960s to the 1980s who targeted undocumented children by warning them never to disclose his abuses or face deportation.[viii]
This dynamic can be understood as cultural betrayal trauma, in which a victim-survivor experiences harm not only from an individual but also from the larger culture and community. Jennifer M. Gómez notes that marginalized groups rely on internal solidarity for resilience; thus, violence within a group—especially by clergy—represents a profound betrayal of intra-cultural trust. This betrayal can lead to significant mental health struggles, including PTSD, depression, and sleep disturbances.[ix]
Pastoral Care and Counseling Implications
Pastoral caregivers, then, must ask how best to accompany undocumented victim-survivors whose faith communities have failed them. It is crucial to avoid romanticizing community; immigrants often rely on churches that emphasize unity, obedience, and resilience—values that, if unexamined, may pressure victims to remain silent “for the good of the community.” Such norms can conceal or minimize abuse, fueling institutional betrayal and stigma.
Instead, caregivers should explicitly name collusion, denial, and cultural stigma that compound survivors’ shame. This includes acknowledging the church’s own institutional failures. At the same time, pastoral caregivers can help develop alternative safe spaces—whether online, specially formed “caring communities,” or groups co-created with survivors—where trust and accountability are prioritized. In such contexts, theological reflection must grapple with the structures enabling spiritual and cultural violence.
Undocumented victim-survivors of clergy abuse carry hidden wounds made heavier by isolation, cultural betrayal, and hostile rhetoric. As pastoral caregivers, our task is to create safe and mutual communities that listen without judgment, affirm dignity without conditions, and actively challenge the silence and complicity that allow abuse to persist. When pastoral caregivers reckon with hidden wounds with solidarity and accountability over silence, undocumented victim-survivors will walk along with us to seek healing.
[i] Hanna Kozlowska, "The Disturbing Reason Los Angeles Latinos Are Reporting 25% Fewer Sexual Assaults," Quartz, March 22, 2017, https://qz.com/939207/reports-of-sexual-assault-have-dropped-25-among-t…
[ii] Brooke A. Lewis, “HPD Chief Announces Decrease in Hispanics Reporting Rape and Violent Crimes Compared to Last Year: Acevedo Cites Deportation Fears, Criticizes Rhetoric About Immigration,” Houston Chronicle, April 6, 2017, https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/HPD-chief-announces-decrease-in-Hispanics-11053829.php.
[iii] R. Morgan and B. Oudekerk, (2019), Criminal victimization, 2018 (NCJ 253043). U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv18.pdf
[iv] Carmen M. Gutierrez and David S. Kirk, “Silence Speaks: The Relationship between Immigration and the Underreporting of Crime,” Crime & Delinquency 63, no. 8 (2017): 926.
[v] Tehan Dukaye, “Sexual Violence and Immigrant Survivors,” Frontline (Spring 2024), Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, May 8, 2024, https://mcasa.org/newsletters/article/sexual-violence-and-immigrant-survivors.
[vi] Brittany N. Morey, “Mechanisms by Which Anti-Immigrant Stigma Exacerbates Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities,” American Journal of Public Health 108, no. 4 (2018): 460–63, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304266.
[vii] Rafaela Rodrigues et al., Promoting Access to Justice for Immigrant and Limited English Proficient Crime Victims in an Age of Increased Immigration Enforcement: Initial Report from a 2017 National Survey, National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project, American University, Washington College of Law, May 3, 2018, https://niwaplibrary.wcl.american.edu/wp-content/uploads/Immigrant-Access-to-Justice-National-Report.pdf.
[viii] Susan Bigelow Reynolds, “‘I Will Surely Have You Deported:’ Undocumenting Clergy Sexual Abuse in an Immigrant Community,” Religion and American Culture 33, no. 1 (2023): 1–34.
[ix] Jennifer M. Gómez and Jennifer J. Freyd, “Psychological Outcomes of Within-Group Sexual Violence: Evidence of Cultural Betrayal,” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 20, no. 6 (2018): 1458, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0687-0.
This paper examines the compounded trauma experienced by undocumented victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the context of increasing anti-immigrant hostility. Drawing on recent data that shows declining rates of sexual assault reporting among immigrant populations, it explores how fear of deportation, distrust of authorities, and intensified anti-immigrant rhetoric further marginalize undocumented victim-survivors. The concept of cultural betrayal is introduced to highlight the additional harm experienced when abuse takes place within one’s own faith-based community—a space that ostensibly offers belonging and cultural affirmation. By analyzing the psychological and spiritual impact of cultural betrayal trauma, the paper underscores the importance of critically rethinking community values like unity and resilience. This paper aims to explore healing communities where pastoral caregivers foster mutual accountability and engage in inclusive theological reflection in pastoral care and counseling. In doing so, it calls on pastoral caregivers to stand in solidarity with undocumented victim-survivors, interrupting the silence and complicity that allow spiritual, cultural, and institutional betrayals to persist.