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 filed a comment with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on ways to minimize the separation of families who enter the United States. The comment notes that family separation amounts to torture and recommends that the administration abandon the misuse of Title 42, the Migrant Protection Protocols, and detention and deportation to separate families

Tahirih and the Immigrant Center for Women and Children filed comments with Immigration and Customs Enforcement concerning its proposal to continue using an anonymous “tip” form for suspected immigration violations. The comment notes that use of the form will, in many cases, both harm survivors of domestic violence and violate the confidentiality provisions of the Violence Against Women Act

Tahirih sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement concerning the methods of delivery that should be used for immigration court notices used as the basis for an in absentia order of removal. The letter stresses that ICE must account for the effects of trauma on people seeking asylum and coordinate its address lists with the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a new opinion that will prevent many immigrant survivors of horrific abuse from receiving protection in the United States.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed a preliminary injunction that halted the expansion of expedited removal—a policy that will begin to quickly deport people all over […]

Today, the administration proposed regulations that aim to overturn U.S. asylum law, making it effectively impossible for people fleeing persecution to obtain protection in the United States. If implemented, the rule would eliminate gender-based asylum—shutting the door to anyone fleeing life-threatening persecution due to their gender, while undoing decades of legal precedent. Women fleeing rape […]