In the current immigration efforts, one of the most divisive issues to arise has been how immigration rights should apply to same-sex couples. According to the Williams’ Institute at UCLA, there are approximately 40,000 same-sex bi-national couples residing in the U.S. More than two dozen countries around the world have an equal immigration system that honors [...]
Like most Americans, I never spent too much time thinking about female genital mutilation, or FGM, a centuries-old practice. But that changed in 2007 when I came to work at Sanctuary for Families, a New York-based nonprofit that serves victims of domestic violence and trafficking. In my job as an immigration lawyer I began interviewing [...]
Winding through the South, a group of brave U.S. residents have “come out” in some of the most dangerous places in the country. As part of a “No Papers, No Fear” campaign, 30 men and women are riding a bus through key states to show they are ready to emerge from the shadows–as undocumented immigrants. [...]
Nearly four years ago, Juana Villegas, a nine-months-pregnant undocumented Mexican immigrant living in Nashville, was on her way home from a doctor’s appointment with her three children when was pulled over by local police and arrested for driving without a license. The offense was a misdemeanor, but the officer detained her because he suspected that [...]
Arizona will remain home to the harshest anti-immigration legislation in the nation after the Supreme Court’s divided ruling on Arizona v. United States, the high-profile case on the 2010 anti-immigration act that many critics deemed overreaching, degrading and an overall harassment of Latino citizens and immigrants. The Supreme Court delivered a split decision Monday on [...]
Last week, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a small policy change in its Secure Communities Program (discussed below, in a news story from the current issue of Ms. magazine). The new policy would ensure that immigrants charged with minor traffic violations would not be flagged for deportation–unless they’re convicted. Immigration rights activists called [...]
By Nicole Guidotti-Hernandez On the opening day of Freedom University, located in a community center in Athens, Ga., students start trickling in 20 minutes before classes begin. The 28 eager collegians—three quarters of them women and the majority Latino/as—have come from Atlanta, Ackworth, Athens and other Georgia communities. Some are recent high-school graduates, others are [...]
Claudia is an undocumented immigrant who moved to Georgia from Honduras in 2006. Shortly after arriving, she found herself in an abusive, violent relationship; her husband was able to control her in part by using the threat of deportation. She explained: “I was too scared to call the police. Would they arrest me or the [...]
As an immigrant, a woman, a social worker and a professor who teaches about the immigrant experience in the United States, I feel very connected to other immigrants throughout this country on many levels. And so I am keenly aware of the effects of restrictive immigration policies such as HB 87 in Georgia, HB 497 [...]
Immigrants are often scapegoats for all kinds of societal ills: a lagging economy, dangerous reproduction, even environmental degradation. Thankfully, there is a strong and growing immigrants’ rights movement that counters these attacks and highlights the real problems: xenophobia, racism and an out-of-touch immigration policy. All too often, however, immigration is portrayed as heterosexual and male. [...]
