Women’s Refugee Commission Strongly Condemns Trump Administration’s Decision to End Temporary Protected Status for Nearly 200,000 Salvadorans
- Published: Monday, January 8, 2018
Washington, DC – Today, the Trump administration ended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for El Salvador effective September 9, 2019. TPS provides legal status to individuals from designated countries who are unable to return home due to ongoing armed conflict, disaster, or other exigent and temporary circumstances. TPS holders from El Salvador will have until September 9, 2019 to leave the United States or seek other means to obtain lawful permanent residency. Termination of TPS will affect nearly 200,000 nationals of El Salvador who have complied with the law and built lives, businesses, and families in the U.S. The decision also places more than 192,000 U.S. citizen children of Salvadoran TPS holders at risk of losing a parent or being forced to leave their own country.
Women's Refugee Commission Condemns Trump Administration for Considering Formalizing Policy of Forcibly Separating Parents and Children at the U.S. Border
- Published: Saturday, December 23, 2017
Washington, D.C. – As reported yesterday by the New York Times and The Washington Post, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is considering formalizing a policy of separating parents and children who arrive often seeking protection at the southern border of the United States. The Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) and other organizations have extensively documented the impact of such separations when they occur, in our report, Betraying Family Values.
Women’s Refugee Commission Responds to Office of Inspector General (OIG) Report on Poor Detention Conditions at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Facilities
- Published: Thursday, December 14, 2017
Washington, DC -- This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released findings based on the investigation of five Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers throughout the United States. The report documents that the OIG inspections “raised concerns about the treatment and care of ICE detainees at four facilities...Overall, the problems we identified undermine the protection of detainees’ rights, their humane treatment, and the provision of a safe and healthy environment.”
Civil and Human Rights Organizations File Joint Complaint With DHS on Behalf of Families Forcibly Separated in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Custody
- Published: Monday, December 11, 2017
Washington, DC - Today, a complaint on behalf of family members who have been forcibly separated while in custody at the southern border of the United States was filed with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) by the American Immigration Council (Council), the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service (LIRS), the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), Kids In Need Of Defense (KIND), Al Otro Lado, and the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project (FIRRP).
Women's Refugee Commission and Immigrant Rights Advocates Demand Civil Rights Investigation into ICE Raids that Targeted Sponsors of Unaccompanied Children
- Published: Wednesday, December 6, 2017
On December 6, 2017, the Women’s Refugee Commission and seven other immigrant rights organizations* filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Office of Inspector General on behalf of some of the 400 people swept up in a DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “surge initiative” from June to August 2017. The operation sought information about the immigration status of parents and other relatives who came forward to sponsor unaccompanied children. Officers then used that information to locate or lure family members to ICE offices, where they were arrested and detained. The complaint details how ICE officers misrepresented their objectives and role within the sponsorship process, as well as coerced parents and family members in order to detain them and frustrate the reunification process.
Women’s Refugee Commission Troubled by U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Allow Trump Travel Ban to Take Effect
- Published: Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Washington, DC – Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court decided to allow the third and newest version of President Trump’s travel ban to take effect, pending appeal. The Trump administration has claimed that the travel ban will help protect national security; however, denying entry to the U.S. to individuals based on nationality will separate vulnerable families, and will not make Americans safer.
Trump Administration Abandons Global Commitments, Betrays Displaced Women And Children
- Published: Monday, December 4, 2017
NEW YORK, NY – Just 15 months after 193 members of the UN General Assembly, including the United States, voted unanimously to support the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, the Trump administration announced Saturday it was pulling out of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, which is the part of the declaration focused on advancing the protections and rights of migrants.
Women’s Refugee Commission Strongly Condemns Trump Administration’s Decision to End Temporary Protected Status Program for 50,000 Haitians
- Published: Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Washington, DC – Last night, the Trump administration ended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Haiti. TPS provides legal status to individuals from designated countries who are unable to return home due to ongoing armed conflict, disaster, or other exigent and temporary circumstances. Termination of TPS will have a devastating effect on 50,000 Haitians and their families, many with U.S. citizen children.
Women’s Refugee Commission Urges International Community to Stand with Rohingya Women and Girls
- Published: Wednesday, November 15, 2017
NEW YORK, NY – In response to first-hand accounts by Rohingya women and girls fleeing Myanmar, and to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit today with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Women’s Refugee Commission’s Executive Director Sarah Costa issued the following statement:
Women’s Refugee Commission Condemns Termination of Central American Minors (CAM) Program
- Published: Friday, November 10, 2017
Washington, DC. – Last night, the Trump administration officially terminated the Central American Minors (CAM) refugee program with an announcement that it would no longer accept applications to the program as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday night.
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