Domestic violence embodies how the personal is political.  In June of this year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed an immigration appeals court ruling that granted asylum to a Salvadoran woman who said she had been sexually, emotionally and physically abused by her husband. The intersection of the fraught and complex process of seeking asylum intertwined with domestic violence is both lightening rod and reality.  In this panel, four women who are on the front lines of supporting asylum seekers at the intersection of local and global will share their experiences doing advocacy, legal and activist work in court, at the US border and in European refugee camp settings. Ana Maria Bazan, a community-based lawyer in solo practice who represents asylum seekers, will provide insight into the impact of the Sessions ruling with two cases, before and after, that she argued, as well as her experience as a Latina woman immigration lawer; Amanda Doroshow, a lawyer with Her Justice, and Prathiba Desai, a lawyer with Empire Justice, will describe their work together with asylum seekers in the detention center Dilley, Texas for whom domestic violence is intimately braided with other immediate dangers; and her visits and interviews at several European refugee camps through her blogs and presentations at the United Nations.

About PhenomenalWomen@RH

PhenomenalWomen@RH is a new series bringing the voices, insights, and experiences of girls and women whose local, national and global activism, creativity, scholarship, and perspectives engage, provoke, and inspire innovative paths to social justice and public policy. PhenomenalWomen@RH is based at Roosevelt House and is co-sponsored by the Women and Gender Studies Department at Hunter College.