Organizers Pramila Jayapal and Megan Macaraeg get arrested in DC. Photo by Jen Soriano, We Belong Together

Right

now, women comprise 51% of people migrating to the United States, and women and

children make up three-fourths of immigrants in this country. Approximately 60%

of undocumented immigrant women are in the labor force. These stats show that

not only does immigration reform matter to most people in America; it also disproportionately

impacts women, children and families -- many of whom are suffering within our

broken immigration system.

On

Friday, September 13, 2013 roughly 200 women came to D.C. to march, blockade,

protest and get arrested as a part of a mass demonstration on Capitol

Hill. We Belong Together, an initiative

of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and the National

Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), organized the action. The protest featured

various women’s groups that gathered, held hands in a circle and sat down on

Independence Ave between Capitol Hill and House members’ offices. By the end of

the day over 100 women were arrested as they called for a move on immigration

legislation.

The

women were calling for policy goals that include and empower women -- goals

that include a broad and clear roadmap to citizenship, keeping families

together, and resolving massive backlogs in immigration processing.

Asian

and Latino communities have the two highest immigration rates to the US, with

women being a big part of this fast growing population – likewise the protest

brought out women’s groups from API and Latino movements, as well as other

groups that have previously not taken on a prominent role with immigration

reform, like the National Organization of Women (NOW).

"API women participated in the action to represent the

millions of API women immigrants who are deeply affected by our broken

immigration system.” Says Pramila Jayapal, Co-chair of the We Belong Together

campaign.

API women like Ingrid Cruz, a teacher

and immigrant from the Philippines and H-1B visa holder living in Louisiana,

who along with hundreds of teachers, she was exploited and abused by labor

recruiters with a history of felony offenses.

This historic action also included the largest number of

undocumented immigrant women to willingly submit to arrest . Undocumented women

face increased risk of exploitation, abuse and even rape from employers and

undocumented women in domestic violence situations are often less likely and

less able to leave their abusive situations or report abuse due to fears of

deportation. Every day more than 1000 people are deported, many of them women.

Women that are often torn apart from their children, who are left behind in

this country.

Megan

Macaraeg, Organizing Director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights

Coalition (TIRRC) points to the fact

that immigration reform is not just policy to many women, but an issue that deeply

impacts their lives and the lives of their communities. For her, it’s the story

of her neighbors, her daughters, her ex-husband, and her entire family. Megan’s

ex-husband, an immigrant from El Salvador and father of her two daughters, was

arrested in a pre-dawn apartment raid and forced into deportation proceedings.

Her daughters are now fighting to keep their dad in the country he calls home. Keeping

families together was one of the big points of Friday’s protest, and Megan’s

family is one of thousands affected by forced separations and deportations

under the current system.

Diana

Bui, Co-chair of NAPAWF’s DC Chapter, emphasizes the need for policy to reflect

what is happening on the ground: “Now is the time to escalate in action and

make our demands even louder. It’s time we ended the criminalization of

undocumented immigrants, especially women.”

Too

often, communities and people who have been impacted the most are the ones who

are left voiceless and left out of the policy picture. This time, women rose

together, sat together, and got arrested together to ensure that they would not

be forgotten nor silenced during this

crucial time. They have made their actions, now it is time for our policymakers

to listen to them and realize that a policy that helps women will help our

country become a stronger and more inclusive nation.