LAFLA and APALC Help Abuse Victims Get U-Visas; Nearly 30,000 Undocumented Immigrants Have Obtained U-Visas Since 2008
Legal Services E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Paloma Esquivel
Source: Los Angeles Times, “U-visas gaining momentum”
Date: September 26, 2011
The Los Angeles Times reports: “For years Norma endured her husband's physical and mental abuse. But the undocumented mother of five finally decided to call police when her 10- and 11-year-old daughters told her that their father had sexually abused them. . . . She was in deportation proceedings at the time and just days away from a hearing that could have seen her removed from the country. Lawyers with Legal Aid Foundation Los Angeles helped get her deportation deferred until the U-visa program, which provides temporary legal status to abuse victims who help police investigate crimes, took effect in 2008.In that time, Norma's husband was sentenced to six years in prison for a forcible lewd act on a child under 14 and Norma and her children secured the right to stay in the country long term. The U-visa program got off to a sluggish start, with advocates complaining that immigration officials were slow to approve applications. It grew quickly, however, with the help of outreach efforts, including local visits by officials with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But with increasing awareness has come increasing demand. In the three years that the program has been in place, more than 30,000 applications have been filed and more than 25,600 have been approved. Soon after a visit to Los Angeles this month to promote the program, immigration officials announced that all 10,000 available U-visas had been issued for the fiscal year, which ends Friday. ‘We can see the volume already. At some point it's going to be an issue,’ said Betty Song, an attorney with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles. ‘I don't know what purpose the cap serves, because if people are eligible, they are eligible.’ Since last year, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Reps. George Miller (D-Martinez) and Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) have pushed the Power Act, which would expand U-visas to include victims of labor exploitation and increase the number of such visas to 30,000 annually. But the legislation has gained little traction in Congress. Others hope an increase will be included in separate legislation to benefit crime victims.”