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News tagged Policy Advocacy
  • Maryland’s House of Delegates Passes Amended Bill to End Child Marriage

    March 18th, 2022

    Yesterday, Maryland’s House of Delegates passed legislation that would raise the minimum age for marriage in Maryland from 15 to 17. We are grateful to Del. Vanessa E. Atterbeary for championing House Bill 83 and to Delegate Emily Shetty for ensuring the amended version remains strong after considering the Senate’s concerns. HB 83 would ban 17-year-olds from marrying someone who is older than them by four years and would require the 17-year-old to appear before a judge who will evaluate the intended marriage for signs of coercion.

  • The Reauthorization of VAWA Was Necessary and Contains Historic Gains But Falls Short for Immigrant Survivors of Violence

    March 11th, 2022

    Last night, the Senate reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a vote that was six years in the making. The Tahirih Justice Center applauds Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) for their legislative leadership in the fight to get VAWA over the finish line. The new authorization provides more than $500 million to increase resources for survivors of violence.

  • Maryland: Come for the crab cakes, the boardwalk, a child bride

    February 18th, 2022

    The Washington Post’s columnist Petula Dvorak interviewed Tahirih’s Public Policy Director, Casey Swegman Carter, on the importance of passing a legislation that would end child marriage in Maryland. This is the seventh year a bill has been introduced that seeks to ban child marriage in the state.

  • Tahirih Applauds Rep. Lofgren’s Bill to Restructure the Immigration Court System 

    February 3rd, 2022

    Today, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced a bill that would reshape the nation’s immigration courts by making them independent of the Department of Justice (DOJ), led by the U.S. attorney general. The bill would create a new immigration court system under Article I of the U.S. Constitution and it would ensure that judges are unbiased, that court procedures are transparent to the public, and that the executive branch does not decide on the court’s budget. The Tahirih Justice Center believes this bill is an important step to ensure a fair process for immigrants where matters of life and liberty are at stake.  

  • Maryland Should Ban Child Marriage

    February 3rd, 2022

    Tahirih’s Senior Public Policy Associate, Alex Goyette, wrote an opinion piece for the Baltimore Sun. The commentary elevates the importance of passing legislation to end child marriage in Maryland. 

  • Reducing instances of child marriage in Maryland “It’s well past time for Maryland to take action on this issue.”

    January 25th, 2022

    Tahirih’s Director of Public Policy, Casey Swegman, was interviewed by ABC Baltimore about the importance of banning child marriage and fixing state laws that perpetuate the issue. Tahirih hopes that Maryland’s legislative session will move forward with a bill that heads in the right direction to ending child marriage. 

  • Tahirih’s Statement on New MPP Termination Memo

    October 29th, 2021

    Today, the Biden administration issued a memo that attempts to end, for a second time, the Remain in Mexico policy, also knows as the Migrant Protection Protocols, which was implemented in 2019 and forced thousands of individuals to wait in Mexico while their asylum cases are processed.