AI Justice played a significant role in the defeat of proposed changes to the Violence Against Women Act in 2012, which would have decimated decades of protection for immigrant victims. Program Director Michelle M. Ortiz published an Op-Ed in the Huffington Post about the flawed bill, HR 4970 Empowers Abusers, Not Victims, 5/12/12. During a 2012 House Judiciary Committee hearing on reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren read the stories of two AI Justice clients to demonstrate the devastating effects that a proposed bill would have on immigrant victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.