The Tahirih Justice Center welcomes the introduction of the Refugee Protection Act (RPA). This bill not only ensures our doors remain open to refugees and asylum seekers but also reasserts long-held legal precedent.  

A recent report from our two organizations reveals shocking levels of gender-based violence at the US/Mexico border, and exposes how the deterrence-based asylum policy of the US is fueling it.

On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked implementation of Title 42, a policy that expelled more than 1 million asylum seekers at the nation’s southern border since March 2020 under the guise of public health concerns. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington D.C. found the Title 42 policy to be “arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.” As recently documented by Tahirih and Oxfam America in Surviving Deterrence, the policy was not only used to deter asylum-seeking but disproportionately harmed Black and Brown people and survivors of gender-based violence.

Richard Caldarone, Tahirih’s Senior Litigation Counsel, used his expertise in both immigration law and survivor-centered service provision to create a new tool, “Survivor-Centered Legal Writing: A Brief Guide.” This unique […]

Everyone deserves to live a life free from violence. That’s why at Tahirih, we believe that people seeking safety in the U.S. should be met with an asylum system that understands the trauma they have endured, instead of exposing them to more harm.

Unfortunately, that is not the case for survivors of gender-based violence who arrive at the southern border seeking protection here in the United States.

A new report by the Tahirih Justice Center and Oxfam America reveals how common it is for people seeking asylum to experience gender-based violence in Mexico while waiting to access the asylum process in the U.S.

On Thursday, September 8, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new rule on the public charge ground of inadmissibility.

After several years of efforts, Alaska has taken action to protect children by limiting child marriage in the state. House Bill 62 does not ban child marriage but is an important first step to ending child marriage in the state. Until this year, Alaska had the lowest minimum marriage age set by law at just 14 and allowed older minors to marry with nothing more than parental permission.  

The new law, which passed both House and Senate with strong bipartisan majorities, raises the state’s minimum marriage age to 16. It also ensures that all minors will go before a judge before marrying, and mandates that minors may not marry a partner more than three years older.