MomsRising Joins Women Leaders to Fight Unjust Anti-Immigrant Laws
NEWS RELEASE
September 27, 2011
CONTACT: Gretchen Wright or Molly Tomlinson, 202/371-1999
MomsRising Joins Women Leaders to Fight
Unjust Anti-Immigrant Laws
Organization’s Vice President Joins Delegation Traveling to Georgia
in Opposition to HB 87
Recognizing that anti-immigration laws passed in Arizona and Georgia are unjust and tearing apart families, MomsRising, the online and on-the-ground grassroots organization for moms and everyone who has a mom, has joined forces with more than two dozen other organizations to highlight the lasting damage these laws do to families and communities.
MomsRising Vice President Mary Olivella is among a delegation of women’s leaders from those organizations traveling to Atlanta this week to meet with immigrant women affected by Georgia’s new anti-immigrant bill, HB 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011. They will hear the stories of immigrant women on the evening of September 28 and hold a news conference opposing human rights abuses happening in the name of immigration law enforcement on September 29.
The women leaders are part of the We Belong Together Delegation, and represent organizations including the National Domestic Workers Alliance, AFL-CIO, Center for Reproductive Rights, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Feminist Majority and others.
“Our nation has always included mothers and fathers who come to our shores seeking better lives for their families,” said Olivella. “But right now far too many immigrant families are having their human and civil rights violated in the name of immigration law enforcement.”
HB 87, which is currently enjoined by a federal judge, would allow local police to check immigration status of anyone suspected of violating any law and allow for the prosecution of anyone who transports or harbors an undocumented worker. The law will also hurt businesses by increasing workplace raids and mandating that all businesses use a federal electronic verification system (E-Verify) to check that every worker is legally authorized to work in the U.S.
“This law will dramatically increase racial profiling and create a culture of fear in Georgia,” said MomsRising Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. “It will increase deportation of moms and dads, potentially separating them from one another and from their children – tearing families apart. And it will dissuade women from reporting cases of domestic or sexual violence for fear of detention or deportation. This type of law helps no one and it hurts many.”
MomsRising is hosting a blog-a-thon on the law, featuring posts from the women leaders in the We Belong Together Delegation, at www.momsrising.org.
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MEDIA NOTE: To schedule an interview with Rowe-Finkbeiner or Olivella, please contact Gretchen Wright or Molly Tomlinson at 202-371-1999.
MomsRising.org is an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to achieve economic security for all families in the United States. MomsRising is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, affordable child care, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes so many mothers. MomsRising also advocates for health care for all, toxic-free environments, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. Established in 2006 and now celebrating its fifth anniversary, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families. In 2011, for the second year in a row, Forbes.com named MomsRising's web site as one of the Top 100 Websites For Women.
