Thread: The U Visa Arrives

The U Visa Arrives
LAW PASSED IN '00 ENCOURAGES EMIGRES TO SPEAK UP IF THEY'RE VICTIMS OF CRIME
By Jessie Mangaliman
Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/08/2008 01:32:30 AM PDT

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued the first handful of U visas for immigrant victims of crime and domestic violence, almost eight years after Congress enacted the legislation meant to help law enforcement.

One of the first recipients of the special, temporary visa is Bay Area resident Jose Suarez, 38, an undocumented immigrant from western El Salvador, who was severely beaten in a 2007 robbery in San Mateo.

A construction worker, Suarez's court testimony led to the felony assault conviction last year of a San Mateo man who served six months in the county jail and was sentenced to three years' probation.

"I've no words to say how grateful I am," said Suarez, "to God and to people who have helped me."

With the new visa, Suarez is able to remain legally in the United States, work with a permit and, in three years, apply to become a permanent resident. There were four other visas issued recently to immigrants in Chicago and New York City.

Women's and immigrant advocates around the country said the news of the first U visas signaled a hopeful, if belated, development in the national effort to implement the 2000 Crime Victims Act. Congress passed the legislation to encourage immigrant victims of crime and domestic violence to report crimes without worrying about their immigration status. Law enforcement agencies supported the legislation because, they said, it helped with policing and getting criminals off the streets.

But for the past seven years and eight months, the law has sat unused because there were no written regulations on how to apply for the visa. Congress planned for 10,000 U visas a year. While the regulations were pending, the federal government put in place a temporary fix: "interim relief," effectively a pending application for a U visa for hundreds of immigrants around the country.

Those applications are still pending.

Officials with DHS, the body that oversees the Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the delay had to do with coordinating the work of many agencies: police, district attorneys, CIS and DHS.

"It's a complicated adjustment," said Sharon Rummery, a CIS spokeswoman. "That's why it's taking so long."

The first U visas, she said are "something that we're just getting started with."

Recently, DHS dispatched an official to the Bay Area in one of the first official training sessions conducted by the federal government on the U visa.

Last year, DHS finally issued regulations - pushed hard by women's groups - but it still took almost a year to issue the first visas.

"I hope that this means many more U visas for victims like Jose," said Mary Dutcher, an immigration attorney and program director at Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, the non-profit that helped Suarez apply for the visa.

But like other women's and immigrant advocates, Dutcher said she hopes the government will move quickly with many more immigrants whose applications have been pending for the past two years.

"This is fantastic news for the people who got the U visas," said Susan Bowyer, managing attorney for the International Institute of the Bay Area, one of the many Bay Area groups that joined forces with national women's groups to push DHS to write regulations.

"It's also good news for the community," she said, "when immigrants and perpetrators know that there's no more impunity for attacking an undocumented person."

The July 29, 2007, robbery and assault left Suarez with a scarred lower lip, severe headaches, temporary vision loss, dizziness, earaches and emotional distress. To this day, Suarez said in an interview, he is afraid to leave his home and has a severe emotional response when someone is walking behind him.

That summer night, Suarez said he and a friend were walking home from a church service and stopped at a neighborhood store in San Mateo. Four young men confronted them outside, and one demanded money. One of the men beat and knocked Suarez to the ground, and later, followed him home.

"There are things I can't ever forget," said a tearful Suarez. "I hope with time, I am able to forget."
http://www.mercurynews.com/valley/ci_10 ... ck_check=1

Are the U visa holders paying US taxes?

Does the "U" stand for "UNDOCUMENTED" ?

That summer night, Suarez said he and a friend were walking home from a church service and stopped at a neighborhood store in San Mateo. Four young men confronted them outside, and one demanded money. One of the men beat and knocked Suarez to the ground, and later, followed him home.

These "four young men" were probably four young illegal alien gangbangers!

Most crimes against IA's, at least here in LA, are 'brown on brown' crimes! I never read about AMERICAN citizens beating, raping , robbing, or murdering illegal aliens. But I DO read about IA's beating, robbing, raping and murdering AMERICANS!

WHAT A BUNCH OF HORSE MANURE!!!

Another abuse waiting to happen!

One of the first recipients of the special, temporary visa is Bay Area resident Jose Suarez, 38, an undocumented immigrant from western El Salvador, who was severely beaten in a 2007 robbery in San Mateo.

Who are they fooling! There is nothing "temporary" about this U visa! We have people who enter this country on tourists visas and never leave!! Who's going to ensure these people leave the country!

NO ONE ! This is just another visa created to bring in more third world peasants...

Related post:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-742908-.html#742908

Maria: Carlos------here's how we do it. I want you to slap me across the afce. Leave a handprint. I will call the cowardly. bootlicking , Los Angeles police and report you. They may arrest you if you are here, so go stay with your 56 cousins until they are gone. Then I will get a U Visa. After I get the visa, I will punch you in the nose and go stay with my 47 cousins and you will report the assault. You will then apply for a U Visa. Zippo--you are here legally. We will then rut like animals and produce rugrats who , under the misinterpretation of the 14th amndement will be granted citizenship. They will never get rid of us. We will send 3 of our 15 kids to school at American expense and have them study PolySci. The rest of us will support them until thehy get elected to office where they will change the laws and eventually this will be a 3rd world country.
These freakin gringos are so frekin stupid I can't believe it. We can't fail, we have the Catholic and Lutheran churches doing all they can to aid and abet us.
Si, se puede!!!!! Gringo ojetes!!!