ICE official reportedly unaware of domestic violence argument against Secure Communities

I have a story today on the ever-confusing opt-out process for Secure Communities, an immigration enforcement program that shares fingerprints collected by local police with federal immigration officials. David Venturella, the executive director of Secure Communities, met with county officials in Arlington, Va., San Francisco and Santa Clara, More…

How common is marriage fraud for immigrants?

Slate had an interesting piece yesterday on marriage fraud and domestic violence, looking into whether a small number of foreign-born brides fake domestic abuse to leave their American husbands and stay in the United States. It’s a topic that has a lot of potential for hysteria: Anti-illegal immigration More…

Questions Raised About Ken Buck’s Record Prosecuting Rape Cases in Colorado

Five years ago, Colorado’s GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck refused to prosecute a rape case while acting as Weld County District Attorney, reports our sister site the Colorado Independent, and with three weeks before the election, all the lurid details are getting dredged up once again:

The alleged assault

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Underreporting of Campus Assault Cases

The Michigan Messenger, TWI’s sister site, has a troubling story today about accusations of sexual assault leveled at two Michigan State University basketball players:

Documents obtained by Michigan Messenger show two high-profile Michigan State University basketball players have been accused of committing sexual assault on campus in August. Despite

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How to Discredit Afghan Women, Courtesy of the CIA

Wikileaks obtained and published (PDF) a CIA “Red Cell” analysis — that’s what the agency presents either to counter received wisdom or to be deliberately provocative — on bolstering support for the Afghanistan war among skeptical European publics. (Hat tip to Jeremy Scahill.) Among the strategies employed: More…

Afghan Women’s Rights Advocate Wants Women Involved in Taliban Reconciliation

It’s gotten much less attention than his unilateral revision of Afghanistan’s electoral law, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai is scaling back a milestone for human rights in post-Taliban Afghanistan: setting aside parliamentary seats for women politicians. Things are still in flux, and for weeks, a spokesman for the More…

While Health Reform Falters, Mammogram Debate Still Rages

When a preventive-health panel stirred a storm last November by scaling back its guidelines for breast cancer screening among 40-somethings, Congress was quick to intervene. Indeed, it took just 17 days before senators unanimously agreed to bar the government from using those recommendations to inform federal coverage More…

Expert: Nelson Amendment Would ‘Chill’ Access to Abortion Coverage

Sara Rosenbaum, health policy expert at George Washington University, today released her take on the Ben Nelson abortion restrictions found in the Senate’s health care reform bill. Here’s a hint: They won’t make it easy, in her estimation, for women to access comprehensive health care services — particular More…

Senate Shoots Down Nelson Abortion Amendment

The vote was 54 to 45 to set the bill aside, with seven Democrats (all men) voting to keep the bill alive, and two Republicans (both women) voting to table the measure.

Sponsored by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the bill would have banned subsidized insurance plans More…

Abortion Takes Center Stage (Again)

A month ago, House leaders were forced into a corner by conservative Democrats insisting that health reform legislation include language prohibiting abortion coverage on the exchange. This week, the scenario is threatening to play out again in the upper chamber, where Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) will introduce an More…