Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Indirect victim
Today’s writing is about a flaw in an immigration regulation that adversely affects one of my clients. It’s not the first time that the convoluted immigration laws have done so, and we who work in this field are forever consulting colleagues with “How did you deal with this?” questions. At least I do. I have two immigration legal brain trusts that I call upon – my current boss, Kim, and my former supervising attorney in Florida, Lindsay. Between the two of them, a positive path of action will be revealed. I so admire both of them for their incredible store of knowledge and their willingness to share what they know.
This case is a rough one. In January, this family was deeply wounded by the rape of their twelve year old child. The crime was perpetrated by an undocumented teenager who has since been marked for deportation and currently sits in a juvenile facility in the County. There is no question that the crime occurred. The boy has confessed, the victim has a very credible story, and the police have been involved from the beginning.
The family consists of two parents and three daughters. My client is the middle child. They came here from a South American country where conditions are deteriorating for much of the populace. It is a major source of cocaine trafficking and has a repressive police force that can enter a home without a warrant. This family migrated from the capital city to an Arizona border town where they crossed without permission. I am not defending that decision. To support themselves, the mother cleans houses and the father does handyman repair work. Somehow they manage to support themselves and three daughters.
As soon as the crime was perpetrated on my client, she and her family became eligible for an immigration benefit known as a “U Non-immigrant Visa”. It is a program that is available to undocumented individuals who are victims of a crime, and who cooperated with the police in solving or pursuing the perpetrator. While the applicants are waiting for the decision to grant or not to grant the visa, they have some protection from deportation. That is the most immediate benefit. The process of granting a U Visa takes years because of the number of applicants is capped at 10,000 every year. When I say years, I mean as many as 8 – 10 years. That is how big the backlog of immigrant victims or crime is in our country.
One challenge is that the police department involved in the case has to certify in a document that the crime occurred and that the victims were cooperative as the police solved or pursued the case. It is a challenge because some police departments, particularly St. Louis City PD, don’t always agree to sign the form, or the form languishes in some department for months before action is taken. I have been waiting 1 ½ years for one of my clients to be certified by the city PD – when I call about it I am told that it is still in process.
Fortunately, this county municipality’s police department has already signed and returned the document. I can now work on filing the case. The good news is that my client and her parents and one sibling are entitled to apply as members of her family. Here comes the huge flaw: for some unknown or unexplainable reason, because one of the daughters just turned 18 she is not included as eligible for the derivative benefit. Case closed, for her. The parents and the 12 year old victim and her 10 year old sister are candidates for a U Visa.
After consulting my brain trust colleagues, Lindsay outlined what I need to do. I have to go back to the police department with a new form and ask if the chief will sign off on it, thus making the mother what’s called an “indirect victim”. If approved, the mother can then petition for the whole family, including the 18 year old daughter. I don’t know what my chances of getting a second signature are. I will need a few minutes of the chief’s time to explain the situation. All I know to do is to pray that he is so inclined. It matters mightily to this family.