Gustavo Solis

The Desert Sun

Newly released data from the California legislature is shedding light on the impact of a state law that aims to make it easier for immigrants, including those in the country illegally, to obtain visas.

“It’s fascinating,” Lucie Hollingsworth, director of legal services with YWCA said of the data, which has been exclusively obtained by The Desert Sun. “I was surprised at the level of detail.”

The data shows the number of U Visa certification requests that police departments, sheriff’s departments and district attorneys throughout California approved and denied in 2016. The U Visa gives immigrants who are victims of a crime access to work permits and deportation relief – and the number of immigrants asking for the visa is rising quickly.

To receive a U Visa, law enforcement agencies need to certify that the immigrant crime victim is cooperating in the investigation before U.S. Customs and Immigration Services can process the visa application. This certification is a small part of a process that is ultimately approved by USCIS but, historically, law enforcement officers haven't always responded or signed off on the requests, even when the immigrant crime victims cooperate.

Data from the California state Senate shows some law enforcement agencies have arbitrary deadlines for applying for the visa, for example, some won’t accept a request for a crime that happened longer than one year ago. And some agencies will refuse to certify the requests for certain types of crimes the immigrants may have faced, like simple battery or vandalism. Advocates argue that those decisions should be made by USCIS instead of local law enforcement agencies.

“What this report tells me is that the law is still being applied inconsistently and I think, as an advocate, it really helps me be more targeted in training,” Hollingsworth said.

California’s new law, Immigrant Victims of Crime Equity Act, requires U Visa certifiers to respond to requests within 90 days. It also created the presumption of helpfulness, meaning that unless there is evidence to the contrary, the assumption is that immigrants applying for the visa were helpful in the investigation.

There are no enforcement mechanisms built into the law. However, U Visa certifiers are legally obligated to submit annual records of the number of applicants they received, approved and denied. These records serve as the oversight, said Alison Kamhi, a staff attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

“We are very interested in seeing what those numbers are to see if there are any law enforcement agencies that have a high denial rate because that is someone we would like to target for education,” she added.

Legislative staffers are currently compiling reports from dozens of certifiers and shared some of that data with The Desert Sun.

Here is what we’ve found:

•The 36 law enforcement agencies whose records were obtained by the Desert Sun received 7,108 requests;

•In total, the agencies approved 5,356 requests and denied 1,489;

•The LAPD received the overwhelming majority of requests with 2,384;

•The average denial rate for the available data was 27.8 percent;

•The largest denial rate was the San Diego Police Department, with 41.73 percent of U Visa requests denied.

DEMAND FOR U VISA

Since President Donald Trump vowed to deport millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally, lawyers and advocates have been keeping an eye on the cooperation between local and federal law enforcement. The general consensus is that in order to achieve mass deportation goals, federal immigration officers will need the help of local police officers and sheriff’s deputies in identifying and detaining deportable immigrants.

The U Visa is unique in that it requires a different type of cooperation between local law enforcement and the federal government. In this case, they help each other give legal status and work permits to immigrants who are victims of a crime.

The visa serves as a form of community policing by encouraging victims to speak out and cooperate with the police without fear of deportation, something their abusers use to keep them silent.

“I’m not exaggerating, 100 percent of the clients that come to me who are undocumented said that their abusers would constantly say, ‘I’m going to have you deported if you don’t behave,’” said Hollingsworth.

Other threats include, “You are never going to see your American-born children ever again. I’m going to call ICE and they are going to pick you up. Don’t call the police because they are going to pick you up, they are not going to come after me,” she added.

The demand of U Visas has increased dramatically throughout the country in the last decade, according to data from U.S. Customs and Immigration Services.

Between the 2009 and 2016 fiscal years, the number of people who apply for a U Visa grew from 10,000 to 60,000 and the number of people on the wait list has skyrocketed from 21,000 to more than 150,000, USCIS data shows.

With the current cap of 10,000 approvals plus their family members each year, it will take at least 15 years to clear the wait list, and that’s without taking into account new applicants. Applicants on the wait list who would've otherwise been approved for a U Visa are able to receive temporary work permits.

SIGNS OF SUCCESS

The San Diego Police Department has the highest denial rate, 41 percent, out of every agency whose records were released to the Desert Sun.

The SDPD is the only law enforcement agency to break down their requests by domestic violence and non-domestic violence crimes. Out of the 357 requests, 163 were requested by domestic violence victims.

Data shows domestic violence requests were more likely to be denied than non-domestic violence requests – 44 percent denied compared to 39 percent.

Advocates who follow the Immigrant Victim Act say San Diego has historically been known for being hard to get a U Visa certification, so they are not surprised to see the high denial rates. However, the fact that they are approving more than half of applicants is a positive sign.

"They are going in the right direction," Hollingsworth said.

Beyond the data, lawyers have called the law successful for encouraging more immigrants to apply for the visas.

“People aren’t as scared to come forward,” said Casey Martin, a lawyer based in King County and a former prosecutor in Fresno County. The Fresno Police Department received 363 U Visa certification requests and approved 284. “One of the things I’ve noticed at least before the law, the abuser would say if you come forward you are going to be deported. The law has removed that because the minute they talk to a lawyer we can tell them not to worry.”

Another area where lawyers have noticed change is in education, specifically more clarity on what is required from officials who certify U Visas.

“It has been an overwhelming success,” said Kamhi, the immigration attorney. “A lot of it has been about education. About a year ago, the ACLU and other organizations sent out letters to all the district attorneys of the state and police departments in 30 cities with the highest population explaining the law and its new requirements.”

In Riverside County, the sheriff’s department received 175 requests, approved 137 and denied 38. Advocates say the department has done a lot to improve their U Visa certification services. Before the Immigrant Crime Act, the department had a reputation for not being very responsive, said Luis Nolasco, an engagement and policy advocate for the ACLU.

“At the time they said, ‘We don’t know much about this but thank you for bringing this to our attention,’” Nolasco said. “It’s been a really good working relationships with them at least about this issue.”

The sheriff’s department, which patrols many small cities and the county’s unincorporated communities, works with the ACLU to address any issues residents have with their U Visa policies, Nolasco added.

In the Coachella Valley, only two police departments are in the data obtained by the Desert Sun – the Palm Springs Police Department and the Cathedral City Police Department.

Palm Springs received 12 requests and approved all of them. Cathedral City received 21 and only denied one, data shows.

Immigration Reporter Gustavo Solis can be reached at 760 778 6443 or by email at gustavo.solis@desertsun.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @journogoose.