Today, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced a bill that would reshape the nation’s immigration courts by making them independent of the Department of Justice (DOJ), led by the U.S. attorney general. The bill would create a new immigration court system under Article I of the U.S. Constitution and it would ensure that judges are unbiased, that court procedures are transparent to the public, and that the executive branch does not decide on the court’s budget. The Tahirih Justice Center believes this bill is an important step to ensure a fair process for immigrants where matters of life and liberty are at stake.  

This year, we are celebrating a monumental milestone at our organization – it has been 25 years since our doors opened, and we have served more than 30,000 immigrant survivors of gender-based violence.

Today, the Biden administration issued a memo that attempts to end, for a second time, the Remain in Mexico policy, also knows as the Migrant Protection Protocols, which was implemented in 2019 and forced thousands of individuals to wait in Mexico while their asylum cases are processed.

This LGBTQ+ History Month, Tahirih’s Queer & Trans Caucus demands an immediate end to the state-sponsored violence that trans, nonbinary, two-spirit, and queer immigrants face at the hands of our immigration and criminal punishment systems.

The Tahirih Justice Center denounces the new opinion on Matter of A-R-C-G- issued by the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit.

International human rights law forbids sending people back to the country that they are fleeing when their lives are on the line. Black immigrants, including Haitians, have been discriminated against—and it’s costing lives. For months, thousands of Haitian asylum seekers and other Black migrants have been expelled from this country and denied their legal right to seek asylum. Black migrants deserve to be welcomed with dignity, not face an endless cycle of inhumane and violent treatment at the hands of our government.

The Department of Homeland Security issued broad new directives to immigration officers that will go into effect on November 29, 2021. Although these new enforcement and deportation guidelines clarify that not everyone who is an undocumented immigrant should, or can, be removed from the United States, the memo gives worryingly broad discretion to individual ICE and CBP agents to carry out the enforcement priorities and risks the removal of survivors of gender-based violence.