For Immediate Release: Monday, March 18, 2013
Contact:
For English language Media:
Donna De La Cruz, [email protected], 202-339-9331, 202-441-3798 (cell)
For Spanish language Media:
Ricardo Ramírez, [email protected] 202-339-9371, (202) 905-1738 (cell)

Campaign Lifts Up Voices of Immigrant Women

(WASHINGTON)—Prominent leaders in the women’s movement are joining immigrant women today to show support for the ‘We Belong Together’ campaign aimed at shaping the debate over common sense immigration reform that will keep families together.

The Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) strongly supports the campaign, having launched its complimentary ‘Keeping Families Together’ campaign in December. FIRM is a coalition of the largest immigrant rights groups in 30 states.

“Too many families have been torn apart by our current immigration system and Congress must enact immigration reform that keeps families together,” said FIRM spokesperson Kica Matos. “The ‘We Belong Together’ campaign will also lift up the voices of immigrant women and push for policy solutions that recognize the vital role they play in our society.”

“Immigrant women make great contributions to the rich social, cultural, intellectual and economic fabric of the United States,” Matos added. “Women now make up 51 percent of the immigration population. The majority of women who come to the U.S. do so to either reunite with family, make a better life for their children, or to escape oppression, discrimination and violence that prevent them from living full and free lives in their home countries.”

“Immigration reform must rightly take into account women and their families, and keep families together,” Matos said. “We hope that the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who hear the testimony today will recognize the importance of immigrant women and remember their stories and their sacrifices for their families as they work to craft a fair and humane immigration reform bill.”

We Belong Together is co-anchored by the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. One of the co-chairs is Pramila Jayapal, the distinguished Taconic Fellow at the Center for Community Change, which is a FIRM member.

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