In recent years, the Texas Legislature has focused increasingly on immigration enforcement at the border and across the state. Texas’s Operation Lone Star (OLS) launched in 2021 and has deployed thousands of law enforcement personnel to the border, making use of state laws, such as trespassing and smuggling, to engage in immigration enforcement. OLS has radically shifted the way that state and local laws are applied to immigrants and border communities, has resulted in racial profiling, and has led to the deaths of dozens of people through high-speed chases and dangerous border barrier infrastructure. During the 3rd and 4th Special Sessions of the 2023 Legislative Session, the Legislature responded to the Governor’s call to expand Operation Lone Star and passed 3 anti-immigrant bills that will have a disproportionate impact on BIPOC immigrant survivors of gender-based violence.

Houston Public Media reporter Aurora Berry interviewed Casey Carter Swegman, Tahirih Director of Public Policy, about the challenges faced by immigrant women who experience harassment and exploitation in the workplace. […]

At Tahirih, our highest priority is to provide survivor-centered and trauma-informed care to every person who calls us looking for help. From our very first contact with a service seeker, […]

This week is the National Celebration of Pro Bono! Today, we’re proud to share the experience of our long-time pro bono and Board member Rwanda Campbell, who is the Pro Bono Manager at Arnold and Porter. She has been taking on Tahirih cases since 2013 and we recognized her at our Journey to Justice Awards Reception in June as one of our pro bono partners who have taken on the greatest number of cases.

Immigration is an incredibly complex topic to understand. There are so many different terms and jargon that gets thrown around when the media and policymakers are talking about immigration. It […]

As we commemorate the anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), I can’t help but reflect in a few different ways on these past 29 years. First and foremost, […]

In August 2021, as a result of the crisis in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghan citizens began arriving in the United States, with urgent needs for legal and social services as […]