Imagine jumping out of a plane without a parachute. That’s exactly what Tahirih’s Public Policy Director Jeanne Smoot asked an audience to imagine this week at a Congressional briefing convened to urge survivor-inspired immigration reform.

In the past decade, several new laws have allowed abused foreign-born women, including those who entered the United States illegally and those whose immigration status depends on their spouse, to obtain legal residency on their own.

For women and girls like Tahirih’s clients, it is not enough to have just any attorney. Their unique gender-based violence cases require attorneys who are well-versed in both sensitive cultural issues and the extremely complicated and often unexplored territory of gender-based immigration law.

Tahirih’s clients have historically been faced with threats of arrest and deportation from their abusers, but lately these women, who have a right to legal status, are caught in the crossfire of increased activities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Critical legislation would help counteract the severe “chilling effect” that exists due to immigrant victims’ fear and confusion about what treatment they can expect from police—deterring crime-reporting and help-seeking, hindering law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, and undermining public safety for us all.

Federal protections are intended to encourage non-citizen survivors of violent crimes to come forward and get help, but a push for local police to enforce immigration law could unravel the intent of the protections, which have been painstakingly elaborated over 15 years.

SB 441 is a public safety imperative in Virginia that would make a powerful—even lifesaving—difference for the women and girls we serve.