First U visas for immigrant victims of crime issued

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 7, 2008 | by Jessie Mangaliman

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 aid 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.

The court testimony of Suarez, a construction worker, 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 to God and to people who have helped me," Suarez said.

With the new visa, Suarez is able to remain legally in the U.S., work with a permit and, in three years, apply to become a permanent resident.

There were four other U 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 protracted national effort to get the 2000 Crime Victims Act implemented.

Congress passed the legislation to encourage immigrant victims of crime and domestic violence to report crimes without worrying about their immigration statuses.

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 by granting "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 issuing of the first U visas, she said, "is 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 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 the Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, the nonprofit that helped Suarez apply for the visa.

But like other women's and immigrant advocates, Dutcher said she hoped that the government would move quickly with many more immigrants whose applications had 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, ear aches 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."

Contact Jessie Mangaliman at jmangaliman@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5794.