For Immediate Release: December 2, 2016
In the absence of a progressive immigration reform and limited avenues to citizenship, more than five million women living in the United States are undocumented and living on the margins of our society. Current immigration laws, policies, and programs disproportionately disadvantage women, especially those that deny important health, safety, employment and
due process protections. Immigrant women are often well educated, make important contributions to the economy, are frequently the primary breadwinner, provide more stability for the family and are more likely to be the ones initiating the citizenship process for their families.
Solutions:
– Enable the 11.5 million undocumented people in the United States to attain legal status, with an earned pathway to full citizenship and keep families together.
– Continue relief programs such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
– Provide deferred action to parents of DACA recipients and LGBTQ immigrants without children.
– Protect immigrant survivors of gender-based violence
– Explore and develop visas for Female-dominated occupations
– End programs that deputize state and local police to act as immigration agents. These programs create distrust between immigrant communities and local police and deter survivors of intimate partner violence from engaging with police for fear of deportation.
– Create a sense of trust between the undocumented community and police.