Thanks Oregonian for making this your front page story, you rag piece of garbage. As a taxpayer in Oregon I don't appreciate you exposing every loophole available to these lawless hordes who are tearing our communities apart. Violent crime and gang violence was realtively low until the illegals figured out that our government put out the welcome mat. Now our nightly news looks like that of a border town. They're killing, robbing and raping each other and our citizens equally.

The Oregonian runs a cover story every few weeks on the virtues of having these vermin in our cities. God this chaps me!

Little-known visas free immigrants from abuse

by Gosia Wozniacka, The Oregonian
Saturday July 18, 2009, 5:51 PM


When 14-year-old Magdalena Juan Felipe set out to illegally cross the border from Guatemala to Mexico and then into the United States, she was drawn by the hope of leaving the dire poverty of her home for a chance at an education in Oregon.

But the half sister who urged Juan Felipe to come to Portland forced her to work at a food processing plant, confiscated all her money and beat her. The girl -- who spoke no English or Spanish and did not know where to turn for help -- was reduced to living in servitude.

Ironically, relief came when Juan Felipe was caught in an immigration raid. She qualified for a special visa available to victims of crime and trafficking who cooperate with police and prosecutors, despite fear of deportation. The relatively unknown visa allows Juan Felipe, now 21, to legally live and work in the United States.

Only recently has the government started approving the "T" and "U" visas, although the law meant to protect undocumented immigrants who are victims of crime has been in place for nine years. Thousands of such visa petitions have been filed across the country, including 200 by Portland-area lawyers.

The sudden flurry of approvals -- several dozen were granted in Portland just last month -- illustrates the Obama administration's move toward protecting illegal immigrants exposed to abuses at home and in the workplace instead of prosecuting and deporting them.

The goal is safer communities for all, Oregon lawyers and law enforcement officials say, because immigrant victims, even if here illegally, can help police bring those who abused them to justice.

"If someone is a victim, they need protection to come forward," said Portland immigration attorney Philip Smith. "The real purpose is to reduce criminal activity, which affects everyone. You don't want rapists and armed robbers roaming the streets."

Backlog of applicants
Congress created two new nonimmigrant visa categories with the passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000.

The T visa provides legal status for victims of trafficking, including those who are recruited for labor or services through force, fraud or coercion.

The U visa is designated for victims of crimes such as murder, assault, rape and sexual exploitation. The criminal activity must violate U.S. laws and/or occur in the United States.

Both visas allow applicants to secure legal status and a work permit for four years, as well as petition for certain family members. T visa holders are also eligible for a year of public assistance. After three years, visa holders may apply for a green card. As few as 1,500 T visas have been approved nationwide since the law went into effect.

For U visas, the government did not issue regulations until 2007, and not a single visa was granted until last summer. Only 60 visas were approved in 2008, although about 13,000 people applied.

But U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials recently announced they intend to use the 10,000 visas available this fiscal year to reduce the backlog. This year, more than 1,600 U visas have been granted, many of them in recent months.

Critics say the system could be abused by illegal immigrants who report bogus crimes to get the visas.

"Having a green card at the end of the process as a guarantee makes it more likely for people to submit fraudulent applications," said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which favors reduced immigration.

But the law leaves little space for fraud: A federal, state or local law enforcement official must attest that the visa petitioner "has been helpful, is being helpful or is likely to be helpful" in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.

"It's not like they're making up a story," Smith said.

Because of the backlog of applications, many petitioners are stuck without legal status or work permits.

"The people are in dire financial situation while they're waiting for the decision," Smith said. "They have little children; what are they going to do?"

The backlog also means most apply for the visas after investigation and prosecution are finished, said Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Rod Underhill, partly defeating the purpose of the law as a shield for victims. Underhill has certified 50 U visas to date.

But U.S. immigration spokeswoman Sharon Rummery says the amount of time it took to establish the regulations should not invalidate the victims' qualifications to get visas, because "by law they deserve them; they qualified for them at the time when they first applied."

And protecting victims is especially important after the investigation and prosecution have been completed, said Portland immigration lawyer Siovhan Sheridan-Ayala.

"Often what happens is that the victim takes risks in helping the prosecution," she said, "and then the perpetrator is extremely angry and is just waiting to meet them on the other side of the border."

Nowhere to turn
A petite young woman with jet black hair, Juan Felipe says she wanted to leave her village in Guatemala because her family was poor and the future looked dismal.

Juan Felipe's education ended at fifth grade. She herded goats while her parents worked in the fields.

When a half sister asked Juan Felipe's family to send her to Oregon to help with the children, the girl set out on a monthlong journey by bus and on foot.

"The goal I had was to study English, to go to school," Juan Felipe said in Spanish. "Over there, they say many beautiful things about America. I didn't think something could go wrong."

But when Juan Felipe arrived, her half sister forced the girl to work full time, in addition to baby-sitting. The half sister had bought a fictitious Social Security number and green card for Juan Felipe and had filled out an application for her at Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., a large food processing plant in North Portland.

The half sister confiscated all the money Juan Felipe earned, telling the girl she had to repay the debt she incurred by being smuggled across the border, in addition to room and board.

Juan Felipe was also forced to cook and do housework. Her half sister beat her when she protested. The girl was confused and isolated, because she could communicate only in her native Q'anjob'al, a Mayan language. She did not know Portland or anyone in the city.

"I didn't know where to turn. I was devastated," Juan Felipe said. "I wanted to go back home to my parents, but I didn't know how."

After one fight with her half sister, Juan Felipe ran outside with a bloodied head, and a neighbor called for help, according to a 2005 police report.

Police arrested the half sister, and 17-year old Juan Felipe was placed in juvenile custody, because there was no other place to keep her safe, according to a Department of Human Services report. Released a few months later, she attended an alternative school to learn Spanish and English, while "kind strangers" offered her a place to live.

Juan Felipe eventually went back to work at Fresh Del Monte Produce because Hurricane Felix had struck Guatemala and her parents needed money. A year later, she was caught in an immigration raid. Because she was pregnant with Jorge, the first of her two sons, she was released from custody for humanitarian reasons and awaited her court hearing.

Within a few months, Juan Felipe met lawyer Sheridan-Ayala, who identified her as a victim of forced labor. Juan Felipe helped police and immigration officials with the investigation of her half sister and was granted a T visa. She also has a pending U visa application.

"Changing the culture"
In recent months, other unauthorized workers caught in immigration raids across the country have filed for the visas based on abuses in the workplace.

In the Portland area, several U and T visas were granted to other workers who were caught in the Fresh Del Monte Produce raid, said Multnomah County Deputy Sheriff Keith Bickford, the Oregon human trafficking coordinator, who certified the visas.

The most common problems for which visas were certified, Bickford said, were the lack of bathroom breaks, "so that some workers ended up going in their pants," long hours with no overtime pay, and very cold and wet work conditions.

Portland-area lawyers estimate that U and T visa applications from about 20 former Fresh Del Monte Produce workers are pending, and others have approached Bickford about similar abuses.

As for Juan Felipe, "I learned that people should not abuse you," she said, and "to have faith in the government."

The more U and T visas are approved, the more immigrants like Juan Felipe understand how the U.S. justice system works and will want to cooperate, Sheridan-Ayala said.

"Basically," Sheridan-Ayala said, "we are changing the culture and the understanding of the relationship with law enforcement that the immigrant community has."

Each new visa also acts as a deterrent and pressure on the abusers, Bickford said.

"The more victims come out and talk about it, the more it will curb the abuse," Bickford said. "People will start thinking that maybe they shouldn't be doing this, maybe they should pay a little more attention to how they treat immigrants, including those who have no documents."

-- Gosia Wozniacka; gosiawozniacka@news.oregonian.com

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