Home Press Room

Immigration Reform Bill Harms Most Vulnerable: Refugee Women and Children Asylum Seekers

New York, NY

The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children today urged Senators to oppose several provisions of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 that would harm women and children seeking refuge in the United States. These provisions do not address immigration reform nor do they protect the nation from those who wish to do us harm.

“The United States must uphold its legal commitment and moral obligation to provide refuge to those fleeing persecution or abuse in their home countries,” says Joanne Kelsey, director, detention and asylum program. “Several provisions in the bill would further harm people already at risk, particularly women and children who are fleeing rape, honor killings, forced marriages, trafficking and recruitment as child soldiers, while doing nothing to make this country safer or to tackle real immigration issues.”

The bill would allow asylum seekers, as well as trafficked women and children, to be prosecuted for using fraudulent documents to enter the United States; but, these women and children rarely have any other choice. Traffickers often force their victims to use false paperwork to facilitate their travel, and asylum seekers routinely use false documents to flee a country where the government is persecuting them. Moreover, there is no exception in the bill for children, who generally lack the capacity to make their own decisions about their means of travel. Not surprisingly, this provision violates the 1951 Refugee Convention, which states that a refugee should not be punished for using fraudulent documents to escape persecution.

Provisions in the bill would allow asylum seekers to be detained during court proceedings. Detained asylum seekers have little access to lawyers and the impact of detention on their mental health is often devastating. The bill also authorizes the prolonged detention of asylum seekers and others whose cases are on appeal to the federal courts, as well as the indefinite detention of immigrants who have been given final orders of removal. Poor immigrants who are unable to obtain adequate representation in their removal proceedings are at particular risk for such treatment.

The bill would make it a crime to help undocumented immigrants with a very limited exception for religious organizations.

On a brighter note, the bill authorizes further study of alternatives to the detention of asylum seekers and requires the Department of Justice to continue to implement and to expand legal orientation programs.

“We recognize and support the need to reform our nation’s immigration laws,” Kelsey says. “However, this can and should be accomplished in a thoughtful and deliberate way that does not harm at-risk women and children. We strongly encourage the Senate to do the right thing and reject those provisions that are harmful to refugees, trafficking victims and other vulnerable populations.”