A letter to the White House re: The Impact of Proposed Asylum and Immigration Policy Changes on Immigrant
Survivors of Gender-Based Violence

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 […]

On April 7, Tahirih and pro bono counsel Orrick filed a lawsuit against USCIS for its failure to timely process asylum applications. The seventeen Tahirih clients who are plaintiffs in the litigation filed their applications at least five years ago and continue to await adjudication, despite the completion of many later-filed applications. Delays in asylum adjudication compound the stress and hardship of survivors, and Tahirih and Orrick look forward to vindicating the rights of these survivors to timely adjudication of their meritorious claims for relief.

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.