Preventing Violence Against Women By Illegal Aliens Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Raskin for the time.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to speak in this Chamber as a survivor. Folks know back home that I have been doing this work for 30 years, day in and day out.

As a survivor, I almost lost my life in my early twenties. I am proud to stand with millions of women and girls who have been victims and who are moving toward survivorship in saying no to this piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I come with 30 years of experience. I started my career leading the Young Women's Freedom Center, and I stood shoulder to shoulder with young women and girls who had been trafficked and beaten. I have been in morgues. I have been in the tanks of our county jails, literally on my knees, pleading with law enforcement to let young women out who themselves were victims and who were incarcerated wrongly for standing up for themselves while they fought for their lives.

I have learned through this work that justice is not a principle. It is our responsibility.

Later in my career, I led the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law started by President Kennedy. We expanded access and legal representation for migrants and asylum seekers, many who came seeking peace and solidarity, in search of safety and dignity.

Today, as a Representative of California's 12th District, I remain committed to advancing real solutions and making our communities safer. I, too, was a domestic violence advocate for a prosecutor.

I know this work. I remain committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fix a severely broken immigration system, but moreover, I am here to stand up for victims.

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Ms. SIMON. H.R. 30, and I repeat, does nothing to advance these solutions. Instead, it broadens the definition of domestic violence in ways that punishes survivors, making them inadmissible and subject to deportation, regardless of their legal status.

I say to my colleagues: We must read this bill. Read it. Let me be clear: We know that Federal law already allows deportation, demands deportation for individuals convicted of domestic violence. H.R. 30 doesn't strengthen the protection of survivors--it weaponizes them.

I know what it means to protect victims, Mr. Speaker. It means to fight systemic inequities in our current systems that don't work for those victims or survivors. H.R. 30 doesn't do this work.

That is why I too stand with over 200 organizations, one in which I cofounded, the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, that is 10,000 strong, who are young women and girls who are surviving rape and domestic violence and trafficking. They, too, say no.

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