Our communities must not be on the VAWA chopping block: Take action now!

After a few weeks of back and forth about the Violence Against Women Act later, the Senate seems finally ready to finish work on it and vote today. But why so much debate?

The Violence Against Women Act first passed in 1994, and has since been reauthorized twice – in 2000 and 2005. It is up for reauthorization once again, and though historically VAWA has had broad bipartisan support, a few provisions that address the needs of marginalized populations in the United States – in this case, Native Americans, immigrants, and LGBTQ folks – have been singled out and targeted for opposition. Namely, these provisions would:

• Provides tribes jurisdiction to prosecute non-Native persons accused of IPV against Native partners within their territories
• Include LGBT persons in its definition of “underserved populations,” and make funds obtained through VAWA subject to non-discrimination provisions including sexual orientation and gender identity
• Include support programs specifically for immigrant communities, such as increasing the number of U-Visas (visas available through VAWA for immigrants abused by U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents), expanding U Visa qualifying crimes, allowing anyone at a law enforcement agency to provide certifications for U visas, and providing a possibility for people who can’t get law enforcement certifications to still apply for U visas if they have enough evidence.

The fact that these are sticking points is absolutely absurd. Approximately 1.5 million women from all walks of life experience intimate partner violence (IPV), and the impact of IPV on communities of color and LGBT communities should not be understated. Though no studies demonstrate that IPV is higher in immigrant communities than the community at large, Latina and Asian immigrant women are overrepresented among IPV-related homicide victims. IPV among LGBTQ people occurs, but is often ignored and even turned away from services. And in their lifetimes, 24% of American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped, and 39% will be subjected to domestic violence.

That members of Congress have taken issue with provisions that would increase the safety of these populations ignores reality and is an affront to justice. Each year, the lives of thousands of women, children, and others who survive intimate partner violence are made safer by VAWA and the programs it has created. On their behalf, it is imperative that these provisions stay in the bill, and that VAWA grows along with the times.

Urge your Senators to pass VAWA with these provisions today. We cannot afford to ignore our communities’ realities. Please take action!

Read Full Post »

My day at the Supreme Court rallying against SB1070

Today, I was able to stand in solidarity with the people of Arizona in their opposition to the racial-profiling and anti-immigrant law enacted two years ago, S.B. 1070. Today, the  Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of the law, and pro-immigrant, pro-civil rights forces were out on the steps to have their voices heard.

The crowd was electric as immigrant rights groups vastly outnumbered anti-immigrant activists.

The crowd was energetically chanting,

¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!

¡Adelante! ¡Adelante! ¡La lucha sigue avanzando!

¡Aquí estamos, y no nos vamos!

¿Qué queremos? ¡Justicia! ¿Cuándo? ¡Ahora!

¡Si se puede! Yes we can!

When I arrived around 11am, the Supreme Court was wrapping up oral arguments for the day. Those who were inside the Supreme Court emerged and told of what they heard. Immigration attorneys noted that there is reason to be hopeful that the law will be found unconstitutional as Justices expressed concern over the racial profiling. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, herself a woman of color, asked if having a name like “Sotomayor” would make her suspect under the Arizona law.  Justice Samuel Alito wondered if a resident of New Mexico driving through Arizona (New Mexico issues driver’s liscences to undocumented folks) could also be stopped and asked for papers. Others wondered if SB1070 would lead to mass incarceration of Arizona residents.

There was large support from the community of faith. Faith leaders, from various religious and spiritual backgrounds, spoke about the moral imperative in overturning S.B. 1070. They spoke about how the law is breaking apart families and spreading fear. They argued that we need immigration solutions that welcome immigrants with open arms, and allow families to live with dignity.

At around 12:30pm, religious leaders ended their “Jericho march.” These religious leaders marched in silence and prayer around the Supreme Court seven times.

At about 1pm, the festivities, the celebrations, the music, and the chants ended. Or did they? As  immigrant rights activists proceeded back to their buses, they chanted all the way to Union Station and in Union Station itself.

Activists were chanting, and luchando, until the end!

I was inspired today, being at the Supreme Court. Seeing solidarity in action gave me the sense that despite the enormous challenges, the people will be heard.

While I normally squirm in fear of Supreme Court decisions, today I looked around me and realized that no matter what the Roberts Court decides, the forces on the side of humanity, of dignity, and of justice will prevail in overturning SB1070 and copy-cat laws in states like Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana.

Being at the Supreme Court today reminded me that when we work together, we are stronger in our fight for  salud, dignidad, y justicia!

Read Full Post »

Supreme Court hears arguments on Arizona immigration law

Today, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the controversial Arizona immigration law, also known as SB 1070. We’ve written a lot about the bill since it passed  here at the Nuestra Vida, Nuestra Voz blog – its consequences are far-reaching and ever-evolving.

Today, more than half of immigrants are women, and many of those are the sole breadwinners of their families and the backbone of their communities. The law legalizes racial profiling and creates cruel conditions in which immigrant women and families live in fear of separation.

We’ll be waiting anxiously to hear how the arguments go, and ultimately the Supreme Court’s decision.We’ll update you when we know more, but for now, here are some of the posts in which we’ve written about Arizona for a quick refresher.

The Arizona 20-week abortion ban and immigrant women

Important Supreme Court session for Latinas as Court agrees to decide on Arizona SB 1070 constitutionality

The perils of private business running public policy: The case of SB1070

Arizona judge blocks most controversial portions of Arizona immigration law

Local police officer files legal challenge to Arizona racial profiling law

Latina Arizonans testify on racist immigration law

Silvia Henriquez responds to Arizona on Roll Call

Read Full Post »

Join NLIRH at the CLPP Conference this weekend!

NLIRH is so excited to be part of the CLPP conference again this year! Hampshire College’s Civil Liberty and Public Policy program puts on a fabulous reproductive justice conference every year – From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom – and it is a very important space for us in social justice organizing:

More than 150 speakers and 75 conference workshops will highlight successful examples of activism and discuss how struggles for reproductive and sexual rights are intricately linked to movements for economic, social, and environmental justice. Topics of workshops and strategic action sessions include abortion access in the U.S. and internationally, climate justice, anti-foreclosure activism, media making and storytelling, the politics of population control, and organizing around the 2012 elections.

NLIRH is presenting on three panels this year, and we hope that you can come stop by and say hi! I’m  presenting on two panels:

• Queering Reproductive Justice – Saturday at 3:15 pm, and
• Our Lives, Our Voices: Reproductive Justice and Immigrant Communities – Saturday at 5:15 pm

And Isa is presenting on another:

• Building a Cross-Class and Multi-Racial Movement for True Economic Recovery

We hope you can join us!

 

 

Read Full Post »

The Arizona 20-week abortion ban and immigrant women

Stephanie and Veronica at the March for Immigrants' Rights on March 21, 2010

Yesterday, the Arizona House passed an omni-bus anti-choice law that included a ban on abortion past 20 weeks. These 20 week bans are all the rage now  in anti-choice legislating, and proposals for 20 week bans have been popping up all over the country in the last few years. The fact that this  most recent ban passed in Arizona, however, hit a nerve.

As you probably know, Arizona has one of the harshest anti-immigrant laws in the nation. And laws that criminalize immigrants and create harsh enforcement procedures do damage on a lot of fronts: they split families, they cost a lot of money. But anti-immigrant sentiment also has an effect on health. It is laws like these and the sentiment behind them that put up barriers to health care access for immigrants. Many immigrants, even some with legal documentation, cannot access public health care programs like Medicaid even if otherwise eligible; others who have found places where they could access health care that is affordable avoid going for fear that accessing this care will alert immigration authorities, or because the authorities have set up shop and are waiting outside the clinic (a practice our activists have witnessed and told us about). And abortion is health care.

You see, there are many barriers to obtaining safe, legal abortion services, and access to health care is a huge issue for immigrant women. Barriers to health care add time: time to gather up the money for the procedure, time to travel to a location where there is a provider, waiting periods, ultrasound appointments…it all adds up. For immigrant women in states like Arizona, who face many barriers in obtaining health care and abortion services, it takes time to get all the ducks in a row to get the services they need, and this ban will impact them the hardest. An abortion is not cheap, and it only gets more expensive as the weeks keep moving along; a woman may have gathered what she thinks is enough money for a procedure only to find that the price has gone up, meaning she will need more time – during which the procedure just gets more expensive.

It’s important to look at all of these systems together, for they paint a picture of who will be most affected. As usual, it is low-income women and immigrant women.

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Notes from the Field: We Belong Together

“Lo que pasa en la casa, no se habla,” a phrase that was drilled into me and my siblings at a young age, was the first thing that came out of the mouth of Trini, a mother, a woman, a member of the Birmingham community, and a warrior in the fight against Alabama’s Anti-Immigration Law, HB 56. Trini and six other extraordinary women were part of a group of Latinas, who made a decision that  goes against what they were taught culturally to do (not to talk about hardship at home): they began speaking out and fighting back.

These women each had characteristics of my greatest role model, my mother. My mother is by far the most extraordinary woman alive, not only because she is my mother, but because of what she did to make sure that us –her children and only family in the United States– were able to help her realize her “American Dream”: to be educated professionals, own a home, and have the opportunity to be what we want at our fingertips. My mother, a paraprofessional for the NYC Department of Education, has been an incredible educator, and proud union member for over twenty years. My siblings and I are all clear that had it not been for my mother’s great job with awesome benefits and constant focus on our education, we wouldn’t be where we are today. My mother and father both paved the way alongside other Latin@ immigrants to fight and obtain their dreams for a better life.

Two weeks ago on 3/21 & 3/22/12, I unfortunately saw that the path my parents made when they came to this country, is slowly disappearing in places like Birmingham, Alabama. As an Advisory Committee Member for the We Belong Together delegation to Birmingham, I along with sixteen other fierce, woman leaders, came to Alabama to bear witness to the harshest anti-immigrant, anti-family law in the United States, HB 56. We heard about how one law has been able to tear apart, traumatize, and at times uproot women, children, and families. Interestingly, the women who shared their stories with us taught us all a lesson: that they would not let their fear paralyze them, but instead use that fear to empower them to stand up, take control, and fight like hell.

These women spoke about the importance to access health care for their children, a better life for their families, and the American Dream they made for themselves — one which they knew they would never be able to fulfill in their homelands. Their reasons to emigrate and the dreams they have made are all things that I am very familiar with. My father’s family immigrated to the US from Ecuador in the late-50s and early-60s searching for a cure for polio, which had struck my aunt at a young age. My parents had one thing in mind when they got married, which was to create the best environment possible for their kids to be better than them, to have access to everything they need, and for their family to move ahead. It seemed to me like all of my friends who were like me, first generation immigrants, had parents who had the same dream. We just needed to go to school, do well academically, go to college, and we would be set for life — our parents paved the way for us to do all of these things without having to worry about the hardships that they had to confront. And yet, 27 years later, I listened to the stories of the women of Alabama and realized that the path began vanishing because of this anti-immigrant, anti-family law.

Read Full Post »

20 Days of ACA: Support for Domestic Violence Survivors

Throughout 20 Days of ACA, we have discussed many ways the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or health reform) prioritizes the prevention of disease and illness. We have discussed the creation of the National Prevention Council and National Prevention Strategy as well as no co-pays for a wide range preventive care services including cervical cancer screening, pregnancy-related care, STI/HIV testing, and maternity and newborn coverage in the state insurance “exchanges.”

Today, we discuss another preventive health service that will be offered with no co-pay: domestic violence screening.

Starting on August 1, 2012 new health insurance plans must begin to cover this important service at no additional cost to patients. This important provision was included thanks to the Women’s Health Amendment (WHA).

How does domestic violence or inter-partner violence (IPV) impact Latinas?

According to year 2000 estimates, nearly 1 in 4 (23.4%) Latinas face domestic violence over the course of their lifetime. This violence comes in many forms including but not limited to verbal abuse, physical assault, and sexual assault. Abusive partners also cut off access to support systems and money (even partners’ earned wages.) Increasingly,  reproductive coercion – including sabotaging birth control methods, threatening to leave a women if she does not become pregnant, forcing contraception or abortion, and forcing partners to use recreational drugs to enhance arousal - is being used a form of violence against partners.

And while more data is needed, we know that immigrant Latinas are  overrepresented among IVP-related homicide victims and they face more barriers to leaving abusers due to lesser developed support systems, ineligibility for public benefits, and limited English proficiency among others. We also know a pregnant woman has a 35% increased chance of experiencing IPV compared to non-pregnant women and that IPV in LGBTQ communities occurs, but is often ignored.

To add to the challenges, states like Arizona and Alabama have enacted a series of dangerous immigration policies that only  decrease Latinas’ confidence in law enforcement, break apart families through incarceration, detention and deportation, and create an “anti-immigrant” culture.  Despite the creation of the U-Visa in 2000 to protect immigrants who assist law enforcement, these egregious state immigration policies threaten public safety and health by making it more difficult for Latina immigrants of IPV to leave their abusers.

Why is no co-pay for domestic violence screening and counseling important for Latinas?

Much needs to be done in this country to end domestic violence, address domestic violence in LGBTQ communities, and elevate the status of those who identify as women. For starters, NLIRH called for comprehensive immigration reform and condemned Arizona-like immigration policies.

The Affordable Care Act make a small but necessary contribution to the health of women who face domestic violence. By requiring no co-pays for domestic violence screening, the health care law removes a barrier for women whose wages and access to money have been cut off by abusers.

Health reform recognizes that women face unique barriers to health care that men do not face. From no co-pays for women’s-specific preventive care to non-discrimination protection, the ACA hopes to reduce health disparities faced by women, and particularly women of color by improving women’s access to health care insurance and public health services. And as Latinas have disproportionately been excluded from health services, they stand poised to gain from the reforms under the ACA.

There are only a few more posts in 20 Days of ACA — stay tuned throughout this week!

Read Full Post »

Take Action Against Congress’ Proposal To Threaten a Lifeline for Latino Families!

Do you remember all that talk right before the holidays about Congress thinking about NOT extending unemployment benefits during this time of recession?

Well, Congress did strike a deal that extended both unemployment insurance benefits and the payroll tax cut, a benefit that allows workers to keep about $40.00 per paycheck. That deal is set to expire February 29, and Congress is renegotiating — most of the debate now is how to pay for these benefits.

The House of Representatives are proposing pay for the payroll tax extension by limiting eligibility for a program that helps low-income taxpaying families care for their children- and 80% of the the families who benefit from this program are Latino!  Seriously, Congress?!

The Child Tax Credit reduces taxes by $1,000.00 per child for taxpaying parents so that they can buy food, school supplies, and other necessities for their children. Parents who benefit from this law are taxpayers, so they pay into this program- again a program that serves as  a tax refund to assist lower-income families. The program is credited with helping 1.3 million children from falling into poverty in 2009.

Under current law, taxpayers who do not have a Social Security Number can apply to this benefit using Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). This number is issued by the Internal Revenue Service to allow those without Social Security Numbers, like immigrants, pay taxes.

House of Representatives are proposing to limit eligibility for this program to only those with Social Security Numbers.

As National Council of La Raza explains, this proposal would disproportionately impact Latinos who are taxpayers and have very low incomes. By denying this benefit to ITIN tax-payers, 4.4 MILLION Latino children in mixed-status families would lose this benefit, affecting 1 in4 Latino children. This would be unfair to the taxpayers who pay into this program and would destabilize the health, well-being and prosperity of our most vulnerable children.

Why Congress is proposing to pay for one assistance program by cutting one that impacts poor children is beyond logic, reason and human compassion.  Low-income children are the ones who will suffer most.

We need to do better for our children. In 2007, the United States ranked 20th out of 21 countries in a UN survey of child welfare in rich nations. The Annie E. Casey Foundation has found that child poverty has increased in 38 states over the past decade with 20% of our youth now living in poverty.

And Latino children disproportionately live in poverty and are food-insecure.The Pew Research Center found that in 2010, more Latino children lived in poverty than children of any other group. NCLR’s research also shows that Latinos face the highest level of food insecurity among all racial and ethnic groups.

Unfortunately, this is not the only policy aimed at generating revenue by  destabilizing the health and well-being of poor Latino children. States like Kansas have either proposed or enacted laws that limit food stamp eligibility for the children of undocumented immigrants.

Latin@s, please show your Congressperson that you are PODEROSA and you will not stand for this attack on Latino children in this country!

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to reach your Representatives in Congress.

The National Council of La Raza recommends the below script:

“My name is ____.  I am a constituent calling from ____.  I urge you to oppose any changes in eligibility for the Child Tax Credit.  Children in low-income families should not be a source of revenue for the payroll tax cut.  No compromises!”

National Council of La Raza (NCLR) has excellent resources on this topic and the impact on Latinos.

Read Full Post »

Immigration, intimate partner violence, and the Violence Against Women Act

This blog is part of the #HERVotes blog carnival to support VAWA reauthorization.

In 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) passed Congress with bipartisan support, providing funding for studies of intimate partner violence (IPV), the creation of necessary trainings and other materials responding to the issue, and the development of resources that help individuals exit dangerous and abusive situations. VAWA has been reauthorized twice—in 2000 and 2005—and is currently up for reauthorization again. This time, though, the bill faces challenges in getting through Congress, and proposed adjustments the Act’s funding threaten VAWA’s integrity. Ensuring that VAWA passes should be on everyone’s minds, since IPV occurs in all of our communities. But immigrant communities—especially immigrant women—may be particularly affected by any changes to VAWA.

IPV is a wide-reaching issue, with over two million injuries from IPV per year. But while male-on-female violence in heterosexual relationships is the stereotypical image of an abusive relationship, it is important to recognize that IPV also occurs in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community and that men and women alike may be subject to IPV.

Read Full Post »

Calling for an investigation of sexual abuse in immigration detention

It’s hard to ignore the numerous ways in which our system of immigration incarceration harms our communities: on a daily basis, tens of thousands of people are warehoused in jails, many of them far from their families, separated from children and other loved ones, and unable to access legal assistance. To our horror, immigration detention produces story after story of even more extreme abuse, including denial of adequate healthcare, refusal of appropriate housing facilities, and unpunished sexual abuse of immigration detainees. We hope that shedding more light on the reality of abuse in immigration detention will help improve the transparency of the system; force recognition of its over-expansion, under-regulation, and general inefficacy for addressing immigration infractions; and, ultimately, bring about the end of our reliance on incarcerating immigrants.

Read Full Post »