Working with immigrants fulltime at Just Neighbors, an immigration legal services provider and MCC partner in northern Virginia, has often made me feel disillusioned and frustrated with the U.S. immigration system.
I am horrified that an HIV-positive man who was granted asylum in 2001 has had his public benefits to fight this terminal disease cut off until he becomes a citizen. Immigration bureaucracy has made this possibility seem like a hazy dream with delay after delay in processing his residency application. This man may not live to see the day he is a United States citizen since he does not have the same access to assistance that citizens or wealthy immigrants receive.
But despite this and other frustrations, I have more recently come to see the U.S. immigration system in a more positive light through my experience with the U visa program. U visas are available to immigrants who cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes such as domestic violence. Policymakers created this category of visa in 2000 to address the concern that U.S. deportation policy has scared and discouraged immigrants from calling law enforcement.
This means that immigrant victims who report violent crimes, such as domestic violence, can be granted legal status in the United States for themselves and their immediate family members based on their cooperation.
I am grateful that Just Neighbors and other legal service providers can help redeem horrific domestic violence situations by granting immigrant women legal status for themselves and their children and the possibility of re-making their lives in a “land of opportunity.”
Nevertheless, the U visa program must be better funded and staffed to reach its full potential. According to a January 26, 2009 article from the Los Angeles Times, of the 13,300 pending U visa applications, only 65 have been approved and 20 denied. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services states that only two officers are processing these applications, which explains the lengthy processing times.
U visas are a crucial tool in protecting immigrant victims of crime and abuse. Congress should fully fund this important program.
Nancy Sharpe is an MCC service worker in the Washington, DC area.
