FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Sept. 18, 2017
Today, the Tahirih Justice Center and colleague organizations filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court against the Executive Order that bans refugees and citizens of six majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the legality of the travel ban Executive Order on October 10, 2017.
The amicus brief highlights the devastating impact of the travel ban on women and girls seeking refuge from violence. It argues that by halting the refugee program and by banning all travel from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, this Executive Order “slams the nation’s door on displaced women and girls vulnerable and regularly subjected to gender-based violence.” The brief includes the stories of courageous Tahirih clients who would not have been able to escape horrific violence in their home countries had the Executive Order been in place.
The travel ban Executive Order also undercuts the United States’ long-standing commitment to protecting immigrant victims of gender-based violence and empowering all survivors to seek help from law enforcement, regardless of their national origin. The brief states:
“In the name of serving America’s public good, the Order perversely works a public travesty by also weakening the specific tools Congress has provided law enforcement to prosecute predators of women and children.”
By undermining the protections established through the Violence Against Women Act and other legislation, this Executive Order makes us all less safe.
Joining the brief as co-amici with the Tahirih Justice Center were the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV), ASISTA Immigration Assistance, Break the Cycle, Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network, Futures Without Violence, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Legal Momentum, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, National Domestic Violence Hotline, National Immigrant Justice Center, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, National Network to End Domestic Violence, National Organization for Women Foundation, and National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. The law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP led the drafting.
Archi Pyati, Chief of Policy and Programs, is available for comment on this topic. Please contact [email protected] to arrange an interview.
About the Tahirih Justice Center
The Tahirih Justice Center is the only national, multi-city organization providing both policy advocacy and leadership and direct, on the ground legal services to immigrant and refugee women and girls fleeing violence. Tahirih will continue to monitor policy shifts that impact women and girls fleeing violence and advocate for the United States to honor its legal obligations to protect those fleeing human rights abuses.
