Gender Equality United States Project #6740

Protect 250 Immigrant Women Fleeing Violence

by Tahirih Justice Center

Protect 250 Immigrant Women Fleeing Violence

Project Report | Mar 6, 2015
A Devastating Reality

By Tahirih Justice Center | Forced Marriage Initiative

Forced and child marriage is a devastating global problem, but it doesn’t just happen “over there” – it affects individuals living right here in the United States.

Our 2011 national survey found that as many as 3,000 cases of forced marriage were encountered in just a 2-year period, all across the country. Thousands of women and girls in the United States, and also men and boys, may be at risk each year. It’s happening in families of many different cultural, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds. Victims may be forced into marriages here in the United States – maybe at the courthouse just down the street from you – or may be taken (tricked or forced) to another country for the ceremony.

That is why we are calling on President Obama to create a national action plan to protect all individuals at risk and to support survivors of forced and child marriage.

We need your help to double the impact our petition to the President by March 17. Please sign and share the petition with your friends, family, and co-workers. Every signature truly does matter! We've seen the government respond to petitions like this with real and concrete commitments.

Here's a simple message you can pass along via email or social media: "I just signed the petition to urge President Obama to create a national action plan to end forced marriage in the U.S. I really care about this issue, and I hope you will take a look at the petition and consider signing it, too: bit.ly/SigntoEndFM."

Follow our progress using the social media hashtag #SigntoEndFM.

Since 2011, when Tahirih Justice Center launched our Forced Marriage Initative, we've served at the forefront of the movement to protect individuals fleeing and at risk of forced marriage in the United States. Our important petition to the President, which already has nearly 5,000 signatures, is just one of several milestones that our Forced Marriage Initiative has recently celebrated.

We are also pleased to announce that we launched the first and only website of its kind in the United States dedicated to providing lifesaving resources to individuals in the U.S. fleeing this human rights abuse. And our six-city, national tour to raise awareness of this hidden problem is wrapping up March 17-19 in our nation's capital.

Our progress in the fight to end forced marriage in the United States would not be possible without supporters like you.

Thank you!

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Dec 15, 2014
A Real Hero Needs Your Help This Holiday Season

By Layli Miller-Muro | Executive Director

Gloria is a Hero

Dear Friends,

This holiday season, I hope you have a moment to meet a real-life hero, Gloria.* Born out of wedlock and orphaned by her mother in Mexico City, Gloria grew up without knowing what it felt like to be loved. At age 14, Gloria was homeless and was forced to drop out of school to support herself.

In her early 20s, she met a man who showed her affection for the first time in her life. He asked her to prove her love for him by getting his initials tattooed on her shoulder, and she did. Gloria couldn’t have known the meaning of the tattoo; his initials branded her as property of one of the most violent gangs in the world, Los Zetas. Soon after, her boyfriend took her to a party, where he sold her to Los Zetas as a sex slave.

During her six months in captivity, Gloria was raped, drugged, burned with cigarettes, cut with broken bottles, and tortured so often that she lost count. She was kept in a room with 20 other women and girls. All had similar tattoos on their shoulders.

One night, Gloria was put alone in a room after being raped. Frustrated, she punched a rusted air conditioner mounted in the window, and it budged. This was her chance.

She punched the air conditioner until it fell to the ground. Gloria climbed through into the night, and she ran for days.

Apprehended at the border, she was immediately placed in a detention center in Texas and sought protection through Tahirih. We helped Gloria win asylum and connected her with vital social services.

Today, Gloria is slowly rebuilding her life and healing from her trauma. She recently found a job and dreams of one day becoming a dentist. For the first time in her life, she feels like she has the tools she needs to build a home.

Unfortunately, Gloria’s story is not unique. At Tahirih Justice Center, we hear stories like Gloria’s many times a day, every single day. Her story is an urgent reminder of the work that remains in the fight to create a world where women and girls enjoy equality and live in safety and with dignity.

Since 1997, Tahirih has responded to pleas for help from nearly 17,000 women and children from every corner of the globe. We protect courageous immigrant women and girls, like Gloria, who refuse to be victims of extreme gender-based violence, a worldwide epidemic that impacts everyone. But none of our lifesaving work would be possible without your help.

Thanks to supporters like you, in 2014, we:

Responded to more than 2,000 pleas for help from individuals fleeing violence;
Maintained a 99% litigation success rate despite the complex and often uncharted nature of the cases we accept;
Grew 12% nationally by hiring critical staff members to support more women and girls entitled to protection under existing U.S. law;
Turned every $1 donated into $5 of impact thanks to nearly $13 million in donated services from our Pro Bono Network of more than 1,500 attorneys and professional volunteers;
Served at the forefront of the movement to protect the rights of immigrant women and girls who fled gender-based and now are caught in the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border;
Launched a six-city,18-event, national tour to end forced marriage in the U.S.
Led a coalition of women’s rights groups at the White House to advocate for stronger protections for women and girls.

Despite these challenging times, this holiday season, we have so much to celebrate. We are immensely grateful to our dedicated staff and our robust and compassionate Pro Bono Network. We are also incredibly thankful for you. Your continued support has saved lives, and it has given many of our clients a sense of safety and dignity for their first time in their lives.

As we approach 2015, Tahirih Justice Center will continue to seek efficient, effective, and innovative ways to protect women like Gloria and all of our brave clients. But we cannot do this without your generosity. We simply do not have the resources necessary to meet the needs of the courageous women and girls who reach out to us for help; with every client we serve, we still have to turn two others away. This Thanksgiving, please give what you can and know that the lives that your gift touches will be forever transformed.

With your continued support, we will increase the number of women and girls we serve through public policy advocacy and direct lifesaving legal services. Together, we will achieve a world free from gender-based violence. Please make a donation at whatever level you can, and transform a life like Gloria’s this holiday season. Remember, every $1 you donate will be turned into $5 of impact.

With warmest regards,

Layli Miller-Muro

Executive Director

Tahirih Justice Center

*Please note that our client's name and photo has been changed to protect her privacy.

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Sep 22, 2014
What We're Doing to Protect Refugee Children

By Layli Miller-Muro | Founder and Executive Director

Dear Friends:

You’ve seen the tragedy reported in the press: children are fleeing violence in record numbers from Central American countries to seek safety in the United States. More young girls than ever before are making the dangerous trip north. Girls now make up 40% of fleeing children, and there has been a 140% increase in the number of girls under 12 apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border from 2013 to 2014.

Many have suffered sexual exploitation, gang violence, child abuse or abandonment, incest, and human trafficking in their home countries, which lack the governmental and judicial infrastructure to protect them. United States law requires that children fleeing violence be treated humanely and be granted the opportunity to make a case for legal protection, including refugee status. Unfortunately, that is not what is happening.

Girls at our border are in desperate need of Tahirih Justice Center’s legal advocacy. Please consider making a donation today to support Tahirih’s work on behalf of girls and women seeking justice in the United States.

Many vulnerable girls who risked their lives to escape violence in their home countries are now in detention and are being placed on a “rocket docket,” which schedules their court date within days of their arrival. Without time to obtain legal counsel, they are required to decide if they wish to apply for protection, clearly articulate their story, and make their legal case.

For a child who doesn’t speak English, distrusts authority, has suffered traumatizing violence, is exhausted from her journey, and knows little about the U.S. court system, it is nearly impossible to obtain justice without an advocate. In fact, 9 out of 10 children are deported if they do not have an attorney (compared to 1 in 4 for children with an attorney). At the same time, once a child is released from detention, her case may take 18-48 months to come to full trial and final adjudication. The immigration court system is under-resourced and experiencing delays that cause cases to be scheduled as far out as 2018.

Last week, Tahirih staff were quoted in The Wall Street Journal about the difficulties obtaining justice in these circumstances. Further troubling are attempts by members of both the executive and legislative branches to roll back existing critical legal protections for unaccompanied children.

Tahirih Justice Center is on the front lines. Our public policy team is responding in Washington, DC to protect the children, and our Houston office is scrambling to meet the needs of girls arriving at their doors for help.

Their stories are tragic. Knowing the frequency of rape in transit, girls' families are sending them on their journey with birth-control injections. Our Houston Director Anne Chandler remarked, “It is at a point where, if we don’t see girls who have suffered sexual violence, we are surprised."

As supporters of Tahirih Justice Center, I want to take a moment to let you know what we’re doing to protect these vulnerable immigrant children, and let you know how you can impact their lives. We are:

• Influencing the White House. On Aug. 7, Tahirih was one of just a few NGO representatives selected to offer White House officials proposals for administrative action that would help streamline the immigration system.

• Protecting law designed to safeguard children. In early July, after the Obama administration requested $3.7B to address the refugee flow and recommended undoing areas of the law that protect immigrant children, Tahirih submitted testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee calling on the Senate to recognize that jailing and rapidly deporting unaccompanied, unrepresented children would be inhumane. As a result of public opposition, these provisions were not approved.

• Fighting legislation that would harm children and survivors of violence. In late July, the House passed a new supplemental bill that significantly reduces funds allocated to the care of the children and instead focuses entirely on rapid deportation. In addition, it rolls back key legal protections for immigrant children currently in place. We are working alongside our coalition partners to ensure that these measures do not gain traction in the Senate.

• Training pro bono attorneys who want to help refugee children access justice. Tahirih Houston recently partnered with the Harris County Attorney’s Office, the Houston Bar Association, and numerous other private and public organizations to host a free continuing education seminar on unaccompanied minors that reached an estimated 500 legal and law enforcement professionals in Houston.

• Providing legal defense for unaccompanied refugee girls. Tahirih staff and pro bono partners are providing free legal and social services for immigrant girls fleeing violence. In Houston, we are increasing our staff and capacity to help more girls.

In an effort to respond to the crisis, our resources are being spread thin. Please help us during this tragic time of need. It costs $5,000 to save the life of a girl, providing full legal representation and critical social and medical services. Please consider supporting a girl's full needs at this Life Saver level. If you have a child, your donation can be made in her or his name.

Your gift has the power to transform the life of a girl who has done everything in her power to reject violence.

Warmly,

Layli Miller-Muro
Executive Director

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