Jayapal legislation would “ensure that every survivor of domestic and sexual violence knows that reaching out for help will be safer than staying silent.”
FALLS CHURCH – Everyone deserves to live in a safe home and community, with their bodily autonomy respected. But sexual violence remains endemic across the United States, impacting people of all ages, genders, races, religions, abilities, and backgrounds.
To mark Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Jan Schakowsky (IL-Working for Immigrant Safety and Empowerment (WISE) Act. The 09), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), and Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) introduced the Working for Immigrant Safety and Empowerment (WISE) Act. The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS) welcomes this vital piece of legislation and calls on every Member of Congress to cosponsor it today.
“We are incredibly grateful to Representative Jayapal for her consistent leadership on behalf of immigrant survivors. The WISE Act presents a roadmap to justice and safety for immigrant survivors across our communities in America and will ensure that every survivor of domestic and sexual violence knows that reaching out for help will be safer than staying silent,” said Archi Pyati, CEO of the Tahirih Justice Center. “We call on every member of Congress to protect the right of immigrant survivors to live in safety and dignity by passing the WISE Act.”
“ASISTA celebrates the introduction of the WISE Act and its humane approach to safety and healing for immigrant survivors of domestic and sexual violence. We are tremendously thankful to Representative Jayapal for her steadfast support of immigrant survivors and their families. Passing the WISE Act will clear the way to justice and dignity for immigrant survivors–and enhance the safety of all of our communities,” said Cristina Velez, Legal & Policy Director of ASISTA Immigration Assistance.
The WISE Act builds on the successes of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. These landmark laws improved protections for survivors of human trafficking, domestic, sexual, and other forms of “interpersonal” violence for thirty years. Recognizing that people born in other countries experience crime and abuse, but may be reluctant to report it out of fear of deportation, the WISE Act does the following:
- Improves access to the life-saving U visa and Special Immigrant Juvenile visa programs
- Accelerates the citizenship process for lawful permanent residents trapped in abusive relationships with U.S. citizens
- Ends the compounded trauma for immigrant survivors of violence by
- Protecting them from being put in immigration jail or deported while their civil immigration cases are pending
- Ensuring access to safety net programs
- Strengthening confidentiality and privacy protections
- Accelerating access to work authorization and financial security
Abusers and perpetrators of crime use threats of deportation as a potent tool to maintain control over and silence immigrant survivors. The WISE Act will prevent detention and deportation of survivors with pending immigration cases and ensure they have the same access as other survivors to the systems of support that are the bedrock of survivor safety, justice, and healing.
AIS is a national network of advocates and allies dedicated to defending and advocating for policies that ensure immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and other gender-based abuses have access to life-saving protections that all survivors of violence deserve. For more information on the WISE Act, see the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS) website: https://www.immigrantsurvivors.org/wise
