On November 21, 2019, Senator Patrick Leahy and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren introduced the Refugee Protection Act (RPA) of 2019, a historic bill that presents a comprehensive positive vision for restoring and improving both our domestic asylum system and our overseas refugee admissions program. Among other critical provisions, the RPA would reverse former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ devastating Matter of A-B- decision, which has severely undermined the ability of domestic violence survivors and others to seek asylum protection.

If your Senators and House Representative have cosponsored the Refugee Protection Act, please thank them! If they haven’t, it’s not too late – please urge them to do so!

The current list of Senate cosponsors can be found here, and House cosponsors can be found here. You can find contact information for your legislators on AILA’s advocacy portal.

Learn more about the RPA

  • Check out the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies’ (CGRS) explainer
  • Read CGRS Director Karen Musalo’s Los Angeles Times op-ed, “Restore asylum for women fleeing abuse and death”