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The House Republican version of the new Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) would dramatically rollback confidentiality protections for abused immigrant women, make it more difficult for undocumented witnesses to work with law enforcement officials, and eliminate a pathway to citizenship for witnesses who cooperate with police on criminal cases.
Specifically, this is what they would eliminate:
In 1994, VAWA addressed a problem faced by abused immigrant women who are married to citizens or legal residents. In some cases, husbands would use their control over their victims’ immigration status as a tool of abuse, refusing to sign the proper paperwork or threatening to revoke it. The act created a “self-petitioning” process that allows such women to confidentially apply for protected immigration status on their own. Protections for immigrant women have been strengthened in subsequent reauthorizations of the bill.
That process is managed by a specific branch of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services based in Vermont, where officials are highly trained in secrecy and in dealing with domestic violence situations. Extreme precautions are taken to assure that the victim’s identity or action is not revealed to the abuser, for obvious reasons.
The GOP claims that undocumented immigrant women are gaming the system by pretending to be abused, which sounds roughly as plausible as an epidemic of voter fraud. And as with voter fraud, Republicans are seizing upon the misbehavior of an imaginary few to punish the very real many. Only instead of being unable to vote, these women will be trapped in the living hell of an abusive relationship with no legal recourse. Shame on domestic abuse survivor Sandy Adams for sponsoring this cruel bill – her capacity for empathy would fit in a hamster’s thimble.
I think the GOP’s ultimate dream is to make all crimes against undocumented immigrants legal. It probably stems from a combination of atavistic hatred with the hope that declaring open season will induce them to “self-deport,” but probably a lot more of the former than the latter.
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Eli!
Buzz!
Your post is so depressing that it is hard to comment intelligently.
Eli!
Shoto!
Them illegal-alien wimmins is just too uppity by doin’ all kinds of voter fraud. That’s what’s causin’ all the troubles. Furthermore, Praise Jeezuz!
Yeah, would have preferred something a little cheerier for a Friday night, but that’s what I got.
Not being critical, just offering an excuse for not having anything myself.
Yeah, I know. Was just sayin’.
This shit needs to be hung around Mittens’ neck.
ELI!
Seems like the GOP is betting that none of the targets of their disenfranchisement campaigns will be able to overcome the obstacles they’ve put up in order to vote. Either that or they’re just too batshit insane to comprehend arithmetic.
MARGARET!
I guess they’re gambling that this will come across as more anti-immigrant than anti-women.
This is the kind of shit that could get me to do something I swore I would never do: Vote again for … no, I’m not quite ready yet.
Well….yup.
“Who cares about all that fancy, liberal-elite number cipherin’ stuff, anyway?”
And with “Fox News” to help drive that narrative, they’re probably right, too.
Probably more of Karl Rove’s math…
I think they may be selling most women short.
Oh, I’m sure that’s exactly what they’re expecting but I’m not so sure this time ’round. They’re racism and misogyny aren’t even veiled anymore but on proud display.
One of the main problems I expect to see in the months leading up to November are a series of embarrassingly lame responses to virtually every issue on the radar. There’s so much egregiously awful, ultra-wingnut stuff going on all over the country right now that it would be like shooting fish in a barrel to use it as ammo in almost any campaign in the country, whether local, state or national. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that these invertebrates don’t push back in any sort of meaningful way, however. Wouldn’t want to alienate those corporate donors, right?
Heh…
Why isn’t that scumbag in prison, anyway?
That fact has really struck me recently, as well. There’s not even any pretense anymore. They’re just throwing this shit right in our faces and then laughing about it. And do the opposing candidates use it the way they should be, by throwing it right back in their faces? Of course not. Sheesh…
It’s very well-established that the Repugnants play dirty. Accordingly, these campaigns should be seen as street fights. These ultra-wingnut policies need to be brought up at every opportunity – publicly and repeatedly…in a way that the MSM has a very difficult time ignoring.
Don’t!!! This article, among others, are designed to make you lean toward voting for obama. obama is a fraud, the worst fraud to ever occupy the whitehouse.
Many commentors have left because of this.
Speaking for me only, this “double war” has made me rethink what to do in November. I look at my wife, my daughter, and my coworkers who are heavily female and minority, and I think I may owe them something more important than my desire to punish those who have let me down.
Any Democratic candidate who doesn’t employ just that strategy is either stupid or complicit and nobody is that stupid. You know me, I’m not given to conspiracy theories but a weak Democratic response to this phenomenon would be pretty compelling to say the least.
War against people of color, LGBT.
Not to mention the 15 foreign wars.
But who’s counting.
I understand completely where you’re coming from. What’s going on right now is an all-out assault on women’s rights – which ultimately affects everyone. Here’s hoping the Repugnants have overplayed their hand. The recall election coming up in Wisconsin is going to tell us a lot, I think. If this half-bright tool for the Koch boys is not recalled, I’m going to find it very disconcerting.
Absolutely.
Women are either door mats or alpha females, the latter of whom do not care about anyone except themselves (Meir, Thatcher, Hillary to name but 3). Just about zero chance that any PTB could overplay their hand denigrating women.
Then there’s the war on the 99%… This is getting too massive to keep track of. I propose a new term: “The war on everybody not them…..”?
Gotsta bail for the evening. I’m operating on fumes and I need to crack off some serious zzzzz’s. Keep fighting the good fight.
Oya!
Reading about Renaissance Florence. Doesn’t seem too diff from current U.S., except there is no arts or sciences worth mentioning in U.S. Rich get richer, poor get poorer.
Good Evening.
I was in the middle of a comment, when it just zapped away.
Doesn’t matter… I suppose.
Just Hi, I guess.
I hate it when that happens! Hey demi!
Peg! Hope you are good and happy and all of that. Same to the cat.
I got distracted by family stuff. Guys are now on their way to office depot to get toner so sonny can print something for a test he has to take tomorrow morning, early. Math and English placement for college in September.
It’s happening. Yikes. :)
I hope I’ll see you in the morning at PUAC. Ruth’s doing Cinco de Mayo.
Arriba!
D’oh! Forgot about Cinco de Mayo. Well, I’m staying in tomorrow for PUAC I guess.
eLi!!
gREENWARRIOr!!
I’m not going out, that’s for sure! It’ll be party town in my neighborhood. :)
I’m thinking about the wafting of barbeque, or as you Texans put it The Cook Outs.
i’ve got one eye here and the other one over at naked capitalism reading a fascinating speech frick made to the harlem tenants assoc a few days after obama was elected. so far, the premise seems to be that obama’s non-partisan stance favors the folks with the power. really interesting reading.
Many apologies for not saying…
eLI
I was so glad to see you hosting, and then I got all excited seeing that Margaret was here.
A Friday night with me here eating cottage cheese and tuna and, well, it was all just So Overwhelming.
Republicans never got over the 13th Amendment. The part that got rid of slavery was bad, but at least the part about involuntary servitude offers some real possibilities for gaming the system.
What?!? No Cheetos? Shooter will be so disappointed.
crunch time in my community. a 12 acre sweet piece of property in the middle of the neighborhood is trying to get nabbed for development. been fighting it for two years. nbhd assoc recommended preserving it a couple weeks ago. environmental board – ditto two nights ago. tuesday night is planning commission, then city council. we’re working hard and that’s intersecting with a crisis with my broken wrist.
deMI
And, I’m not in my pajamas, yet.
(To be truthful, it was a healthy supper, and Brindle enjoyed the last three bites, I now have a small handfull of good and plenty’s.)
I try not to disappoint.
Dude!
I also have chocolate chip cookies in the oven.
Pinky Swear.
I came *this* close to picking up some Pecan Sandies on my way back home…
I love those!
Here, have some cc cookies. Warm, right out of the oven.
A little milk. My current book.
I’m out.
Thanks for being such a swell person, Eli. It’s uplifting to know folks like you(z) are out there.
Night night.
Aw, thanks, demi. Night!
Yeah, I spend a lot more time over at Naked Capitalism. FDL used to be unique. Now it’s just more of the 24 hour horse race coverage that can be found at all the other progressive political sites.