Gustavo Solis

The Desert Sun

About 90 percent of all law enforcement agencies in California are not complying with a state law that helps immigrant crime victims obtain special visas, according to state records.

The U Visa is given to undocumented immigrants who are victims of crimes and who help law enforcement or prosecutors investigate their cases. The visa encourages victims to speak out and cooperate with police without fear of deportation, something their abusers use to keep them silent.

In order to obtain the visa, applicants must get a form signed by a local law enforcement agency certifying that a crime happened and they are cooperating with authorities. But some agencies are very slow in responding to requests or refuse to sign the forms even when the victims cooperate.

READ MORE: Undocumented immigrants who are crime victims can apply for U Visas. But police don’t always cooperate.

The state law, SB 674, was introduced to address that problem. It requires all U Visa certifiers to sign requests within 90 days. It also required the more than 500 law enforcement agencies – including sheriff’s departments, police departments and district attorney’s offices – to submit a report with the number of requests they approved and denied by January 1, 2017.

Now, three months after the deadline, only 46 certifying agencies have submitted their reports, according to records obtained by The Desert Sun. That means about nine out of every 10 law enforcement agencies aren't following the law, which limits advocates and academics from analyzing whether the law is helping immigrant crime victims.

Compliance among sheriff’s departments and district attorney’s offices is less than 15 percent. Only seven sheriff’s departments and nine district attorney’s offices have submitted the legally required reports, according to state records.

And police departments are even worse – only about 6 percent have submitted their reports.

“It’s important that we have laws that are complied with, that’s just the rule of law,” said Blaz Gutierrez, an attorney with the California Rural Legal Assistance. “They can pass a million different programs and policies, but if there is no followup they are meaningless.”

These reports are important because they show immigration advocates which jurisdictions to target for education campaigns. For example, the City of Newark in Alameda County received 18 U Visa requests and denied 16.

RELATED: CVUSD declares itself 'Safe Haven' for undocumented students

Advocates could go to the department and ask officers about their policies to see if there is any way to increase the number of approved requests.

The goal isn’t to single out agencies or publicly shame anyone – the goal is to work together to help crime victims, said Lucie Hollingsworth, Director of Legal Services for the YWCA in Glendale.

When Hollingsworth started working in Glendale six years ago, officers in the police department didn’t know what a U Visa was, let alone what was required of them during the certification process. She reached out to the domestic violence liaison, who then took the initiative to study federal immigration policies. The relationships between the department and YWCA still exist today.

“Instead of domestic violence service providers saying ‘Why didn’t you do this or why didn’t you do that,’ there was a much more mutual understanding of what we all need to do and that relationship luckily has continued despite changes in personnel,” she said.

Enforcement breakdowns

According to the state documents, only five counties in the entire state submitted reports from both the Sheriff's and District Attorney's offices: Fresno, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Tulare and Ventura.

In San Diego County, both the Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s office told The Desert Sun that they submitted their records even though the state said it didn't receive them. The DA 's office said their records were submitted on March 29. The sheriff’s department could not immediately say when they submitted theirs.

The state may not have San Diego county's data yet because it may have gotten lost in the mail or sent to the wrong office, said de Leon's legislative assistant.

De Leon introduced the bill because some law enforcement agencies in the state were denying U visa requests for questionable reasons.

RELATED: Study: Lack of legal protections for undocumented farm workers puts food system at risk

“[They] systematically deny certifications on the basis of political views on immigration matters,” he wrote while promoting the bill last year. “They are making the determination of whether one belongs in this country or not, irrespective of the crime that has been committed against an immigrant and irrespective of whether that victim was helpful to law enforcement.”

The senator’s spokesman did not respond to multiple emails asking questions about the lack of compliance with the reports and what the state is doing to improve the numbers. His office did share with The Desert Sun the reports that law enforcement agencies have submitted to the state.

The U visa has become increasingly popular over the last five years. During the 2009 fiscal year, nearly 11,000 people across the country applied for the visa. That number grew to more than 60,000 during the fiscal year ending in 2016, according to data from U.S. Customs and Immigration Services.

Advocates say that even though most law enforcement agencies are not reporting their data, SB 674 has produced positive results when it comes to awareness about the U Visa. Some agencies have participated in workshops organized by advocacy groups and lawyers where they learn about the certification process and discuss best practices.

Here is a list of all the agencies that submitted their reports before March 30, according to de Leon's office:

•Alameda County Sherriff’s Office

•Anaheim City Attorney's Office

•Anaheim Police Department

•Cal Poly SLO

•Carlsbad Police Department

•Cathedral City Police Department

•Chino Police Department

•City of Morro Bay Police Department

•Corona Police Department

•Escondido Police Department

•Fresno County DA’s Office

•Fresno County Sherriff’s office

•Fresno Police Department

•Grover Beach Police Department

•Hawthorne Police Department

•Hollister Police Department

•La Mesa Police Department

•LA Police Department

•Los Angeles County DA’s Office

•Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Office

•Menlo Park Police Department

•Modesto Police Department

•Montclair Police Department

•Monterey County DA’s Office

•Newark City Police Department

•Oceanside Police Department

•Oxnard Police Department

•Palm Springs Police Department

•Pleasant Hill Police Department

•Pomona Police Department

•Riverside County Sherriff’s Office

•Riverside Police Department

•Rocklin Police Department

•Salinas Police Department

•San Diego Police Department

•San Diego Superior Court

•San Luis Obispo County DA’s Office

•San Luis Obispo County Sherriff’s Office

•San Mateo County DA’s Office

•Santa Clara County DA’s Office

•Simi Valley Police Department

•Tulare County DA’s Office

•Tulare County Sherriff’s Office

•Ventura County DA’s Office

•Ventura County Sherriff’s Office

•Yuba County DA’s Office

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.