Protect Fairness in Immigration Appeals & the Ability for Survivors to Access Safety

For survivors of gender-based violence, qualifying for immigration relief is not enough to ensure protection from deportation. Rather, legal remedies for survivors of violence, such as the U visa, T visa, and VAWA Self-Petitions are only as effective as the process survivors must navigate when they apply.

Under a proposed new rule issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on August 26, 2020, individuals in immigration proceedings, including survivors of gender-based violence, will face harsh new procedural restrictions.  These restrictions will unfairly speed up appeals procedures at the expense of due process, leading to increased, swift denials of survivors’ cases and appeals and punishing those without legal representation the hardest. In addition, survivors in immigration court proceedings awaiting adjudication of their petitions by United States Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS) will now face even greater risk of deportation before their cases for protection are decided.

VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION TODAY! The DOJ rule is currently a proposal and not yet in effect, and the public has until 11:59 pm EDT on September 25 to submit comments. DOJ needs to hear your voice to show the harmful impact the proposed rule will have on survivors of gender-based violence.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT & COMMENT TEMPLATES

Our partners have developed sample comment templates for you to use to draft your unique comment in opposition to the proposal. The administration is required by law to review and respond to every unique public comment they receive about the proposed regulation, so we strongly encourage you to personalize and modify the template to speak to your own experiences and perspective, as well as those of the survivors you work with.

  1. Download sample comment templates or visit click-to-comment sites:

  2. Edit comments as you wish to personalize them and make them unique to your organization’s mission and work. Some commenting tips:

    • The administration requires that all comments be submitted in English.

    • Ideally, your comments explain how this rule change will harm immigrant survivors, which could include you, your family, your clients, or your community.

    • If you do not want to include any personal information, a friend or representative can submit a comment for you.

  3. Submit your comments at this link by clicking on the blue “comment” button and uploading a pdf, which is what we strongly recommend to avoid loss of formatting,  particularly to preserve links to supporting materials that can be important to build a strong case against the rule.

  4. Contact us at info@immigrantsurvivors.org if you have any questions or problems.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES