The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH), a founding member of the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights, stands in solidarity with immigrant women and children as part of the “We Belong Together: Women’s Delegation to Georgia”.
A delegation of women’s organizations will travel to Atlanta this week to bear witness to the effects on women, children and families of Georgia’s new anti-immigrant law. This delegation is organized by the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, with support of the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights,
“Every time an anti-immigrant lawmaker spouts off about “anchor babies” or “alien invaders”, immigrant mothers are wrongfully vilified and dehumanized,” said Maria Elena Perez, interim Executive Director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. “As women, as mothers, we are here to tell lawmakers to stop with the lies and scapegoating of immigrant women and our families.”
Like Arizona’s SB1070, Georgia’s new HB 87 law threatens to have devastating effects on women and children, including an increase in racial profiling, the separation of families (children from parents), an increased fear of reporting crimes such as domestic violence and sexual assault, workplace raids, and the denial of services.
In a forthcoming report from the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights (NCIWR), called Women in Immigration: Right to Liberty, Right to Family, immigration policy experts analyzed the intersection of gender and immigration. In this first of its kind, comprehensive review, NCIWR found that the impact of immigration policies on women is cumulative rather than additive.
The group feels that misinformation and lies have led to policies that cut women immigrants – undocumented and documented alike—out of important social programs. This occurs despite evidence that individuals without current legal papers pay into government as much as others who receive benefits and use these programs less often.
