Southwest Women's Law Center

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Immigrant Rights


As part of our commitment to furthering reproductive justice for all women, the Southwest Women’s Law Center joined the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights (NCIWR) in 2008. It is comprised of over 40 grassroots and national advocacy organizations working together to defend and promote equality for all immigrant women and their families living and working in the United States.

The following are a list of NCIWR’s policy recommendations, which are aimed at promoting fair and non-discriminatory comprehensive immigration reform that advances reproductive and economic justice for immigrant women and their families, and puts a stop to cruel and inhumane raids and detention that tear families apart:

  • Provide a Just Path to Permanent Residency and Citizenship that allows immigrant women to obtain work permits, to travel internationally and access higher education and federal financial aid. Immigrant women must have viable options that will permit them to be full contributors in the U.S. workforce and societal landscape.
  • Remove the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine mandate implemented by the U.S. Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
    • Urge Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to retract HPV vaccine as a required vaccination for immigrant women and girls.
  • Support family-centered immigration policies that promote family unity and respect the rights of persons of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender immigrants and their partners;
    • Support the Uniting American Families Act.
    • Support policies that do not separate families through raids, detention centers and immigration backlogs.
    • Support policies that require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide adequate access to reproductive health services to all immigrant women.
  • Eliminate the five-year bar on all public benefits and restore access to public benefits for immigrant women and families.

For more information on the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights and its efforts, contact Jenny L. Jourdain (jenny@latinainstitute.org ;202/393.8580) or Priscilla Huang (phuang@napawf.org; 301/270.4440)