The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) is a groundbreaking federal law that was enacted in January 2006 as part of the reauthorized Violence Against Women Act. IMBRA regulates the fast-growing international marriage broker (IMB) industry (commonly referred to as “mail-order bride” agencies), provides critical information to foreign fiancé(e)s and spouses of US citizens about [...]
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Mariama Barry endured the practice of female genital mutilation in Guinea as a child. Today, she has a US citizen daughter and has to make an impossible decision, if forced to return to Guinea—leaving her daughter in the United States to be raised by strangers or taking her home and witnessing her certain torture.
Mariama was [...]
In September 2007, the nation’s highest immigration court, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), issued a disturbing decision (Matter of A-T-) denying the request for asylum of a young woman who was subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) as a child and who fears a forced marriage if she is returned to Mali. The BIA’s [...]
Read more...We often share news of the many Tahirih Justice Center achievements on behalf of immigrant women and girls fleeing violence. Today, however, we reflect on an accomplishment that did not, in the end, result in the achievement we had hoped for. It reflects the long road we face in attaining justice for the courageous women [...]
Read more...In September 2007, the highest immigration appellate court, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), issued two precedent-setting decisions that advocates fear will limit the ability of a woman to receive refugee status because of female genital cutting.
In Matter of A-K-, the BIA denied protection to a Senegalese father who feared returning to Senegal because [...]
Open the wallet of the average American woman and you will find at least six forms of identification—a driver’s license, credit and insurance cards, various memberships—each of which has an extensive history behind it establishing her identity and eligibility for certain privileges. The average woman who seeks Tahirih’s help, however, comes to us with little [...]
Read more...Tahirih recently won an important legal victory in its fight for the protection of foreign women who meet American men through international marriage brokers (IMBs) (commonly known as “mail-order bride” agencies). The US Federal District Court in Georgia, after a day-long hearing and a year of deliberation, issued a 40-page decision upholding the constitutionality of [...]
Read more...In our December 2006 Newsletter, we anticipated that a rising anti-immigrant backlash, fueled by widespread frustration with Congressional inaction on comprehensive immigration reform, could lead to increased efforts to promote local enforcement of immigration laws in the 2007 Virginia General Assembly session. But we could hardly have braced ourselves enough for the onslaught that came [...]
Read more...In the final weeks of December, as the 2007 Virginia legislative session draws near, Tahirih is actively engaged in monitoring and advocating against legislative proposals that would endanger immigrant women and girls fleeing gender-based violence in Virginia. Of particular concern are calls for the enactment of a state-wide “Memorandum of Understanding,” or “MOU,” that [...]
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