Crime victims trying to get U.S. visas are being deported. Expert says that makes us all less safe

As the Trump administration’s aggressive deportations continue, one group is being targeted that has some law enforcement and prosecutors concerned: U visa applicants.

U visas are specifically for victims of crimes in the United States. They are often used for people who have information about criminal activity that could be useful for investigators or prosecutors. A common example is a victim of sex trafficking. Prosecutors or law enforcement investigators might try to get them a U visa so they can testify against their traffickers.

Now there are reports that these applicants are being deported or detained before they can get that visa — and that could interfere with investigations and prosecutions.

A statement from the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force — including Tucson Police Chief Chad Kasmar — says targeting U visa applicants for deportation could create a damaging chilling effect and discourage crime victims from coming forward.

Kristin Fitzharris is director of litigation and advocacy at Southern Arizona Legal Aid. She works with people who are trying to get U visas. She said they’re already seeing fewer people willing to apply for them.

Christy Pickrell/Willo Art

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Handout

Full conversation

KRISTIN FITZHARRIS: It can take eight to 10 years to receive adjudication of that U visa application after you've filed it. However, in maybe about five years or so, a lot of people who have a strong case can get what's called a bona fide determination.

And that includes the legal ability to work and importantly, protection from deportation, or removal as we call it, and that is called deferred action. And that's usually very helpful to people as they're waiting in this, this incredibly long, decades-long process.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, so, so they're not supposed to be deported if they're in this process, it sounds like.

FITZHARRIS: Yes, when they have received that deferred action, after that though, they are supposed to not be able to be removed, and for the most part we are seeing that they aren't.

However, they can still be put into immigration detention, and it's been very hard recently to get people out even though they have deferred action. They just sit in detention for a long time.

GILGER: Even if they're in the process of, of helping assist in a prosecution like this.

FITZHARRIS: Yeah, that's correct.

GILGER: Wow. So I want to talk about the implications of that in a minute, but first tell us like what kinds of crimes do you often see U visa applications come out of?

FITZHARRIS: Well, for us, the majority of our clients for U visas are victims of domestic violence, family violence, sexual assault. They can be a victim of trafficking. But that's not the only crimes.

There's a large list which does include blackmail or extortion or felonious assault, so it could be an assault from someone who you're not related to. So it is quite broad, but not every crime in the book, right.

GILGER: So I mean that's tough, right. Like, do you often, it sounds like, have you visa applicants in this very long process who maybe wouldn't want to testify otherwise, like they're the victim of a domestic violence case. Those people often don't want to prosecute things like that. 

Like, this is touchy, it sounds like.

FITZHARRIS: Yes, well, sexual assault and prostitution are some of the crimes that can be eligible, and that can be very difficult for people to want to come forward.

And so the congressional intent behind this, offering this visa when it was enacted in 2000 was to encourage people to come forward and to be helpful in the investigation and the prosecution and to be witnesses and it would also give them some way of remaining in the United States so that they could be safe.

GILGER: It also really helps law enforcement, right, or prosecutors who are trying to carry out these cases as well because they're trying to put these people behind bars.

FITZHARRIS: Yeah, that's correct. It, it helps. When people feel comfortable or at least aren't too scared to report crimes that are occurring, it helps them capture and prosecute the people who really are perpetrating crimes.

And so it really helps our judicial system out a lot to have this visa. And we work closely with a lot of law enforcement and with prosecutors all around southern Arizona.

GILGER: Yeah. So law enforcement is starting to voice concerns about U visa applicants because they're seeing reports that they are being swept up in these immigration raids and deported in some cases.

It sounds like from your point of view, you are seeing a little bit of that, but more often these people getting put into detention and then being basically inaccessible to the process.

FITZHARRIS: Well, that's true, but what we saw immediately in Jan. 31 of this year was that a victim-centered approach memo, which was a formal procedure, was rescinded. So victims used to be a low priority for removal. And there used to be a lot more prosecutorial discretion for victims of crime.

And so when that was rescinded, our U visa applicants have been swept up along with a lot of other immigrants or non-immigrants, as they're called, in the, this heightened enforcement. They're mass re-calendarings of cases that were administratively closed.

And as we're talking about, it can take decades to get this U visa. So people did have their removal cases, their deportation cases, closed, you know, sitting on ice while they were allowed to go through this process and wait for this visa because they were a low priority for removal. And that's just not the case anymore.

And so people are having their cases proceed quickly and with no respect for the amount of time it takes USCIS to adjudicate these applications and, and probably not a lot of consideration as to the effect on law enforcement and our prosecution of crimes.

GILGER: And so it sounds like, you know, this could very easily and probably already is creating a chilling effect, like people reporting crimes, being willing to assist in prosecution for some of these crimes, especially the more sensitive ones.

Would you like to recommend a U visa still to someone who's in a good position for one, or is it just like flag their name to federal immigration enforcement at this point?

FITZHARRIS: That's a really good question. We have first seen a chilling effect. We have had less applicants, and we, we know that people are afraid to report crimes now. They're not sure which law enforcement will respond and what their response will be, and they're afraid to report trafficking.

We're still filing U visas, but we have to have a conversation with people who are choosing to apply because you are giving your information to the government. And that can be an opportunity for the government, because you're giving them your information. And so you need to think about that, and we need to think about the fact that this takes decades.

But for some people, this may be their only way to get legal status. And so they may want to choose to proceed with this.

GILGER: I mean, this comes at a time when we're already seeing, like you said, fear in immigrant communities about reporting crime. 

I've interviewed several law enforcement officers in the state, you know, saying, “please don't let that happen. We will not do any of these enforcement activities in terms of immigration. Call us if there's a crime. Call us if you're a victim of a crime.” Things like that.

I mean, but people are still scared. Do you think this all creates more concerns for public safety at the moment?

FITZHARRIS: Yes, I do. I do because people aren't reporting crime. And so like I said, this isn't just interpersonal family violence, although we have a very strong policy reason for wanting to have our legal system intervene to protect victims of domestic violence and child abuse. For nothing else, then there's, financial and medical benefits to doing so.

But we have a strong policy reasons for keeping people safe, for giving people justice, for prosecution and law enforcement to be able to take the really dangerous people off the street.

They need witnesses and they need victims to cooperate for that, but with all of the increased enforcement sweeping these people up and causing such fear in the communities, it definitely is going to have a chilling effect on all of our safety and on, you know, our justice system working the way that it should.