Lake Family Resource Center director rebukes White House claim linking sexual violence to immigration

Lisa Morrow, executive director of Lake Family Resource Center, criticized the 2025 White House proclamation on Sexual Assault Awareness Month during public comment at a Lake County meeting, saying the proclamation misattributes increases in sexual violence to border and immigration policies and asking county officials to continue supporting local survivor services.

Morrow said the proclamation’s explanation is “misleading” and “harmful,” and that it shifts attention away from evidence-based prevention and survivor-centered care. “This year's proclamation falsely claims that increases in sexual violence are primarily driven by border and immigration policies,” she said.

Morrow described services her organization provides — crisis intervention, therapy, legal advocacy, shelter and prevention education — and urged continued backing for that work. She said data show most perpetrators are known to survivors: according to a 2023 analysis by the U.S. Department of Justice, 38 percent of sexual assault perpetrators are acquaintances, 34 percent are intimate partners, 6 percent are relatives and 7 to 10 percent are strangers. Morrow used those figures to argue that framing the problem as caused by immigration policy is inaccurate and politicizes survivors’ experiences.

She also asked the county to “stand with us in rejecting misinformation and reaffirming our shared commitment to prevention, healing, and justice.” Morrow noted that Carlos Torres is a member of Lake Family Resource Center’s board of directors.

The meeting’s public-input period closed after Morrow’s remarks.