2025 Impact Report
2025 Impact Report
National Programs
We are supporting survivors of violence through
direct services
Since 1997, Tahirih has answered nearly 40,000 calls for help from immigrant survivors fleeing gender-based violence, providing the free legal services needed to achieve the immigration status to which they are entitled under U.S. law and vital social services so they can rebuild their lives.
In 2025, we:
- Provided free legal services to 1,904 immigrant women and children and 1,242 of their family members.
- Connected 508 clients and their family members with vital social services, including emergency shelter, food and clothing, and health care.
- Successfully concluded our Afghan Asylum Project, through which 189 clients received asylum, and 5 clients have been granted their green cards, enabling them to stay in the United States with their families on a permanent pathway to legal status.
Tahirih’s Leadership Team staff at their annual planning retreat.
Volunteers from Visa’s Women’s Resource Group packed more than 70 backpacks in a Back-to-School volunteer event supporting Tahirih clients and their families.
Individuals impacted through free legal services from 2023 to 2025
Calls for help we received more than tripled between 2021 and 2025
After this incredibly traumatic experience, I am grateful for all the support we have found here in the United States to recover—therapy for myself and my daughter, a supportive church community, and new opportunities for myself and my daughter that give me hope for our future.
Anika, Tahirih client
Our Clients
In 2025, the top five countries of origin for our clients were:
- Honduras
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Mexico
- Afghanistan
While many of our clients experienced violence in their countries of origin,
62%
experience abuse and exploitation after coming to the United States.
Most of our clients find us through referrals
19% Internet
21% Referral from legal aid / legal service program
14% Referral from court or law enforcement
17% Referral from social services provider
6% Friends and family
6% National hotlines (DV, trafficking, suicide, mental health)
17% Other
We help clients access the support they need and are eligible for
Medical Care
Health Insurance / Program Enrollment
Mental Health
Crisis Lines
Public Benefits Application Assistance
Food Pantry
Housing
Utility Assistance
Rent Assistance
Social Security Questions
We supported new and ongoing clients with the following types of immigration protections in 2025
31% Asylum for survivors fleeing persecution in home country
40% U visa for survivors of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, or violent crime who assist law enforcement
9% Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) relief for survivors of domestic violence inflicted by spouse or parent
6% T visa for survivors of human trafficking
1% Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) for survivors of child abuse, abandonment, or neglect
12% Permanent Residency by receipt of green card
1% Other
We are enabling communities to meet the needs of survivors through
community partnerships and training
Tahirih’s outreach programs provide thousands of frontline professionals and community members with an understanding of the unique obstacles that immigrant survivors face in the wake of violence, as well as the essential tools needed to help.
In 2025, we:
- Engaged 12,898 professionals in outreach and training at 245 events.
- Delivered training and immigration safety planning sessions to more than 500 survivors.
- Launched an educational series of blog posts and quarterly national webinars titled “Breaking Down the News” explaining the impact of policy changes and court decisions specifically on immigrant survivors.
- Facilitated a panel discussion with experts across the movement to end gender-based violence on cross movement solidarity at the National Sexual Assault Conference.
- Published an expert guide on trauma-informed lawyering for attorneys and practitioners working with survivors of violence.
Tahirih’s San Francisco Bay Area office partnered with the law firm Fenwick & West to host a pro bono legal clinic to screen immigrant survivors for potential legal relief and protections.
Tahirih Director of Public Policy facilitated a panel discussion with expert partners at the National Sexual Assault Conference.
Working with Tahirih means seeing so many capable, trauma-informed, zealous advocates who will do anything they can to help a client. That model inspires me to do the same.
Erin Drenning, Pro Bono Senior Attorney, Hogan Lovells
We are fostering lasting change through
nonpartisan policy advocacy
Tahirih’s policy team amplifies the experiences of immigrant survivors in communities, courts, and Congress to bring about systemic change, ensuring that laws and policies protect survivors from violence and exploitation.
In 2025, we:
- Helped lead a nationwide survey and report on how immigration policy changes are creating a climate of fear that is negatively impacting immigrant survivors of abuse and crime and making it hard for them to achieve safety and justice, as a co-chair of the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors.
- Supported Representatives Moore and Dingell in drafting and publishing a letter to Congress urging the Department of Homeland Security to reinstate a victim-centered approach and to immediately release detained immigrant survivors with pending U and T visa applications from immigration detention.
- Grew support for naming gender as a sixth ground of asylum from advocates and allies from across the movement to end gender-based violence and the movement for immigrant rights.
- Informed supporters and advocates by hosting a national webinar outlining recent policy changes created through federal legislation, Executive Orders, and other agency action.
- Worked closely with Senate Judiciary staff on the Child Marriage Prevention Act and continued to grow support for the legislation to be reintroduced in the 119th Congress.
- Helped spearhead the re-introduction of the Working for Immigrant Safety and Empowerment Act by Representative’s Jayapal, Schakowsky, Espaillat, and Panetta.
The Tahirih Public Policy team participated in a lobby day on Capitol Hill with immigration advocates across the country, meeting with members of Congress (Senator Ossoff’s staff pictured) to raise concerns about the harmful impact of proposed immigration policies on survivors in particular.
Tahirih CEO and Director of Public Policy attended a series of panels and briefings on gender equality hosted by our partners National Immigration Law Center and MomsRising on Capitol Hill.
We are working to end
forced and child marriage in the united states
In 2025, we:
- Provided direct services to 139 clients and expert technical assistance impacting 185 individuals across the United States and abroad.
- Equipped 1,165 advocates, allies, service providers, and other frontline professionals with critical tools to identify forced marriage and protect victims.
- Led the national movement to end child marriage through its most successful year to date with four jurisdictions — Maine, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. — passing full bans.
- Concluded our second year as the first and only national training and technical assistance provider on forced marriage funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. Throughout the year, the Forced Marriage Initiative (FMI) provided expert technical assistance to professionals across the country encountering forced marriage survivors in their work and seeking out best practice guidance and support.
- Hosted several national webinars throughout the year, including a “Compounding Victimizations of Forced Marriage” training that reached over 400 professionals.
- Presented a workshop at the National Sexual Violence Law Conference, “Sexual Violence: Cause and Consequence of Forced Marriage” discussing the nature of forced marriage in the United States, particularly how sexual violence may be used to justify forced marriages.
- Published a first-of-its-kind guide for recognizing and supporting individuals impacted by forced marriage.
Tahirih Houston Policy & Advocacy Manager testified at the Texas State House in favor of a bill to end child marriage.
Tahirih Forced Marriage Initiative Project Manager and Public Policy Manager presented a workshop together at the National Sexual Violence Law Conference hosted by the Victim Rights Law Center.
I am her now. The one they said I could never be. And I will walk into every exam room with the same courage I used to save my own life— so I can help others reclaim theirs.
Yasmin, former Tahirih FMI client
