A new report by Tahirih, Time to Lead: The Federal Government’s Role in Ending Child Marriage in the United States highlights the critical role that the federal government must play in our fight to end child marriage here at home. It demonstrates how our current immigration laws put minors across the globe at risk of experiencing child marriage in this country. The glaring gap in our immigration laws that set no minimum age for a foreign beneficiary to a spouse or fiancée visa has allowed shocking cases to proceed, including those in which U.S. men in their 40s and 50s successfully petitioned for girls as young as 14 years old. This report outlines concrete steps that the federal government should take to address child marriage through the immigration system and incentivize states to strengthen their marriage age laws.
See AllTime to Lead: The Federal Government’s Role in Ending Child Marriage in the United States
Latest News
-
Not a ‘Groom,’ but ‘Grooming’: It’s Past Time to End Child Marriage in the United States
Tahirih’s Director of Public Policy, Casey Carter Swegman, wrote an op-ed in Ms. Magazine in support of the Child Marriage Prevention Act, which would go a long way towards ending […]
November 8, 2024 -
Staff Spotlight: Eileen Espinal
The Tahirih Justice Center has served over 34,000 immigrant survivors fleeing gender-based violence since 1997. Across our five locations, our dedicated staff members provide holistic trauma-informed services to immigrant survivors […]
October 23, 2024
-
Survivor Voices
-
Anastasia
I came to the U.S. in the winter of 2006. Life back home in Mexico was tough for me and my family. I dreamt of going to college and graduating but with my family’s economic status, that dream was too costly and impossible.
At least I was able to graduate high school and that is something I am proud of since I was also working at the time to help my family. I was always looking for an opportunity to have a better life as a young woman.June 23, 2023 -
Camila
“I hope my story is helpful to someone else…and can inspire many women to be stronger. We need to help young women identify toxic relationships, so that there are fewer Camilas that go through such difficult things, let alone have our children suffer.”
November 21, 2022
-