today without the help and support of the women in our lives -- our sisters, our wives, mothers, daughters, our friends today we honor and celebrate our unique contributions and our roles in protecting families and giving equal opportunities and respect to all. we women know it's not about what you look like, where you're from, what values that you have, but it's what you do that defines you and the united states. it's not just about your background, but also about what you're contributing to this country. and today's discussion we'll explore the harmful immigration impact on women and children. women and children are often the ones left behind when fathers are deported, which is, of course, a hardship for the fathers. but the women who are left behind to hold that -- that family together and support the

family they also suffer other types of discrimination and suffer impact from our immigration laws and any proposed immigration laws must address the special needs of women and children. we're joined today by service providers and immigrant women from across virginia's tenth district who are all committed to positive change in our immigration laws. we are part of a national network of organizations olding similar events to ensure that the needs of women and girls are front and center in any debate about comprehensive immigration reform. these events are coordinated by we belong together to engage women in immigration reform and make sure any reform that's passed is both fair and inclu s inclusive to women, not just in words, but in the actual

implementation of the law. so with that, i'd like to introduce our panelists and i will start with paula fitzgerald. she's the managing attorney of ayuda. it advocates for low income immigrants through direct legal, social, language services and training and outreach in northern virginia. the next panelist is actually fabiola. she's a mother and fire of being separated from her children and sees immigration reform as the only means of giving her family full access to the american dream. we have anna muchado who's lived in northern virginia for 23 years. chef's a single working mother, and she knows firsthand many single women in similar situations to herself who are desperate for an immigration reform bill to pass out of congress.

and finally we have lillian flores from manassas. her family has been directly impacted by the immigration crisis that has been the result of our broken immigration system. over the past several months, she's become a local activist sharing her experience with federal legislators and their staff. thank you for being here. we're going start with you. a couple of questions for our panelists. the first question, paula, that we would like for you to address is if you could please describe the impact that you have seen of the immigration crisis, particularly on women and children? >> thank you for having me. the major impact i've seen on immigrant women based on our horrid immigration system is based on the visa wait times, the long separation time that many women and men have to be

sent away from their family members, namely their children. i have a lot of clients who have been separated from their children for more than ten years. during the time they're separated, they're emotionally distanced from their children. and in many cases, horrible things have happened to their children. children of my clients abroad who have been threatened by gang members, attacked by gang members, sexual assaulted. they're in a vulnerable situation being in their home country without a lot of times either a mother or father. they could be living with a grandparent. so that is something that absolutely needs to be changed. and also a lot of visa holders do not grant status for dependent visa holders. does not grant work permission. so a lot of pill who come with their husbands who do have visas

are still not granted work permission in the u.s. that is putting them in a very dependent situation that's been problematic if there's domestic violence or anything of that type. we have a lot of clients that are domestic violence victims and the long wait times with the way the system goes in general, sometimes discourages women from leaving an abusive situation and protecting themselves and their children. i've seen a lot of people know our immigration policies and return to dangerous home situations because the immigration system does not allow them to have the flexibility to leave and still be able to provide a roof over their heads so they and their children. >> thank you, pau la. along those lines there, there's

another issue we face in the deportation context which is, even if you did qualify for relief, certain kinds of relief, there's certain standards that have to be met to prove extreme hardship. it's very important that our congressional representatives understands that breaking up a fami family constitutes extreme hardship. that's not really a consideration under the law. a hurdle people face in the deportation context as well as when they come back to the united states. i wanted to turn now to fabiola. if you would share your thoughts with us? [ speaking spanish ]

[ speaking spanish ]

[ applause ] >> thank you. now we'll hear from anna, please? [ speaking spanish ] [ speaking spanish ]

[ speaking spanish ]

[ applause ] >> thank you, anna. lillian, can you describe for us the impact that you have seen of the immigration crisis, particularly on women and children? >> my experience is with my family, aunts, uncles, cousins. for example, my aunt just went through a hard time with her husband. she has three kids. one of the oldest one just came -- and she's been alone and suffering by herself. she's working hard. she's a strong woman. her husband left and disappeared leaving three kids -- leaving three kids and her alone. she's moved to manassas as well and is working hard every tay.

but no help from anyone, anybody. we just give her support and we keep telling her to move forward. she can always move forward. and three kids is -- they're all young as well. so to see her working really hard, she has a right to be here. as well as other cousins who finished high school and wanting to go to school -- go to -- for a -- go to school but can't go to college because they have to pay twice or can't even make it to a university or anything. so for them, it's really hard. i've seen many cousins go through that as well. and kids who wish to have a higher education than just high school. others graduated from high school. go to the university and have regular tuition fees or anything

else? i see them struggling. i can't really do it. i'm here supporting casa and the other organizations working for them. >> the second question is what role do you think women have to play for advocating relief. paula, let's start with you. >> generally, i think women have the unique ability to tell -- tell their stories and share it with unique and specific situations. and suffering, they experienced based on the immigration system with other people. i congratulate the women next to me on the panel for doing so. i would encourage more of the women out there in the audience

do this as well on a formal and informal level. tell your story. so much more powerful to tell your stories than to hear me tell your story to someone else. that's the strongest thing you as women can do to empower this movement, tell your story to anyone who will listen. people don't know what you go through every day and they need to. it's important that your voice be heard. [ applause ] >> thank you, paula. fabiola? [ speaking spanish ]

>> i'm going to translate for her. she's saying that womans is being -- to make sure that they're -- but they need and what they deserve. [ speaking spanish ] >> we even though it never happens.

>> translator: right now watching tv, get up and join our cause join our fight to get immigration reform. that's the only way we can win. talk to your friends, talk to your neighbors, invite them to this type of event, to rallies, everything else. thank you. [ speaking spanish ]

>> translator: as a woman, i'm asking all women to join our fight. we are very strong women. most only women here and we're fighting for our families or our kids. and for the entire society. [ speaking spanish ]

>> translator: as a woman, i'm in a struggle to get immigration reform, and we are here -- as a woman, we're the center of our society. we have to keep fighting. for example, myself, she says, if i'm deported, who's going to take care of my kids, who's going take care of our children. we love so much our families that we deserve to be here. [ applause ] >> gracias. >> now, the question. it's a big part of -- a long time ago, women didn't have their voices heard now.

they are the ones to watch the kids grow and they become mostly like their mother. my mom has always been there for me always. my dad always but i always looked up to her. they're always working and this and that. so -- [ speaking in spanish ]

>> it's exciting that my vote counts for the selection of obama. but now is the time that women should stand up and see that their vote does really count. >> thank you so much, lillian. >> give it back to congressman gutierrez even though we're familiar with his advocacy work and pushing the legislation forward on this important topic. now in his 11th term in the house of representative, congressman gutierrez has accomplished himself as a congressional leader on behalf of his constituents in chicago

and nationwide. his leadership, championing the causes of latino and the immigrant communities has given a voice to the millions of undocumented immigrants that call our country home. on a national level, there's no elected official more committed to or passionate about pro tekting and advocating for our nation's community than representative gutierrez. congressman gutierrez plays a key role in advocating for the immigration reform bill that supports women and children, preserves family unity, and provides the pathway for citizenship. he has led the call for the preservation of the family unit and a halt to the record level of deportation has been occurring particularly in the last couple of years. he's worked to uplift the stories of children and mothers being torn apart by a broken immigration system. congressman, thank you so much

for your leadership and for joining us today. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> si se puede! >> first, i want to ask everybody to give a warm round of applause to the wonderful panelists for setting the stage for our conversation. and for your tireless fight for justice. today we celebrate women's equality today, 93 years ago. we celebrate 93 years ago that finally in this country, women obtained the right to vote. and they are using that right to vote to make america a better place for all of us to live in. brings more justice and to bring

more fairness. we want to focus the conversation this afternoon a little more around women and immigration. i think -- i'm not enough has been said about our broken immigration system and how it impacts women. i wanted to share with you that it doesn't matter where i visited. add garlic field in salinas, or an orchard in oregon state, when i sit down and speak with women in the immigrant community, they all tell me the same thing. they share with me the horrible

conditions they work at. the sexual assault and sexual abuse they were submitted to each and every day. i want everybody in this room to think for one moment. if our countries cannot protect the women in the armed forces of the united states of america, where there have been thousands of cases of assault already documented. i want you to to imagine what happens to the women in the field every day that pick the tomato, that pick the food, that pick the vegetables that are the cornerstone, the foundation of our agricultural business. it not only happens to them there. i went out to iowa. after a huge rain and i sat down with the women, women with bracelets put on them as though they were criminals. women who could -- and the government went after them, but they didn't go after the men that had abused them for years.

they told me the same thing -- they said to me, luis, if i complain, if i do not submit, they simply call the police. and we have seen this time and time again. that everybody talks about security and i'm for security. i want to tell you something, one of the greatest things that's going to happen with comprehensive immigration reform, millions of women will be given a document legalizing them in the united states of america so they can take that document and pick up a phone and dial 911 and bring to justice the men that have exploited them for so many decades. that is something that we must do as a nation. because we look at the most vulnerable of our immigrants. it is the women.

we have seen massive deportations. in the next couple of month, tragically, we will have reached 2 million deportations in the last five years. 2 million. 1200 today. 1200 tomorrow, and the next day and the next day and the next day. and we see the burden on the women. i've been out to -- we went out one time out to mississippi. and we were there. and then we went up to birmingham, alabama, we were there. we heard the same story time and time again. a woman is being abused. the neighbor woman calls up and ghesz who goes to jail? the person who calls them the abuser. the man turns around and says that woman doesn't have papers. what does law enforcement do? that's why you have to separate law enforcement from immigration policy. the police is there to protect

the people. they have to protect the women and the families. we have to understand how safety has a corrosive effect. the police -- their cars are important to them, to protect us. their guns are important to them to protect us, their communication, their training is important. but the most important tool, instrument that the police have? it's the people and the cooperation of the people. and when you pass immigration law, they criminalize all immigrants and make them fear the police, you make all of us less safe. and you make us all a nation in which we perpetrate injustice of our people here who have been submitted to crimes and to criminals. so, i think it's important that we speak about this issue in terms of how it is that we see our family.

i wanted to tell everybody that i didn't come here to congressman wolf's district to trash talk him. if you came here for that, you're going be deeply disillusioned. i came here so we could hear the stories of our immigrant community, so that we could demonstrate to the nation how deeply -- how deep and profound this movement is for comprehensive immigration reform. it exists here and there's this theory that there's only democrats who want it? that's not true. paul ryan ran for vice president of the united states of america. i did everything i could so he could never achieve that goal. he did everything he could so that i would never be in the majority in the house of representatives. yet after the election, he extended a hand of friendship

and collaboration and unity. he said to me, luis, you're catholic, i'm catholic. we cannot have a permitted underclass of workers in the united states of america. that does not reflect our values as who we are. and he's working to get it done. and like him, there are dozens of other republicans that are ready to stand up. this is not a democrat or republican issue. look at the senate. in the senate, what was the first thing? there are 54 democrats in the senate. they're the majority. yet when you look at the proposal, billions of dollars were simply confiscated. you work ten year, you work 15 years, you work 20 years. you pay social security. gone. vanished. you cannot make a claim on any of those dollars. that didn't happen in 1986. under that immigration reform

plan. that luis gutierrez. i worked at transformer, your account was adjusted. not the senate proposal. i went to the congress of the united states, 54 democrats voted for obama care and they denied the $11 million for the first ten years any access to the subsidies, without subsidies, there's no health care for low-wage workers in this country. they say to them, you want to get legalized? no health care. and pay all of your taxes but don't expect ever to get any means tested program should you need it. be unemployed for more than 60 days, you're out of a program. if you sponsored your wife and your children, they're out of the program too. if that wasn't enough, they said, oh, wait a minute, we found $175 billion. that is what the cbo said, if you legalize them, we gain. you, everybody legally in the

united states put $175 billion in your pocket because we allowed them to legalize their status. they get no benefits for the ten years. no right to health care. they said, oh, in tip years, don't even think about trying to bring your brother or sister in the united states. with ear basically eliminating that category in the senate version of comprehensive immigration reform. of the $75 being billion, they took $50 billion basically creating a militarized zone between mexico and the united states. but you know something? i vote for that proposal today. i'd vote for it today. even up under those harsh conditions. because what we need to understand is today someone is going to die in that desert trying to return to their families. women and men are going to die in that desert. someone is going to lose a

fi hand, aneye a life today because an unscrupulous employer is going to put them in harm's way. someone is going to die. there's a woman that's going to be raped in a field somewhere in america today because she has no right in this country. we need to end that. there are children who are going to cry and there are marriages that are going be destroyed because somebody is going to be deported today and there are going to be children that are going to be left orphans in this country. for all of those reasons, we would accept that. i explained to you what goes on in the senate. that's where there are 54 democrats. who says that's the democratic proposal? that's the result of democrats and republicans sitting down at a table to have comprehensive immigration reform. we're ready to make the same kinds of concessions in the house of representatives. don't say it's the democrats. we understand that you're in the minority and you, the

republicans, should understand you lost the referendum on immigration reform on november 6. sit down at the table. people like paul ryan and luis gutierrez and others and let's find an american solution, not a republican solution, not a democratic solution, an american solution to the tragedy of our broken immigration system in this country. look, we celebrated 93 yoors. we want more people to celebrate their ability to vote and their ability to strengthen our democracy. think about it in a moment, the "new york times" and "the wall street journal." the editorial comments are similar. almost identical. conservatives. liberals, the same? the afl-cio, sat down with the u.s. chamber of commerce in an

unprecedented agreement on immigration. they fight each other every day. they spend millions of dollars against each other in the congress of the united states. but they sat down and said [ speaking spanish ] we saw southern baptists and evangelicals and catholics and lutherans and many people of different face with fundamental differences but they put it aside for comprehensive immigration reform. we've seen that. the largest growers associations in this country sat down with the united farm workers, the union organized and reach an agreemen agreement. john mccain and dick durbin. rubio who came and said, no, it's all am else inty. sat down with bennett from

colorado. republicans and the democrats in the senate sat down and put their differences aside to bring about comprehensive immigration reform. why is it that the only place where people cannot set aside their differences and compromise and find common ground is in the house of representatives? that is what we must achieve. look -- i don't have them. but they exist. i know we talk to them all the time. some of them have already come forward like paul ryan. we know this, 40, foo republicans already exist for immigration reform. we know there are 185 to 190 democrats. we know we already have a majority, right? it exists. we fought for it. but they won't allow us to vote. now they say that a majority is a majority must first make an

agreement before we can all vote. i want you to understand what that means and how particularly undemocratic it is. and how corrupting of the democratic system it is. they say it's 234 republicans. 118 of the 234 have to agree on something. 118 out of 435 members of congress, right? that is 435, 118. and if 118 republicans agree on something, then the 435 can vote on that. thats's not what they did in the senate, that's not what the afl-cio members of congress. that's not what the lutherans and the catholics and the evangelicals did. they didn't say first my side has to be the predominant side. they compromised because they're looking for a solution. all we need is for them to give us a vote and for speaker

boehner to allow a vote in the house of representatives and you will see more this afternoon 218 votes and we can begin to heal the broken immigration system and our nation. that should be our goal for democracy. [ speaking spanish ] that's all we're asking for. you want to vote against it, vote against it. but allow those of us who want to move forward and for justice and for fairness to move forward. don't get in the way. don't be an obstacle. there are good men -- someone came to me and said, you know, steve king said the terrible things about immigrants. and he did. my response was for every steve king, there are dozens of republicans who are ready to stand up for immigration reform. i have talked to them. i know them. and they know who we are and the republican leadership should allow them the ability to vote. [ speaking spanish ]

why is it important that we're in in a republican districts? we have to understand there are voices all across this country, districts across the country. the voters want comprehensive reform survey after survey has been demonstrated. they want fairness of justice. they're tired of seeing and they're sickened of the system that exploits people. i want them to become the citizen of the united states not as a privilege. i want them to have the responsibilities and duties of

an american system. i'm ready. [ speaking spanish ] i know we want to move on. but i wanted to share you, look, we have to make sure. someone asked us when we walked in, what about the group of seven. i already signed off on the document. uh'm ready to go. i'm ready to make an announcement. i'm ready to have a bipartisan deal. if we don't work with these group of seven, then we'll find another group of eight. but we're going to find a group of something that's going to bring us to a solution in the house of representatives. we refuse to let the people down. we refuse to lose. we're going continue to fight. let me just say -- 50,000

latinos turn 18 every month. every month. and i know someone is asking -- see? [ speaking spanish ] those are the ones we're talking about. 50,000. so, look, it's a growing community. the asian community and the american population, we won the referendum. there was a referendum on november 6, right? one side said, stop deportation. go pack your bags and leave. it's in the platform of the republican party. they said if the dream act comes before my desk, i'm going to veto it. they said we should take sb-1070, the anti-immigrant law in arizona and replicate it in 49 other states. that was their side. the other side said let's bring about compassionate, comprehensive, immigration reform. and the debate was held for the

first time it was truly a broad debate on those issues where people under. and the side for immigration reform won. that's why barack obama won. we have to bring him along the way sometimes with us, didn't we? [ speaking spanish ] [ applause ] do it together twice. in front of the white house denouncing the policies of breaking up our families with others. that wasn't easy for me to do that to a president who i love and respect, who i fought so hard to get elected. but you know, we pushed. he said he couldn't do it, remember? he said i can't do it, i can't stop the deportations. what he said he couldn't do, we kept saying he could. in the end, there are 500,000

dreamers today in this country who have documents, driver's licenses, and social security cards. they have work permits. >> si se puede! >> they have work permits. so, when i come here today to say it's not a democratic, it's not a republican solution, we have walked that walk before. now, once the president embraced our youth and said he wasn't going to deport anymore dreamers, right, then he did the tv commercials in which he said, what? he said i did it because i saw in the undocumented young people the same values that my wife and i invoe kated in our daughters. [ speaking spanish ]

well, guess what? it's time to stop deporting the moms and the dads that invoe kated the wonderful values in those children. so there's a lot. i'm going to thank you profoundly. people say luis, it's good of you. look, i left my wife this morning. [ speaking spanish ]

i'm going to go back. we're going to harris and burke later on today. going to travel out there. we're going to have a rally there. we're going to lift the voices. we're going to continue to lift the voices. [ speaking spanish ]

[ speaking spanish ] >> si se puede! >> so, continue -- we have much to do. we're going to find an american solution. i'm going to continue to work with my republican friends and colleagues. there are many of them. they exist. allow us the time to vote and we can fix this broken immigration system. and we can finally move on. [ speaking spanish ] thank you for allowing me to celebrate. we can't have real freedom, we can't have real justice, we can't have real equality in this nation if half of the nation is walking two steps behind the

other half. men and women must walk together equally arm in arm with equal protections and equal rights under the law. one of the greatest things of this immigration movement is to see the role of women and the roles they have taken in leadership positions on this issue. today we celebrate 93 years -- [ speaking spanish ] [ applause ] >> si se puede! thank you very much.

>> okay, at this time, we're going take a couple of questions from the audience. would anyone like to ask the congressman or any other panelists? do you have a mic back there? >>. [ speaking spanish ] >> i think it's an important question because there are many people who have a status but it

can fluctuate. asian, there are liberians who have been in here for 25 years and their issues are not settled. there are refugees here legally in the united states we need to settle once and for all they know with certainty what their future is. in the senate, there are some wonderful proposals in order to quicken the pathway to green card for those with temporary protective status. i support that. i would hope that would be in the bill in the house of representatives. now let me try to be very, very, very clear, we're going fight. the first priority we have to have because everywhere i go -- [ speaking spanish ]

they say put me in a safe place. protect me. that's the first thing i'm going do. i'm going to make sure any bill puts me in the safe place. protects you from deportation and gives you a road to citizenship. not going to be the same road for everybody. it's going to be hard and it's going to be treacherous. but it's going to exist. my point is this -- look, i kind of think of it this way -- if you get deported, it's almost like i've allowed you to die. because the possibilities for me to give you a life in the united states become remote to none after you're deported. [ speaking spanish ]

so we have to understand something -- [ speaking spanish ]

i think there should be considerations made for people who have been here legally for 10, 15, salvadorians since 1999. going on 13, 14 years. i see a salvadorian, he's always in the same hotel i stay in in miami. he's got like -- hey -- [ speaking spanish ] but i don't think that we need to give them in all sincerity. let's take one more question and we'll wrap it up. go ahead.

[ speaking spanish ]

>> the question is what's going to happen to immigrants and latinos when the exchange is opened up and particularly the immigration reform in the relation to obama care. that's why i wanted to bring up what the senate bill bill does. so basically a health care plan without a subsidy is $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. for an immigrant family, it's going to be impossible for them to make an exchange. if you can't, you have to rely on it.

this shows you how difficult it it's going to be. you can't expect and there's a willingness to get it done out of the house of representatives. from a purely ideological point of view, it's more difficult. number one, once you legalize people, they get a job where there is health care. a majority of the people get health care where? through their employment, 80%. the wages are going to increase. once their wages increase, the ability to buy better food, to have a saner life, the stress that must be on the communities for the people, the housing they have to live in. so, look, the socioeconomic standards are going improve. but they're going to have to rely on emergency care because they adopted it in the senate.

even though there's $175 billion, more than enough money saved according to the cbo, instead of spending $45 billion giving them health care, we spent that much more money putting border patrol agents on the border. those are the decisions we're going make. i think they're difficult ones. i do believe they'll have more access. each of the states are going to have to -- what i believe, you're going see states that are friendlier. illinois, maybe friendlier than other states. but i do think eventually they'll get there. the dreamers will get the citizenship quicker. agricultural going to get the citizenship quicker. they'll be legalized. right now, they don't dare go to a hospital when they're sick because they think they might get deported. and let me just say that outside of clinics, there have been immigration agents doing rape.

so this is not something that is unfounded. let me say thank you to all of you. someone asked me when i came in, what motivates you, right? what informs you? i want to share something that influence me about immigration, my life, and we'll wrap this up. i'll talk to a few of you. i'm a son of migrants, right, from puerto rico. [ speaking spanish ] but my mom and dad, they came here the same way all of you came here. looking for a better future. right? and what's interesting is when i was 15 years old, [ speaking spanish ] i lived in a bilingual house hold. maybe you have these bilingual house holds.

my parents spoke spanish, i only spoke english. we understood each other. [ speaking spanish ] but the interesting thing is when we went back to puerto rico, when i got there, i had a lot of difficulty. i remember going to school and the home room teacher saying, hey, you stand up. i stood up. he said [ speaking spanish ] and i said, well, not quite sure because every year my name changed, gutierrez, gutterez. my teacher would change. it would fluctuate. i chose one, i said luis gutierrez. he said my name is a mexican -- [ speaking spanish ] ] >> and everything laughed and he said what the the minimum

requirements back in the united states, but in puerto rico you have to know your complete name. and he asked me a question, " [ speaking spanish ] and that got me upset. don't you have a mother? what does that have to do with anything? you know in latin america, your complete name is your father's surname and your mother's maiden name. it's on every document. diploma, birth certificate, driver's licenses, that's your name. i didn't know that. i was crying. and to my mother -- [ speaking spanish ] and so i said, [ speaking spanish ] so i practiced, luis portin -- louis vicente, gutierrez are a

her row. [ applause ] [ speaking spanish ] >> what a wonderful name that i found. the next day -- the next day i went back to the classroom and there was a young girl in the corner. i walked up because i had practiced all night, right? i said, hola, hi. my name is -- -- my name would be there, right? she raises up her hand and said -- they call the teachers in puerto rico. mister, milser? she said, whatever you want? [ speaking spanish ] >> i'm happy you all laughed

because that's exactly the reaction of the 30 other students that were in the classroom with me. they all laughed. now, i can laugh ant it today. but it really informs me about how i live my life and who i am. because while everybody was laughing, i never felt so small, so insignificant, so disconnected from everything around me so humiliated. it's difficult to describe how alien ated i felt everything around me. how alone i felt. but you know something, when the laughter stopped, [ speaking spanish ]