Immigrant Culture and Domestic Violence

Sandra Tan writes for the Buffalo News:

A refugee from Somalia was accused of trying to sell her 16-year-old daughter into marriage against her will.

Social Services took another Somali couple’s six children because the father belt-whipped his 8-year-old son and tied him up for misbehaving in school.

A Yemeni husband beat his wife and threw her down the stairs for talking back to him in front of the family.

“How else can I teach her how to behave?” the bewildered man asked in court.

These and other cases like them are raising the concerns of judges, lawyers and human services providers in Buffalo.

Erie County Family Court judges say they have seen a startling rise in the number of domestic abuse and juvenile delinquency cases involving immigrant, refugee and Muslim families who want help but fear police intervention. Read more…

bh