Tahirih Justice Center

At the Tahirih Justice Center, we envision a world where justice is accessible to all, irrespective of borders, gender, race, or wealth. Equitable justice will enable humanity to recognize its inherent oneness, realize gender equality, and achieve the unity.

We are a national, non-profit organization with a mission to support immigrant survivors of gender-based violence seeking safety and justice. Our interdisciplinary model of service combines free legal services, social services case management, with bridge-building policy advocacy, and training and education. We amplify the voices of survivors in communities, courts, and Congress to create a world where everyone can live in safety and with dignity.

With our vision and mission in mind, our 2021 goals are to:

-Provide trauma-informed, survivor-centered immigration legal and social services case management to 1,800 individuals
-Contribute to systems and institutional advocacy efforts at the local, state and/or federal level that centers impacted communities and advances justice for immigrant survivors
-Develop and present high quality, relevant substantive and skill-based training and community outreach materials that employ adult learning style principles and an anti-racist lens to 5,000 colleagues, pro-bono partners, allied professionals, volunteers, and community members
-Through policy advocacy, work to improve access to asylum for immigrant survivors
-Educate service providers about the issue of forced marriage and best practices for supporting survivors
-Continue to raise awareness about FMI's national Technical Assistance capacity and expertise and promptly respond to requests from across the U.S. and internationally via email and phone
-Serve U.S. survivors and individuals at risk of forced marriage with holistic, trauma-informed support and expert case management
-Lead or support state-based efforts to end or limit child marriage in 10 states and lead efforts to introduce and pass legislation on the Federal level

Tahirih Justice Center stands alone as the only national, multi-city organization providing a broad range of direct legal services, policy advocacy, and training and education to protect immigrant women and girls fleeing gender-based violence. Our interdisciplinary, trauma-informed model combines free legal services and social services case management with bridge-building policy advocacy and research-based training and education. Our programs efficiently and effectively leverage donated professional services from a vast network of attorneys, medical professionals, and other experts to serve as many immigrant survivors as possible.

The Tahirih Justice Center is an award-winning, effective, and efficient national organization that has assisted more than 30,000 calls for help from immigrant survivors fleeing gender-based violence since 1997.

With a staff of more than 90 and more than 2,800 Pro Bono Attorney Network members, our tested, externally-evaluated model of service depends on a number of core capabilities – such as specialized expertise in immigration law for survivors of gender-based violence; trauma-informed direct services; and excellence in nonprofit management – and has been successfully replicated in five locations: Atlanta, Baltimore, Greater Washington, DC, Houston, and the San Francisco Bay Area. And every year since opening our first field office in 2009, we have continued to experience tremendous growth and success. From 2011 to 2013, we grew 51%, hiring attorneys and other critical staff; in 2014 alone, we grew another 27%. We now respond to more than 3,000 calls for help each year from women and children fleeing violence.

Our success to date demonstrates the importance of building local sources of support, including pro bono resources and city-specific individual, corporate, government, and foundation donors. Nationwide, we are effective: we maintain a 96% litigation success rate despite the complex nature of the cases we accept. Tahirih accepts cases that others have deemed “unwinnable” and pioneers in uncharted areas of the law. Further, we are efficient: we leverage the donated services of a nationwide network of pro bono professionals, which includes more than 2,800 attorneys at 484 top law firms and corporations.

In recognition of these results, Tahirih has been honored by a number of awards and recognition, such as: Catalogue for Philanthropy ~ One of the Best; Charity Navigator ~ Four-Star Charity; Washington Post ~ Award for Excellence in Non-Profit Management; Newsweek Magazine ~ 150 Fearless Women Award ~ Tahirih Director Layli Miller-Muro; and Meyer Foundation ~ Exponent Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership ~ Tahirih Director Layli Miller-Muro, among others.

As the Tahirih Justice Center has matured as an organization and expanded nationwide, we have regularly witnessed record-breaking year-over-year results. In particular, in 2020, the Tahirih Justice Center achieved significant results:

-Provided free legal services to 1,796 immigrant women and children and 1,452 of their family members
-Connected 504 clients and their family members with vital social services including emergency shelter, food and clothing, and healthcare
-Mobilized 2,804 attorneys from 484 top law firms in our Pro Bono Network to leverage donated resources and maximize our capacity
-Trained and educated 13,934 frontline professionals and community members, including attorneys, judges, police officers, healthcare staff, and social service providers
-Responded to calls from 346 lawyers and service providers from 22 countries and 18 states who needed expert advice
-Educated the public and framed the national dialogue about the impact of federal and local policies on immigrant women and children fleeing violence through 417 articles in prominent media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, AP News, The Washington Post, Univision, and NPR
-Garnered 3 million views on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, sparking vital conversations about issues that impact the safety and dignity of survivors
-Advised the transition team for the incoming administration on ways to improve the immigration system and best practices to ensure safety for immigrant survivors
-Successfully sued to challenge the use of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents to conduct credible fear interviews. The court held that the agents had not been properly trained as asylum officers, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act
-Filed 17 amicus briefs, 5 new lawsuits, and 13 sets of regulatory comments opposing a broad range of administration policies, from increases on application fees to efforts to functionally end asylum
-Fought for the rights of immigrant survivors in 11 active high-impact federal court cases, as counsel or plaintiff, and weighed in on 17 other legal cases by filing arguments supporting the interests of immigrant survivors of violence
-Launched the Stand with Survivors campaign in response to proposed regulations to devastate U.S. asylum law. Across the country, advocates came together and filed nearly 90,000 comments in response to the proposed regulations
-Triaged 222 emergency requests for assistance – from 25 states and nearly every region of the globe
-Equipped 1,915 frontline professionals with critical tools to identify forced marriage and protect victims
-Worked closely with survivor-advocates and pro bono partners to achieve or inspire new laws against child marriage in 5 states: Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Pennsylvania; as well as the
U.S. Virgin Islands