Claudia came to the US in 2006 when her husband brought her here from Honduras. He came first then sent for her to join him. Soon after she arrived her husband became very violent. He told her that her status would be used against her. He would beat her on a weekly basis and she never called for help because she was afraid of the police. One day she went with her husband to get documentation for her son and was caught by the authorities. She was immediately deported. Her husband kept her son. He told her that he would send her son back to Honduras but he never did. She had no contact with her son for over a year.
Claudia eventually made it back to the US, to be with her child and family. They were living together again and her husband was still beating her regularly. The scar on her face is a result of his violence. She had a job but couldn't drive so a friend from work would drive her. Her husband assaulted the friend with a knife. Her husband has also chased her and her son with a knife. A neighbor called the police and her husband was arrested but was released.
Soon after he got home he called the police and told them that Claudia was harassing him. The police came to the house and asked for her name. She was scared so did not tell them but was still handcuffed and taken to jail. When they arrested her there was nowhere else for her son to go—he would stay with his father who beat him. She was finally released but with a GPS tracker. Very recently, she was in a friend's car to go buy groceries and they were stopped by the police. The police asked both her and the driver for their licenses and then the police asked Claudia to confirm her birth date. She was very scared and made a mistake with the year. She was immediately handcuffed and arrested, again. The way the laws are now, she is scared to call the police. “You don't know if they will arrest you or the person that is hurting you,” she says.
This is first time she told the story in front of a group and is grateful for the delegation to come to Georgia and talk about what is happening to the women. She has constant nightmares of law enforcement coming to arrest her. The only thing she wants is to live in peace with her son.