[NOW Actions] Protect Immigrant Women's Access to Law Enforcement

Support NOW's Work |	June 26, 2007	| Tell a Friend

Action Needed Background All NOW Actions NOW and Immigration		Protect Immigrant Women's Access to Law Enforcement When They Face Domestic and Sexual Violence Please contact your senators TODAY and urge them to vote no on the Coleman-Domenici amendment to the Immigration bill. Immigrant women should not have to choose between being deported and getting help from law enforcement when they are the victims of domestic or sexual violence. The U.S. Senate is currently debating an Immigration "Reform" (sic) bill. One of the two dozen amendments is being offered by Senators Coleman (R-Minn) and Domenici (R-N Mex) and would prevent immigrant women from seeking aid from law enforcement when they are the victims of domestic or sexual violence. The amendment would overturn state and local policies that ensure that a victim's immigration status would remain confidential when reporting battery to law enforcement. The same amendment was introduced in late May during a previous Senate debate on Immigration and was voted down by ONLY ONE VOTE on May 24th. The language of the amendment this time is very similar. Action Needed: Call or email your Senator TODAY to tell them to vote NO on the Coleman-Domenici Amendment ? ensure that immigrant sexual and domestic crime victims can go to law enforcement officials for help without the fear that they will be deported. Background: Each year approximately two million women are physically or sexually assaulted by an intimate partner in the United States. Recent studies show that more than half of the victims of intimate partner violence are foreign-born. Immigrant women face more barriers to receiving treatment for domestic and sexual violence than most women who are citizens face. Often times an abuser will use a woman's immigration status to blackmail them into staying in the relationship and facing the battering. For More Information: Legal Momentum's Immigrant Women's Program: Family Violence Prevention Fund Take action NOW!
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