Disturbing story on immigration.

Feministing:

This is going to ruin your afternoon. Just a warning. Isaac R. Baichu, 46, began calling a 22 year-old Colombian woman after receiving her cell phone number at a green card interview last year.

He hinted, she said, at his power to derail her life and deport her relatives, alluding to a brush she had with the law before her marriage. He summoned her to a private meeting. And at noon on Dec. 21, in a parked car on Queens Boulevard, he named his price — not realizing that she was recording everything on the cellphone in her purse.

“I want sex,” he said on the recording. “One or two times. That’s all. You get your green card. You won’t have to see me anymore.”

Before she left his car, he demanded oral sex to “know that you’re serious.” In other words, he raped her. (Though strangely, the NY Times article doesn't it call it rape. It just notes that "he got his way.") The rest of the story is just as horrible (trigger warning like a mofo), but I'm glad that it's at least getting some press.

Preying on undocumented immigrant women isn't exactly a new thing, and it's pretty amazing that this young woman came forward. Most women won't report sexual assaults by immigration officials for fear of retaliation or deportation.

For more information on immigrant women's issues, check out the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women and Legal Momentum's Immigrant Women Program.