Kirby Wilbur tweeted, “[I] missed all the fun … today as left wing witches and hags protested and got arrested. They look so old and ugly …” Current GOP state leadership immediately distanced themselves from Wilbur, but the four Washington GOP congressional members remained silent on the substance of the issue. Their inaction shows how little the party understands about the high stakes of immigration reform. None of the four Republican congressional members from Washington state has had the courage to sign on to the immigration bill introduced in the House in October 2013. None has provided substantive comments on the issue. And yet, each has a special responsibility to both women and immigrants in moving forward immigration reform. U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, is the highest-ranking woman in the GOP leadership. U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, is chairwoman of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. U.S. Reps. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, and Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, have large immigrant populations in their districts with economies that depend on immigrant labor. All four should be out front on the issue. Women and children — three-quarters of all immigrants to America — are the face of immigration. They bear the disproportionate burden of a failed immigration system. In Washington, women and children make up 55 percent of the immigrant population. Currently, only 27 percent of all employment visas go to women because the industries populated by women are not prioritized for employment. Those who enter on a spouse’s visa are unable to work, regardless of qualifications, which plays a big part in a stunning 77 percent of dependent immigrant spouses experiencing domestic violence. Given the lack of other options, 70 percent of women who do get legal status obtain it through family sponsorship. While the majority of people deported are men, it is women who must pick up the pieces. In a June study, Human Impact Partners estimated that when a primary earner is deported, he or she leaves an estimated 83,000 partners, mostly women, behind to deal with lost wages and increased risk of poverty and hunger. That is why women across the country have stepped up their demands for real reform in the face of Republican recalcitrance. The Bellevue protest was one of nine women-led actions across the country in key Republican districts, coordinated by the We Belong Together campaign. In total, 500 women participated and almost 100 women were arrested, cited for blocking intersections or refusing to leave GOP offices until Republican representatives moved forward on immigration reform. These protests came on the heels of a protest in Washington, D.C., where 105 women (including 25 undocumented women) were arrested for blocking the street in front of the House of Representatives. It was the largest all-women act of civil disobedience in recent history. Women’s organizations — including the National Organization for Women, MomsRising, 9 to 5, Planned Parenthood and the YWCA — have endorsed immigration reform, most for the first time this year. Women’s organizations understand that immigration reform is central to women’s equality. For all the hard-fought gains in the history of the women’s movement, immigrant and nonimmigrant women in America must still fight together to remove all the barriers that keep women from living up to their full potential. Women’s voices are being heard in the field and in Congress. Fourteen Senate women sponsored an important bipartisan amendment to make a proposed merit-based system more fair to women. Instead of assigning points just for education or employment, the amendment would have also assigned points for family relationships and would have reserved a number of visas for fields where women held most of the jobs. Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., were essential in pushing forward provisions around immigrant domestic-violence victims. The final bill, while still imperfect, had many excellent provisions covering immigrant women. On the House side, U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D.-Calif., formed a Women’s Working Group on Immigration Reform, whose members have been delivering speeches and sending colleagues letters about women and immigration. Politically, both immigrants and women have shown their voting power. President Obama and recently re-elected New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie each won 55 percent of the women’s vote. Obama also won enormous majorities of immigrant voters, while Christie snagged 51 percent of the Latino vote, compared to his opponent’s 29 percent. In the end, Republicans should understand that a vote against immigration reform is a vote against women. Sexist comments and inaction on immigration reform will simply lead to continued alienation of women and immigrants. It will also leave millions of women and families separated and living in the shadows. It’s time for the House to get to work and stop stalling on passing a comprehensive immigration-reform bill that is fair to women and that keeps families together. America’s women and children can’t wait any longer. Adapted from: http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2022269137_pramilajayapalleeannhallopedwomenimmigration17xml.html by Pramila Jayapal and LeeAnn Hall. Pramila Jayapal is co-chairwoman of the national campaign We Belong Together: Women for Common-Sense Immigration Reform. LeeAnn Hall is Executive Director of the Alliance for a Just Society.]]>
