First Draft Issue Brief
Brett Gannaway
March 3, 2016
The Gender Bias in Immigration Policy in the United States
Keywords:
Violence, disadvantages, exploitation,regulation, Dangerous, inequality.
Description:
Both legal and undocumented immigrant woman are facing are facing swaths social injustice in the immigration system to the United States. These injustices begin in a very drastic manner on their respective journey to the United States, and persist throughout their stay. These Social injustices put a strain on the woman's life that makes it hard to succeed in the United States.
Key Points:
●Illegal immigrant woman are being forced to work in the underground economy
●A high percentage of women are being raoed on their journey to immigrate to the United States.
●Women are forced to wait a long time because of immigration processing backlogs.
●Immigrant women face an increased dependence of their spouses
Images:
Undocumented immigrant woman who represents 1 on the 4 million currently residing the United States:
Southern Poverty Law Center
Immigrants waiting to receive their visas to enter the United States: Harvard Kennedy School Student Publication
Issue Brief
Despite all of the movements in the past century or so to do with inequalities and social injustice in the American life, immigration is in the forefront of systems in which the United States has done nearly nothing to deal with such inequalities that permeate its system and particularly target women. The bottom line is that today, immigrants from around the world come here legally for the most part through the family-based immigration system (Jaensch). Of this population of people immigrating to the United States, a sizable majority of such people are women as a result of the emphasis on family reunification ushered in by the 1965 Immigration Act (Migration Policy Institute). Because women make up such a significant number, many times they are forced to wait for long periods because of immigration processing backlogs to solidify permanent residency status away from their husband, or even obtain permission to file for a work visa (Legal Momentum). Even when in the United States, the problems immigrant women face do not go away. Many times immigrant families need two incomes to live somewhat comfortably in America, and because of the jobs immigrants are lead into, many times women find it hard to get such jobs. Therefore, these women in many cases are forced to work in the underground economy where they are at the mercy of their employers that have free reign to treat women as they please and pay them wages and work in environments that don't meet federal, state, or local regulations.
This problem is not limited to, however is primarily a problem with undocumented immigrant women. In such an environment, employers of undocumented immigrant women have no reason to treat their employees with a fair wage or reasonable conditions because they know that the undocumented immigrant cannot do anything due to the leverage the employer has over his or her employee. This inevitable vulnerability immigrants face can lead to various despicable acts on behalf of the employer towards the employee. Undocumented and legal immigrants alike also face an increased dependence on their spouses, thus increasing the likelihood of domestic violence and sexual assault due to such dependencies immigrant women face. The greatest threat to the well being of immigrant women however isn’t the policy it faces once they get to the United States despite the obvious the obstacles they face once they get here, instead it is the dangerous journey they face on the way to America, specifically in Central American countries like Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Shockingly enough, according to Fusion, 80% of central American immigrant girls and women are raped on their journey to the United States crossing through Mexico (Huffington Post). Perpetrators along the way consist of a wide variety of people, from guides, bandits, and even government officials. The problem has gotten so grim that children and grown women like are now packing contraceptives to prepare for inevitable road they each face ahead. Even despite these dangers, girls and women are still risking their lives to travel to the United States where they will face further dangers, merely showing the dedication and risks they are willing to take to seek the refuge the United States provides.
Work Cited
Goldberg, Eleanor, ed. "80% Of Central American Women, Girls Are Raped Crossing Into The U.S."
Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2014. <
"Gender Bias and Immigration Policy." Legal Momentum. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
"The Preference System Explained." Jaensch Immigration Law Firm. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
Ruiz, Ariel G., Jie Zong, and Jeanne Batalova. "Immigrant Women in the United States." Migration
Policy Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2015. <
General References
"In the Shadows." LGBTQ Policy Journal. Harvard Kennedy School, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.<
"Injustice on our Plates." Southern Poverty Law Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. <