{"id":22896,"date":"2020-05-01T14:57:28","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T18:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=22896"},"modified":"2020-05-01T15:52:56","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T19:52:56","slug":"u-visas-oversight-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2020\/05\/01\/u-visas-oversight-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"U Visa Report Leaves Much to the Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/USCIS\/statistics\/U_Visa_Report_-_Demographics.pdf?utm_source=E-mail+Updates&amp;utm_campaign=d6a692f60c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_30_09_32&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_7dc4c5d977-d6a692f60c-44691121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">new government report<\/a> on U visas for migrant crime witnesses and victims raises concerns about the program\u2019s vulnerability to fraud and abuse. Questions are heightened by what the study left unsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Created in 2000 as part of the Victims of\nTrafficking and Violence Protection Act, the U visa offers legal status to\nillegal aliens who assist law enforcement agencies in prosecuting certain types\nof crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Protecting individuals who would otherwise be disqualified from remaining in the United States, the visa program also enables them to obtain work permits while their applications are pending. More than 80 percent of applicants get approved, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the interesting findings in the USCIS\nreport:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>35 percent of U visa petitioners\nhad been or were facing deportation at the time of their application. That\ncohort nearly doubled from 2017 to 2018, the last year of the study. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The\nnumber of U visa filers swelled from roughly 11,000 in 2009 to 59,000 in 2018. More\nthan 200,000 applications are pending.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>On average, U visa petitioners sponsored 1.5 family members to\nstay in the U.S. Though petitions are capped at 10,000 a year, the so-called\n\u201cderivatives\u201d are not. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>While USCIS deserves credit for producing a\nreadable and relatively transparent account, it does <em>not<\/em> shed light on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The\nincidence of unqualified, frivolous or fraudulent U-visa applications.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The\nprogram\u2019s actual value to law enforcement agencies in investigating and\nprosecuting crime.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>How\nand where U visas have increased crime reporting by illegal aliens.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p> <br>Jessica Vaughn, director of policy studies at the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/cis.org\/Report\/Visas-Victims-Look-U-Visa-Program\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Immigration Studies<\/a> (CIS), points to some Americans who have complained of being falsely accused of crimes by illegal aliens seeking U visas. In 2016, the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdms\/pr\/nineteen-defendants-charged-marriage-and-visa-immigration-fraud\" target=\"_blank\">Department of Justice<\/a> announced the indictment of 11 individuals in several states in a large U-visa fraud scheme.<sup> <\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, local police departments have\nfelt pressure from migrant-advocacy groups and state officials to sign off on\nU-visa applications. California and Illinois have laws designed to generate\nmore U-visa applications, directing officers to use more lenient criteria for\ncertification than federal law stipulates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going forward, the U-visa program, which\nenables beneficiaries to apply for permanent residency after three years, could\nitself benefit from stricter accountability. One idea: Applicants who\nhave committed serious immigration violations or other crimes &#8212; including\nfraud, illegal re-entry after deportation, and failure to appear for\nimmigration proceedings &#8212; should be disqualified from U visas altogether or\nbarred from adjusting to permanent status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey could be repatriated after the period of cooperation with law enforcement, and offered a grant of parole rather than a U visa,\u201d suggests Vaughn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAny improvements that USCIS and Congress can make to reduce frivolous, fraudulent or unqualified applications will benefit the meritorious applicants and their family members by speeding up the application process and reducing the number of cases on the waiting list,\u201d Vaughn said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new government report on U visas for migrant crime witnesses and victims raises concerns about the program\u2019s vulnerability to fraud and abuse. Questions are heightened by what the study left unsaid. Created in 2000 as part of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, the U visa offers legal status to illegal aliens<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2020\/05\/01\/u-visas-oversight-immigrationreform-com\/\" title=\"Read More\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":14532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[8562],"tags":[1524,8563,5622,4367],"yst_prominent_words":[2019,2157,2565,2855,2527,2697,2013,2008,1963,2030,2159,2852,4388,8558,5617,8561,8559,2172,8560,2170],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22896"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22896"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22903,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22896\/revisions\/22903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22896"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=22896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}