Flawed Design: How the U Visa Is Revictimizing the People It Was Created to Help

Authors

• Natalie Nanasi, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of LawFollow
• Roslyn Dubberstein, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law
• Tamara Hyndman, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law
• Landon Mignardi, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law
• Kelsey Vanderbilt, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law
• Kali Cohn, Human Rights Initiative of North Texas

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Description

Since the U visa was created, advocates have raised concerns about requiring survivors to interact with the criminal justice system. Many have issued thoughtful critiques of the U visa’s law enforcement certification requirement. But particularly in this moment—where this nation has been called, yet again, to come to terms with its persecution, exploitation, and dehumanization of Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color—it would be irresponsible not to shine a light on the ways that the U visa reinforces an unequal system.

Although this Report addresses the damaging effects of both design flaws, it focuses on the 10,000 annual cap’s effects on survivors and the attorneys who represent them. The Report relies on semi-structured interviews with U visa applicants, stories shared by immigration attorneys, and survey data from nearly 150 immigration attorneys all across the country. The research clearly demonstrates that the flawed U visa system re-victimizes the already-vulnerable people it was intended to help.

As the Report illustrates, there are many problems with the system, but the answer is fairly straightforward: Congress must raise or eliminate the 10,000 annual cap on U visas and eliminate the U visa’s mandated interactions with law enforcement. In the meantime, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that reviews U visa petitions, has the power to ease some of the challenges of the backlog created by the U visa cap. Until then, Congress’s intention that this “humanitarian” visa will ”offer protection to victims of” domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking of aliens, and other crimes” will go unfulfilled.

Publication Date

Fall 2020

Publisher

Judge Elmo B. Hunter Legal Ctr. for Victims of Crimes Against Women, Dedman School of Law

Disciplines

Immigration Law | Law

Recommended Citation

Natalie Nanasi, Roslyn Dubberstein, Tamara Hyndman, Landon Mignardi, Kelsey Vanderbilt & Kali Cohn, Flawed Design: How the U Visa Is Revictimizing the People It Was Created to Help (Judge Elmo B. Hunter Legal Ctr. for Victims of Crimes Against Women, Dedman School of Law Fall 2020).