MomsRising Joins Women Leaders to Fight Unjust Anti-Immigrant Laws

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.

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.

MomsRising is hosting a blog-a-thon on the law, featuring posts from the women leaders in the We Belong Together Delegation.

KJ