Senior Managing Attorney at Tahirih Justice Center (TJC), Daniella Prieshoff, said that new federal policies are creating a culture of fear.
“They tend to create a chilling effect on survivors being willing to seek the protections they are lawfully entitled to Maryland, regardless of status,” Prieshoff said.
Prieshoff said the struggle of gender-based violence has been affecting immigrants, regardless of their legal status, for years. Specifically, she works with immigrants who experience intimate partner violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and persecution because of their gender or sexual orientation. Prieshoff reported that compared to last year, phone calls to Baltimore’s TJC office have increased 50% from late January to early February.
