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Publications

Browse our publications to learn more about how we support immigrant survivors of gender-based violence through service in communities, courts, and Congress.

  • Tahirih Statement on Recent Anti-Immigrant Legislation in Texas

    • Publication Date: December 18, 2023
    • Publication Categories: Statements
    • Publication Tags: Asylum, Fair Immigration Laws

    The Tahirih Justice Center is dismayed by the recent Texas legislation that targets immigrants, people seeking asylum, and Texans of color for arrest, deportation, and further criminalization. These new laws – SB4 from the 3rd Special Session adding a penalty enhancement for smuggling, and SB3 and SB4 from the 4th Special Session, on appropriations and unlawful entry, perpetuate racist and xenophobic narratives about immigrants. These laws will also have a devasting and disproportionate impact on immigrant survivors of gender-based violence by cutting off access to the U.S. asylum system, enabling law enforcement officers to deport survivors of crime rather than provide assistance, and creating conditions in which immigrants are increasingly vulnerable to violence. 

    Enacting these policies will exacerbate the risk of gender-based violence along the U.S. southern border, as women and girls are left vulnerable to abuse and exploitation in increasingly precarious conditions. The impact of these laws will be felt statewide and will serve to cultivate a climate of fear among survivors of gender-based violence seeking asylum in the U.S. while undermining protections guaranteed to survivors under federal law. 

    Texas has a legal and moral obligation to protect all asylum seekers and immigrants, particularly women, children, and all who experience gender-based violence, from further harm. The Tahirih Justice Center calls on Texans to join in solidarity with immigrant survivors of gender-based violence to support humane and trauma-informed immigration policies. 

    Read our explainer on these new laws.

  • Tahirih Urges the Administration & Congress to Reverse Course on Gutting Asylum Protections

    • Publication Date: December 11, 2023
    • Publication Categories: Statements

    The Tahirih Justice Center is outraged by the news that the administration appears willing to play politics with human lives. These attacks on immigrants and people seeking asylum represent not simply a broken promise, but a betrayal and we urge the President and Congress to reverse course.

    “I am gravely concerned that, if passed, these policies will further trap and endanger immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. Selling out asylum seekers and immigrant communities under the guise of ‘border security’ in order to pass a supplemental funding package is absolutely unacceptable,” said Casey Carter Swegman, Director of Public Policy at the Tahirih Justice Center. “And we know the impact of these cruel, deterrence-based policies will land disproportionately on already marginalized immigrants of color. I urge the White House and Congress not to sell out immigrants and asylum seekers for a funding deal.”

    Every day, people fleeing persecution – including survivors of gender-based violence – arrive at our border having escaped unspeakable violence. Rasing the fear standard, enacting a travel ban, putting a cap on asylum seekers, and expanding expedited removal nationwide (to name just a few proposals that have been floated in recent days) will do nothing to solve the challenges at the southern border and serve only to create more confusion, narrow pathways to humanitarian relief, increase the risk of revictimization and suffering, and punish immigrants seeking safety and a life of dignity.

    These kinds of proposals double down on the climate of fear that many immigrants in this country already face on a day-to-day basis and will disproportionately impact Black, Brown and Indigenous immigrant communities. Immigrants should not be met with hostile and unmanageable policies that violate their humanity as well as their legal rights. We can and must do better.

  • Senators Must Reject Attacks on Asylum in Funding Negotiations!

    • Publication Date: November 30, 2023
    • Publication Categories: Statements

    As a bipartisan group of Senators negotiate a supplemental funding deal that includes harmful changes to asylum law, Casey Carter Swegman, Director of Public Policy at the Tahirih Justice Center, issued the following statement:

    “These proposals are a non-starter. What is being discussed – policies akin to an asylum ban – create near impossible barriers to apply for and receive asylum and put immigrant survivors of gender-based violence at great risk of further harm and trauma. These changes would have devastating consequences for the many people seeking safety in our country.

    “The deterrence-based proposals on the table would uniquely harm immigrant survivors of gender-based violence, who face increased risk of re-victimization on their perilous journey to the U.S. Every day, immigrant survivors of gender-based violence arrive at our border having escaped unspeakable violence and Black, Brown, Indigenous, women and LGBTQI refugees are particularly vulnerable. They should not be met with hostile and unmanageable policies that violate their humanity as well as their legal rights.

    “The Tahirih Justice Center urges Senators to swiftly reject any attempts to condition the success of a supplemental funding package on these harmful anti-immigrant policy proposals and instead work towards real solutions rooted in our legal and ethical obligations to those seeking refuge from gender-based violence and persecution.”

  • U.S. Asylum Deterrence Policies Increase Risk of Gender-Based Violence

    • Publication Date: October 11, 2022
    • Publication Categories: Statements
    • Publication Tags: Asylum, Fair Immigration Laws, gender-based asylum, Gender-based violence, Remain in Mexico

    A new report by Oxfam America and the Tahirih Justice Center documents how common it is for migrants seeking asylum to experience gender-based violence in Mexico while waiting to access the asylum process in the U.S.  In Surviving Deterrence: How U.S. Asylum Deterrence Policies Normalize Gender-Based Violence, Oxfam America and Tahirih explain how U.S. asylum deterrence policies, such as border closures and expulsions, exacerbate conditions that cause gender-based violence to proliferate at the southern border. The report further asserts that survivors who do manage to apply for asylum face an inequitable and re-traumatizing process on a systemic level.   

  • Tahirih Justice Center Celebrates Houston Annual Gala: Journey to Justice: Progress and Perseverance

    • Publication Date: September 15, 2022
    • Publication Categories: Statements

    The Tahirih Justice Center and Co-Chairs Rebecca Seidl, Partner at Mayer Brown LLP, and Tommy Inglesby, Managing Director at Accenture, invite you to the Houston annual gala, Journey to Justice: Progress and Perseverance on Saturday, October 29, at the Marriott Marquis (downtown).

    The gala will be hosted by Oscar Nuñez and Ursula Whittaker, and the program will feature survivor testimonies, a silent auction, and musical entertainment by Kristine Mills.

  • Soaring in Concert Surpasses Fundraising Goal

    • Publication Date: August 23, 2022
    • Publication Categories: Statements

    Los Altos, Calif. — The Tahirih Justice Center is proud to announce that Soaring in Concert, a benefit concert supporting the organization’s work, raised over $30,000, surpassing its original goal. This event was made possible by the efforts of Aaron Bao, a rising high school sophomore at the Harker School in San Jose, California,  and the local community. Close to 200 guests attended the concert, which took place Saturday, August 20th, at the Community School of Music and Arts Finn Center. The event featured solo performances by award-winning musicians and an art exhibit by student artists that focused on the themes of peace, love, and unity.

  • Soaring in Concert: A Fundraising Event for the Tahirih Justice Center

    • Publication Date: August 08, 2022
    • Publication Categories: Statements

    Los Altos, Calif. — On Saturday, August 20, the Tahirih Justice Center will be hosting Soaring in Concert, a benefit concert supporting the organization’s work. Organized and hosted by Aaron Bao, a rising high school sophomore at the Harker School in Palo Alto, California, the fundraiser will take place from 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm PT at the Community School of Music and Arts Finn Center, 230 San Antonio Cir. Mountain View, CA 94040. The event will feature solo performances by award-winning artists. The last time this concert was held was in the fall of 2019 — right before the pandemic — raising around $30,000 in support of Tahirih’s mission.