Delegation of Women Leaders Fights Anti-Immigrant Bill in Georgia

Tomorrow a delegation of women leaders from over two dozen national human rights organizations -- National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, MomsRising, and many others -- will travel to Georgia to protest the state’s new anti-immigrant bill (HB 87), copycat legislation of Arizona’s controversial and costly SB1070, and speak out as part of the growing resistance to anti-immigrant legislation nationwide.

The We Belong Together Delegation will connect with those most gravely affected by Georgia’s new law with other regional immigrant activists for a day of story-sharing (September 28) and a press conference in front of the state capital building (September 29, 10:30am).

As we have noted before these laws are exceptionally harmful for women who are often most deeply affected when their families are torn apart, or they fail to report crimes such as domestic violence and sexual assault out of fear of deportation or detention, and find their bodies and children demonized in the increasingly hostile rhetoric. Read NAPAWF executive director Miriam Yeung's moving blog post about why this delegation and this movement is so important to her as an immigrant, a mother and an activist.

The need to fight these laws is why the Ms. Foundation supported a similar delegation of women's rights and immigrant rights activists who traveled to Washington in June of last year following the adoption of Arizona's SB1070 and gave voice to women whose lives and livelihoods were threatened by the legislation.

We are pleased to see Ms. Foundation grantees lead the way once again, advocating for dignity and respect for immigrant women and their families and advancing the rights of us all. We will share updates and photos in the next week so stay tuned. Let's all pledge to make sure our country is welcoming and safe for everyone.

For more information on the delegation please visit NDWA, NAPAWF or MomsRising.

 Immigrant Rights March photo © Elizabeth Rappaport and the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Arizona: Anti-Immigrant Legislation Gets Worse

While Republican statehouses in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio are trying to push through sweeping anti-worker legislation, the virulent anti-immigrant bills just keep coming: in a move that could leave millions of women immigrants and their children more vulnerable than ever, the State of Arizona is now proposing a slew of new measures that could, according to the New York Times, make last year's discriminatory SB 1070 "look mild" in comparison.

Aiming to create an environment in Arizona where "life [is] so difficult for illegal immigrants that they stop coming, or leave," these new bills would seek to prohibit undocumented immigrants from driving, receiving public benefits, and enrolling in school. Children born in Arizona to undocumented parents would receive a special, "second class" of birth certificate -- which would note that Arizona does not consider them true citizens of the state. In practice, the Times notes, these measures would,

...compel school officials to ask for proof of citizenship for students and require hospitals to similarly ask for papers for those receiving non-emergency care. Illegal immigrants would be blocked from obtaining any state licenses, including those for marriage. Landlords would be forced to evict the entire family from public housing if one illegal immigrant were found living in a unit. Illegal immigrants found driving would face 30 days in jail and forfeit the vehicle to the state.

Read more »

Arizona Immigration Law Spawned With Private Prison Support

If you’ve ever wondered about the origins of Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB1070 legislation, there’s no need to wonder anymore. According to a recent report from NPR’s Morning Edition, we can largely thank the private prison industry for generating this bill, which holds the potential to make industry insiders “hundreds of millions of dollars” -- all off the backs of undocumented immigrants.

The Morning Edition report -- which features research and data unearthed by Ms. Foundation grantee Grassroots Leadership -- shows that private prison corporations and leaders walked hand-in-hand with Arizona legislators throughout the campaign to get SB1070 drafted, passed and signed into law. The largest for-profit prison corporation in the nation, Corrections Corporation of America, was at the table when a group of legislators and big business representatives got together to write the bill, delivered to the legislature by Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce.

Congressional sponsors of the legislation were promptly rewarded with major donations from prison corporation lobbyists. According to NPR, "Thirty of the 36 co-sponsors received donations over the next six months from prison lobbyists or prison companies – [including] Corrections Corporation of America, Management and Training Corporation and The Geo Group" -- all companies that would greatly benefit from the passage of the bill.

SB1070 requires law enforcement to lock up people who cannot prove that they are citizens, establishing a new prison-ready population -- undocumented immigrants -- who will have to be housed somewhere. This makes the law a perfect vehicle for filling prisons and expanding business for the corporations in question, and Corrections Corporation of America and their allies are banking on this expanded inmate population to help pad their bottom lines.

Notably, this strategy is not one industry leaders are even attempting to keep secret: according to the NPR report, capitalizing on the detainment of undocumented immigrants is a business model openly discussed within the for-profit prison community. In a conference call with investors, the president of Geo Group, Wayne Calabrese, came clean about the potential SB1070 holds for growing their business: "I can only believe the opportunities at the federal level are going to continue apace as a result of what's happening,” he said. “Those people coming across the border and getting caught are going to have to be detained and… I think there's going to be enhanced opportunities for what we do."

Knowing the truth behind the origins of this bill makes it all the more crucial that we work to get it -- and other bills like it that have been proposed in 25 states -- fully overturned. It's going to be a long fight: just yesterday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and her legal team appeared in federal appeals court to back SB1070 (a lower court has already stayed some pieces of the legislation). While the Obama administration is standing firm in its argument that "requiring police officers to question immigration status is unconstitutional," Brewer and her allies are vowing to take this battle all the way to the Supreme Court if they need to.

With forces like these striving to undermine the dignity and freedoms of the immigrant population, the work of organizations like Grassroots Leadership, which fights for transparency in our legislatures and humanity and justice on our streets, becomes ever more important. Learn more about their efforts to support the human rights of all immigrants, and do your part to push back against these discriminatory measures now proliferating across the nation.

Photo credit: Elizabeth Rappaport, Immigration March, Washington DC, May 2010

Help End Dangerous Movement on the Anti-Immigrant Front

Are you part of an organization that's working to make "equality" and "justice" more than a cute catchphrase? Then check out Alto Arizona's new open letter to President Obama -- and join the Ms. Foundation by committing to signing on.

Alto Arizona has been outspoken on the disastrous and discriminatory impact of Arizona's most recent immigration law, SB 1070, since the legislation was pushed into the spotlight by Governor Jan Brewer in May of 2010. And though a federal court judge has now stayed the most damning pieces of legislation -- those that would require police to ascertain the legal status of anyone "suspected" of being in the country illegally -- this issue is far from settled. Across the country, dozens of states are moving to enact policies not unlike the one proposed in Arizona -- policies that will make it increasingly dangerous to be a person of color -- much less an immigrant -- in America.

To respond to this growing anti-immigrant movement, Alto Arizona is asking social justice organizations and community groups to urge President Obama to take decisive action on this issue. In particular, they are asking the President to end the dangerous merger of the federal immigration enforcement system with state criminal justice systems -- a merger that unjustly funnels non-citizens into the immigration enforcement systems (and likely deportation) by way of minor offenses. As Alto Arizona's open letter explains,

[The Department of Homeland Security's] immigration enforcement programs have allowed arrests for minor charges, such as driving without a license and petty theft... to be the gateway for immigration enforcement. They also provide an incentive to state and local police to arrest persons who look or sound "foreign" so that their immigration status may be checked. Once non-citizens are channeled into the immigration enforcement system – regardless of guilt or innocence, severity of the offense or how long ago it occurred, rehabilitation or ties to the community – they face a detention and deportation system with few due process protections.

Read the letter in its entirety and then urge your organization to sign on as an endorser (no individual sign-ons are being accepted at this time). You have until September 3rd to add your group's name to the growing list of social justice organizers speaking out on behalf of immigrants across America.

If you're an individual who wants to make a difference, sign your name to the open letter Alto Arizona is hosting on behalf of the National Women's Caucus Against ICE and Police Collaboration. Every signature helps!

Photo: Alto Arizona, Non-Compliance Action Front Line (detail).

VIDEO: National Women and Children's Advocacy Day

Video still: A girl testifies about
her mother's arrest

As protesters around the country -- and around the world -- continue to speak out against Arizona's divisive immigration law, we wanted to offer you the opportunity to hear some first-person testimony about the law's potential impact on women and families in Arizona, and beyond.

On July 15, National Women and Children's Advocacy Day, immigrant women and children gathered in Washington DC to testify at a special hearing on the impact of immigration enforcement policies on children and families. Sponsored by Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and organized in part by the Mother's Day Delegation, the event gave a voice to the fears of millions of children of immigrants, who -- thanks to SB1070 and other measures -- now worry more than ever that their families will be torn apart overnight.


Nat'l Women & Children's Advocacy Day - Ad Hoc Immigration Hearing (1 of 5) from ManSee Kong on Vimeo.

The entire hearing is captured on 5 separate videos. To see compelling photos from the July 29th protests, visit AltoArizona.com.

Arizona Judge Orders Hold on Controversial Immigration Law

Just one day before Arizona's divisive new immigration policy was set to go into effect, a federal judge issued a ruling that put many of the most contentious aspects of the law on hold -- if only temporarily.

Finding in favor of the federal government's case against the state of Arizona, Judge Bolton's ruling has prevented a number of the law's key provisions from taking effect while she finishes hearing the case. According to AZCentral.com, the following elements of SB1070 will be stayed while Judge Bolton continues to hear arguments:

• The portion that requires an officer make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there's reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally.
• The portion that creates a crime of failure to apply for or carry "alien-registration papers."
• The portion that makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit, apply for or perform work. (This does not include the section on day laborers.)
• The portion that allows for a warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe they have committed a public offense that makes them removable from the United States.
  

Though the rulings are only temporary, and though eight other provisions of the law were allowed to go into effect, the New York Times suggests that this is a clear "preview" of what Judge Bolton's final ruling is likely to be, predicting that the federal government is poised to win in the end. However, top officials in Arizona are vowing to appeal the findings immediately -- so expect the fight on this one to last for quite some time.

Meanwhile, all over the state of Arizona, opponents (including Alto Arizona) of SB1070 continue to speak out about the dangers the law poses to immigrant families -- even in its newer, less drastic form. Today, July 29, has been named a National Day of Non-Compliance, with protests and other actions planned across the state, and across the country. If you, too, feel that Judge Bolton's ruling is a good start but ultimately not enough, take action: it's not too late to tell the president how you feel about immigration reform.

Photo: by Elizabeth Rappaport. (detail) Immigration Reform March in Washington, DC, 21 March 2010.

Judge Hears First Motions on SB1070

Today in Phoenix, a federal court judge will hear the first motions in legal challenges to Arizona SB1070, the discriminatory immigration law scheduled to take effect July 29.

According to AZCentral.com, more than 150 protestors from both sides of the issue gathered outside the courthouse this morning as Judge Susan Bolton prepared to take the bench. Bolton could rule on the challenges before her as early as today -- which might decide whether the legislation becomes the law of the land next Thursday or not.

A suit filed by the ACLU, and supported by Ms. Foundation grantee Legal Momentum, is the largest of the challenges Bolton will hear in terms of number of plaintiffs; the federal government will also present its case against SB1070 later this afternoon.

Since news of this legislation broke, it's been clear that immigrant women and children will have a special stake in seeing this law defeated. In conjunction with their other efforts to relegate SB1070 to history's dustbin, Legal Momentum has now contributed a much needed report on women and immigration reform. Written by Senior Staff Attorney Kavitha Sreeharsha, Reforming America’s Immigration Laws: A Women’s Struggle [pdf] offers an in-depth analysis of how lack of equal economic opportunity and exposure to various forms of exploitation puts women immigrants precipitously at risk, and calls for "comprehensive reform that considers how even [seemingly] gender-neutral laws create more hardship for immigrant women."

Keep informed about what happens in Arizona over the next few days; for the people of that state, everything is on the line.

Anonymous Group Creates Fear by Distributing List of 'Illegal Immigrants' in Utah

A group identified as "Concerned Citizens of the United States" has distributed a detailed list of 1300 people it describes as "illegal immigrants" and called for their immediate deportation. The list, originally sent to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Salt Lake City in April, was distributed this week to police, elected officials, and media. The details, according to the New York Times, include "address and telephone number to their date of birth and, in the case of pregnant women, their due dates." Democracy Now, in a report today (video below), presents an interview with Tony Yapias, the director of Proyecto Latino de Utah, who said:

Our community has been terrorized by this list. Throughout yesterday, we received dozens and dozens of calls, emails, requests, about whether or not their names have been on the list, from the members of the Latino community. And so, our community is in a state of fear.

Though the true origins of these names and the intentions of those distributing them are not yet clear, this episode -- combined with the immigration law SB 1070 in Arizona -- is part of a growing problem as states and local groups take action against immigrants. These assaults on immigrants' rights make clear the need for comprehensive federal immigration reform that provides equal treatment for all nationwide.

For more information on Utah and Arizona, see the New York Times report on Utah, including the letter sent with the list distributed this week, and our earlier posts on the SB 1070 immigration law in Arizona.

Arizona SB1070 Hits Court: Grantee Legal Momentum Joins Fight

As the restrictions on freedom created by Arizona's SB1070 immigration law become clear, including the potential effects on "women and familes subject to domestic abuse," we see signs of hope in the actions of our grantee partners. Legal Momentum is just one organization out of hundreds that is stepping up and speaking out for the rights of women and children in immigrant and undocumented communities. They have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a lawsuit filed in Arizona federal court by the ACLU and others that argues SB1070 "undermines federal civil rights protections for women and their families" who are subject to violence and sexual abuse.

Over the years the federal government has codified laws that protect immigrants and families from arrest and deportation when they seek to report violence or attempt to access programs or services that are necessary for survival, including shelter, emergency medical services, and victim assistance.

The lawsuit argues that SB1070 is a direct infringement on these federally protected rights. Under SB1070 women and families who seek federally protected support services and programs will be in constant fear of the random search by law enforcement that could lead to incarceration or even deportation. Furthermore, the law no longer ensures protection to victims of violence and abuse, but instead punishes victims, producing an environment where fear of persecution accompanies any attempt to report a crime. According to the Legal Momentum, "In their pursuit of detaining undocumented immigrants, Arizona law enforcement is even allowed to stake out rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters, locations even federal law enforcement are strongly cautioned against operating in."

Luckily for these women and all of us, advocates like Legal Momentum are going to court to ensure that women, children, families, immigrants and undocumented people retain the rights they have been granted over years of legal precedent and federal law.

On July 6th the New York Times reported that the Justice Department has initiated legal proceedings against SB1070.

Arizona SB1070 Puts Abused Women, Reporters of Abuse, at Risk

Another entry into the debate about how SB1070 is going to affect the residents of Arizona -- particularly the women among them: According to representatives from the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which represents 35 domestic abuse centers and other organizations in the state, SB1070 is destined to jeopardize the safety of women and families subject to domestic abuse -- by dissuading them from seeking help for themselves and others out of fear that they might be deported as a result.

As Kendra Leiby, the Coalition's systems advocacy coordinator, told Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini,

The enactment of SB 1070 is absolutely going to prevent immigrant women from seeking domestic violence services. And not only are women going to be hesitant to leave abusive relationships, but they are afraid to make a call to report someone else's abuse.

So not only is the law likely to deprive women at risk of the ability to act to protect themselves, but it is also likely to prevent friends and neighbors from taking action on their behalf, because the consequence of reporting said abuse could be deportation -- even for the person who simply picked up the phone to save a woman's life.

Though the US does not have the kind of "good samaritan" laws that require people to act on behalf of others, as they do in other nations, this still constitutes a serious breakdown in our social contract -- and completely undermines the decades of work activists and organizers have dedicated to raising awareness about gender-based violence and the responsibility every single one of us has to bring the abuse of women to an end. If saving a life means putting your own family, and its livelihood, at risk, how many people can reasonably be expected to take action? The answer is far fewer than we need if we hope to make violence against women a thing of the past -- in the immigrant community or any other.

As July 29th (the day that the new law in scheduled to go into effect) draws nearer, more and more organizations and individuals from around the country are taking a public stand to denounce a bill that they see as not only discriminatory, but also life-threatening. To date, over 80 organizations -- including Ms. Foundation grantee Legal Momentum --have filed legal challenges to the bill, in support of a lawsuit initiated by the ACLU. And on July 29th, people from all over the nation will gather together in Arizona, and around the country, for a Day of Non-Compliance to protest this unjust law.

Stay tuned for more information about how to participate in upcoming events; in the meantime, check out the four actions Ms. Foundation grantee the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights suggests you take to stand up for the rights of Arizona's immigrant communities.

Women's Groups Take Fight Against Arizona's SB 1070 To Washington

On June 10th a delegation of women from Arizona traveled to Washington to show the Obama administration the true effects Arizona's SB1070 could have on women and children in immigrant and undocumented communities. The delegation met with representatives from the administration, including members of the White House Council on Women and Girls, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Homeland Security to share their experiences and express their desire for President Obama to address these issues head-on. The group also met with national women's organizations and advocates to plan further collaborations and organizing possibilities, and, as Ai-Jen Poo, Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance reports, "were energized to engage in a real strategy conversation and take action."

The delegation was organized by a coalition including the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Jobs with Justice and the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, in support of a women's response to the devastating effects of Arizona’s SB1070. In mid-May the Ms. Foundation provided a rapid response grant to this group. Together with other social justice and women's organizations they are creating a powerful alliance of female-led opposition to the bill, as Ai-Jen Poo, said, "the voices, leadership and power of women's organizing [are] a vital part of the campaign."

The Washington visit concluded with the women sharing testimony in a packed congressional hearing, which was attended by Democratic Representative Raul Grijalva (AZ), co-hosted by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL), Rep. Gwen Moore (WI), with Congress members Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX), Jared Polis (CO), Mike Quigley (IL), Hank Johnson (GA), Lynn Woolsey (CA), Luis Gutierrez (IL) and Judy Chu (CA) as honorary guests, numerous witnesses and media outlets. Ai-Jen Poo reported that the "hearing … packed, beyond standing room -- with people listening in from the halls, sitting on the floors. Eight TV cameras, six members of Congress who stayed for over an hour, and a room full of press and people who were moved to tears again and again. There was a feeling all around that something different was happening, something extraordinary. An extraordinary shift."

Building on this success (see the slide show above), the fight against this legislation will continue. The law's potential to disrupt the lives of women and children, tear apart families, and legalize racial profiling must be countered. Stay up to date on action alerts and breaking news updates by reading our blog, and to help create a national "Women's Campaign to Stop SB1070" visit AZWomenRise. Let's bring an end to this devastating bill.

Arizona Legislators Target Children of Immigrants

And then they came for the children... Apparently riding on a wave of what they see as public support for their drastic immigration measures, legislators in Arizona are taking their war against the state's immigrant community one step further -- this time by seeking to deny citizenship rights to the children of illegal immigrants born in the state of Arizona.

Sound fishy? Somehow odd? Well, that's because the idea directly contravenes the rights guaranteed by the US Constitution. The 14th amendment, enacted to ensure citizenship for freed slaves, clearly states that "All persons, born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States" -- and goes on to say that no state has the jurisdiction to abridge these privileges.

But that's not stopping Arizona state senator Russell Pearce, who is the author of this new legislation. As he sees it, denying the children of illegal immigrants the rights of citizenship will make it much less likely that immigrants will stay in the US illegally -- and with 58% of Americans in a recent poll agreeing that children born of illegal parents do not deserve citizenship (76% of Republicans), he's pretty sure that he's got the political "goodwill" necessary to pass the bill this fall.

The courts may yet have something to say about all of this -- so expect this particular battle to be a long one. But in the meantime, it's clear that we've all got to speak out to protect the rights of immigrant communities in Arizona.

Photo: by Elizabeth Rappaport. (detail) Woman and child at immigration reform march, 21 March 2010, Washington, DC.

Take Action on Behalf of Arizona's Immigrant Families

Still outraged about what’s going on in Arizona around immigration? You should be -- but one thing we've learned over decades of organizing is that anger on its own can never bring about the change we seek. What we need, now more than ever, is to channel that anger into action.

Thanks to a group of women and organizations who are pooling their resources and organizing under the name "The Mother's Day Delegation" (and supported by the Ms. Foundation through a rapid response grant to the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Jobs with Justice and the National Day Laborers Organizing Network) there are now a number of excellent ways for you to do just that.

Harness the power of your outrage to challenge the bigotry masquerading as law out West; step up and step out on behalf of immigrant families!

For those who are in the Washington, DC area, or can travel there to take part:

• There will be an Ad Hoc Hearing on the Impact of Arizona's SB 1070 on Women and Children on Thursday, June 10, 3:00 - 4:00 pm, 1334 Longworth House Office Building. The Honorary Co-Chairs are Reps. Raúl Grijalva, Jan Schakowsky, Gwendolynne Moore and Sheila Jackson-Lee. A delegation of five women, and possibly one child, will be coming from Arizona to speak about the impact of SB 1070 on their families and communities. Michelle Obama is also being asked to meet with the delegation while they are in DC.
  
  
• Prior to the hearing, the supporting organizations will be hosting an Exchange with the women who are traveling from Arizona to testify. This event will also take place on Thursday, June 10, from 12:00 - 2:00 pm in 402 Cannon HOB, and will include an in-depth discussion of women and immigration enforcement.
  

Please RSVP to gretchen at gmv2108@barnard.edu if you are able to join us for either event.

For those who can’t be in DC but want to lend their support:

• Sign the Letter to Michelle Obama asking her to meet with the delegation of women from Arizona while they are in DC.
  
  
• Encourage your Congressional reps to attend the hearing. Sign this petition via Change.org to urge your reps to show up and listen to the women of Arizona.
  
  
• Watch the short documentary film made during the Mother's Day March to protest SB 1070 -- and make sure to pass it on to friends.
  
  
• Educate Yourself and Others by checking out MomsRising’s recent “blog carnival” on the human and civil rights impacts of current immigration law enforcement practices on moms and families.

Don't just get angry -- get active. Stand up for the women and families of Arizona NOW.


Photo: by Elizabeth Rappaport. (detail) Arrest of Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL), at immigration reform march in front of the White House, 1 May 2010, Washington, DC.

'Stop the Hate!' March for Human Rights in Arizona

The media may be turning its attention away from Arizona and its controversial new immigration policy, SB1070, but on the ground, activists and organizers continue to draw attention to the impact this discriminatory policy is having on immigrant women, men, children and families across the Grand Canyon State -- and the country.

To stand with the people of Arizona -- quite literally -- this weekend, organizations including Ms. Foundation grantee the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights will be sponsoring a number of events in Phoenix to raise awareness around human rights and to challenge the passage of this new law.

On Friday, May 28, Alto Arizona will host a Festival for Human Rights from 6pm to 12am. The event will feature live music, an art show, a film festival, live poster printing and a cultural marketplace. $5 donation requested; for more information, including location, visit the Alto Arizona website.

Then, on Saturday, May 29 people of conscience from throughout the United States and Phoenix will gather to march to the State Capitol to "demand justice in the face of state-sanctioned discrimination and hate." As part of this National Day of Action, protesters will demand that President Obama take immediate and concrete action to stop SB1070; tens of thousands of individuals are expected to attend. The march will begin at 8am at Indian Steel Park and proceed to the Capitol.

Finally, on Sunday, May 30, an Organizing Summit will take place to strategize about how to continue this struggle for human rights, nationwide. Topics for discussion will include: base-building in Arizona, ongoing boycotts, plans for a "Freedom Summer", and a non-compliance strategy for SB1070.

To sign up to participate in any or all of these events, and for further information, visit Alto Arizona.

Arizona and Immigration: Why Women's Voices Matter

RH Reality Check’s managing editor, Amie Newman, has written a thorough and persuasive piece examining why immigration is a women’s issue, and why feminists should be taking action against Arizona’s new draconian anti-immigration measures.

First -- still a little-known fact -- women now make up more than half of all immigrants coming to this country. At the same time, according to Newman, they also face very specific and often ignored challenges as immigrants, precisely because of their gender. "Women," she writes, "are far more likely to enter this country dependent upon a male partner’s employment visa: Seventy-two percent of those who hold employment visas in the United States are men." Additionally,

Vulnerability comes in many forms: [from] sexual violence that can start on a woman’s journey to the U.S., to domestic violence once in this country made worse when a woman is dependent upon a male partner to stay [here]... and extreme barriers to reproductive and sexual health care so critical to immigrant women who are here during their childbearing and parenting years. A law like the one in Arizona exacerbates all of these situations.

Yet even though women are the new-immigrant majority, and are uniquely impacted as outlined above, Newman makes note of the reality that immigration policies have never taken women's experiences and expertise into account; of course, in order to bring about truly comprehensive immigration reform, women's policy priorities will finally need to be addressed. Ms. Foundation grantees like the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and their executive director, Silvia Henriquez (a 2010 Gloria Award winner) understand this, and are leading the way to promote the solutions of immigrant women at policymaking tables to once and for all advance inclusive and just reform. What we need now is for the government (federal and state) to listen -- and to decisively act.

Take the time to Newman's piece and then visit Puentaz.org to learn how you can take action on behalf of women and families in Arizona -- today's front line in the national immigration debate. And view some powerful images from last Monday's Mother's Day March in Phoenix, supported with a grant from the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Conference Call: Hear Testimonies and Take Action for Immigrant Women in Arizona

As we reported earlier this week, Mother's Day may be behind us, but the need to support immigrant women and their families in Arizona remains an urgent cause.

Join a conference call this Monday, May 17 (details below) to learn from a delegation of national feminist and labor leaders, journalists, and organizers who, with support from a Ms. Foundation rapid-response grant, traveled to Arizona during Mother's Day weekend to document the experiences of women and children in the wake of Arizona's racist and restrictive immigration law, SB 1070.

The delegation, led by the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and Jobs with Justice, will report on findings and discuss upcoming actions and opportunities to protect the rights and well-being of women immigrants in Arizona. They shared the following in an invitation:

The testimonies we heard make clear in vivid and haunting detail that SB 1070 constitutes a violation of principles we hold dear to safeguard women as mothers, workers and leaders in our families and communities. The draconian legislation has paved the way for assaults on the basic human rights of women who came here simply to support their families, and created an environment in which violence against women and children -- physical, spiritual and legal -- has been state-sanctioned.

At the same time, SB 1070 has sparked a culture of resistance and an opportunity to organize women for change nationally as well as locally in our communities, to battle present and future legislation which threatens our families and communities.

Join the Call and Learn How to Support Immigrant Women and Families in Arizona

When: Monday, May 17, 2010 -- 3:00pm EDT / 12:00 noon PDT
Dial: 213-289-0500
Code: 26337465#

They Just Won't Stop: Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies in Public Classrooms

Just weeks after their new immigration policy rocked the nation, the state of Arizona has unveiled another measure designed to silence and diminish ethnic communities.

On Tuesday, Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill that will ban the teaching of ethnic studies courses in public schools across the state. The legislation will particularly impact the Tucson Unified Public School district, which currently offers students access to “specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies that focus on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group.”

The measure, spearheaded by Arizona's superintendent of schools, Tom Horne, has already been condemned by six United Nations human rights experts, who note that, “All people have the right to learn about their own cultural and linguistic heritage.”

For a remarkable first-person account of what life in Arizona looks like these days, and how this newest measure fits into the state’s larger efforts to disenfranchise people of color, check out this blog post which comes to us via our grantee partner the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. NNIRR has been at the front lines of opposing this recent spate of legislation in Arizona; visit their website to learn more about how you can take action in this all-important fight for human rights and dignity.

See also: Supporting Arizona's Mothers and sign a petition calling on women in Congress to take action against Arizona's new immigration law.

Supporting Arizona's Mothers: A March to Stop SB 1070

Mother’s Day may be officially behind us, but protecting the rights of immigrant mothers and their families remains a hot topic in Arizona – and around the nation.

Today in Phoenix, women representing social movements from across the country are scheduled to participate in a “Mother’s Day March” on the state capitol to protest the passage of SB 1070, which gives law enforcement unprecedented latitude to racially profile and criminalize undocumented immigrants.

Show your support for this emergency effort, and tell the women of Arizona they are not alone. Sign a petition calling on women in Congress to take action against SB 1070.

Led by the National Domestic Workers Alliance (headed by Ai-jen Poo, former executive director of Ms. Foundation grantee, Domestic Workers United), the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and Jobs with Justice (also a Ms. Foundation grantee), participants plan to shed particular light on how SB 1070 will negatively impact immigrant women and families. In a letter to supporters, NDWA declared:

With the passage of this new law, women in Arizona will be the target of racial profiling, searches and seizures, and police harassment. Law enforcement will have free reign to detain and disappear mothers, and separate families for their mere presence in the state. Every time they walk their children to school, buy food, go to work, visit a local health clinic or attend church on a Sunday, they will risk permanent separation from their children and families.

This assault on immigrant communities is also an assault on the legacy of the women's movement to break the code of silence surrounding violence against women, because they will be afraid of reporting all crimes, including hate crimes and violent acts against women and their children. Women in unsafe situations, such as sexual assault and domestic violence, will not report out of fear of deportation… Arizona has declared open season on women of color.

This past weekend, organizers collected testimony from immigrant women and children about the traumatic experiences they've faced in recent weeks and months and their fears for what this new legislation portends. The results from these interviews, along with today’s activities will be announced at a press conference today; a full report will be sent to the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Again, show your support for immigrant women and families in Arizona. Sign a petition calling on women in Congress to take action against SB 1070.

In Honor of Mother's Day, Speak Out for Immigrant Women's Rights

Ms. Foundation for Women grantee National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) is speaking out about the injustices visited upon immigrant women in communities nationwide.

In Tuesday's Roll Call, NLIRH's executive director, Silvia Henriquez -- 2010 Ms. Foundation Woman of Vision awardee -- published a stirring opinion piece underscoring the price immigrant women and their families are paying as a result of misguided immigration policies like the one recently signed into law in Arizona. Take the case of Juana Villegas, a Latina living in Tennessee, who, two years ago,

...was arrested for a routine traffic violation in Nashville after leaving a clinic for a pre-natal visit and detained when she was unable to produce a license. Despite the fact that driving without a license is a misdemeanor in Tennessee that generally leads to a citation, Ms. Villegas was taken into custody due to suspicions about her immigration status.

Ms. Villegas was jailed for six days, during which time she gave birth to a little boy while shackled to a bed under the watchful eye of the sheriff's officer. Barred from speaking to her husband, her baby was taken from her upon birth... local police also confiscated Villegas' breast pump.

Stories like Villegas' highlight how desperately our immigration policies require reform -- and how painfully our broken system can impact women's lives. In honor of Mother's Day, take the time to read the entirety of Henriquez's piece, and encourage your friends to do the same. It's time to shed light on how immigration policies deny women, and their families, the humanity they deserve.

Don't Let Arizona Determine the Course of Immigration Reform

This past Saturday activists from across the country celebrated May Day, by protesting Arizona's recent anti-immigrant legislation and calling on Congress to commit to real immigration reform.

Huge rallies were held in major cities throughout the US, including New York, Chicago and DC. Our photographer Elizabeth Rappaport caught up with one of our grantees, Jobs with Justice, in DC. View the slideshow with some of her photos.




Read our post about the Arizona legislation.