Editor's Note: More than 1,200 women from 70 organizations are fasting in 35 states for immigration reform that keeps families together and treats women fairly this month. The month of fasting will culminate April 7-9th, 2014 when 100 women will fast in DC for 48 hours.

Click here to sign the petition urging Speaker Boehner to meet with these courageous women in DC in April.

My name is Erin Oshiro and I’m fasting as a woman, a mom, and as the great-granddaughter of Japanese, Irish and Italian immigrants. The majority of immigrants in the U.S. are women and children. Neither they nor their loved ones ensnared in the family-visa backlogs can wait another day for Congress to reform or broken immigration system. I’m fasting for the millions of families separated by red tape, bureaucracy and unrelenting enforcement that ignores the ties of family and love. I’m also fasting to honor my mom and all the women in my family who made me the person I am today.

Immigrant women, like women everywhere, form the backbone of our communities. They are economic drivers as workers, entrepreneurs, caregivers and consumers. And increasingly women, who compose 70 percent of the electorate, are serving as political leaders.

Immigration reform is a civil rights matter and issue of equal rights—as a nation we believe that anyone who works hard should reap the benefits of living the American Dream.

We need fair and compassionate immigration reform now. Women, children, families cannot wait any longer.