For women and girls like Tahirih’s clients, it is not enough to have just any attorney. Their unique gender-based violence cases require attorneys who are well-versed in both sensitive cultural issues and the extremely complicated and often unexplored territory of gender-based immigration law.

Tahirih’s clients have historically been faced with threats of arrest and deportation from their abusers, but lately these women, who have a right to legal status, are caught in the crossfire of increased activities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Critical legislation would help counteract the severe “chilling effect” that exists due to immigrant victims’ fear and confusion about what treatment they can expect from police—deterring crime-reporting and help-seeking, hindering law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, and undermining public safety for us all.

Federal protections are intended to encourage non-citizen survivors of violent crimes to come forward and get help, but a push for local police to enforce immigration law could unravel the intent of the protections, which have been painstakingly elaborated over 15 years.

Open the wallet of the average American woman and you will find at least six forms of identification—a driver’s license, credit and insurance cards, various memberships—each of which has an extensive history behind it establishing her identity and eligibility for certain privileges. The average woman who seeks Tahirih’s help, however, comes to us with little more than her name and her story.

A rising anti-immigrant backlash, fueled by widespread frustration with congressional inaction on comprehensive immigration reform, could lead to increased efforts to promote local enforcement of immigration laws in the 2007 […]

MOU would create an instant “chilling effect” on immigrant communities, jeopardizing not only the safety of battered immigrant women and girls, but public safety in general.