Detained Crime Victims Running Out of Time

categories: Immigration Detention, Immigration Law

Published July 13, 2009 @ 09:28PM PT

We know that undocumented immigrants are targeted by criminals because they are more likely to be paid in cash and are often afraid to contact the police.

That's why the U Visa, which can provide lawful status to undocumented victims of serious crimes who cooperate with law enforcement, is so important. If undocumented crime victims know they won't necessarily be deported if they go to the police, they will be more likely to take action to protect themselves. (Note: The U Visa is more likely to work in truly secure communities that haven't drafted local law enforcement into enforcing federal immigration law under 287(g) agreements. In many places around the country, the U Visa is useless if when you call the police, they come and arrest the victim, not the perpetrator.)

The U Visa cases I've seen up close are heartbreaking. Very bad things can happen to people when the protections of the criminal justice system don't fully apply.
So how is the U Visa process working these days? Maybe not so well for U visa applicants in removal proceedings:

Veronica Lopez called her grown children in Los Angeles in early February to say goodbye. She had spent nine months in immigration detention and was scheduled for deportation to Guatemala.

Lopez felt scared. Her abusive ex-husband had already been deported and she was worried he would track her down. She had applied for a special visa for undocumented crime victims who cooperate with police, but a decision hadn't been made. Despite the pending application, immigration officials were moving forward based on an outstanding deportation order.

On Feb. 12 -- just one day before her scheduled flight -- she got word that her so-called U-visa was approved and she could stay in the country. She was released from a detention center in Arizona a few days later.

"It was a miracle," Lopez said recently from her Los Angeles apartment. "I cried, I was so happy."

Roughly 50 applicants for U-visas are being held in immigration detention centers around the country, racing the clock to get their visas granted before they are deported. Hundreds more who are not in detention are involved in removal proceedings in Immigration Courts. Immigration attorneys said detention and the threat of deportation undermine the law that Congress passed in 2000 creating the U-visas, which are designed to bolster law enforcement's ability to investigate and prosecute certain crimes while offering protection to undocumented victims and their families.

USCIS, ICE, and local law enforcement could do a lot better than they are doing to fulfill Congress's intent in making the U Visa available to crime victims. We'll hope to see improvement on this score in the coming months.

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Comments (4)

Morristown, NJ. seems to have scared the lights out of immigrants. They immigrants in Morristown are afraid to report crime to the police because they know the police have the ability to arrest them in collaboration with ICE police. These Immigrants are vulnerable to all kinds of crime.

Posted by Mary Pranzatelli on 07/15/2009 @ 09:53PM PT
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www.nj.com/news/.../morristown_immigrants_fearful.html

Here is the link to what has been going on in Morristown, NJ.

Posted by Mary Pranzatelli on 07/15/2009 @ 09:57PM PT
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Morristown immigrants fearful of new federal enforcement policy ... - 3 visits - 8:53pm

Should read, "Morristown illegals fearful of new federal enforcement policy." Legal immigrants should have

Maybe this link will work?

Posted by Mary Pranzatelli on 07/15/2009 @ 10:00PM PT
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I have to admit I have never heard of the U visa. So, correct me if I am wrong, but if an immigrant comes to the country illegally, is then the victim of a violent crime, and then aid sth epolice in capturing that criminal (that must be a difficult process to prove), then they are granted a temporary or permanent green card visa? How long has this existed and how many times is it used per year/todate?

Posted by Mike Fitzgerald on 11/20/2009 @ 07:01AM PT
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David is an attorney in Philadelphia, PA, where he helps immigrants to the U.S. navigate the complex immigration legal system. Views he expresses at change.org are his alone and don't represent the views or opinions of his employer, Nationalities Service Center. The information contained on this site is intended for educational and advocacy purposes only.