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Immigration Policy

Immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other crimes often face barriers when seeking safety and protection, including threats from abusers and perpetrators that reaching out for help will jeopardize their status. Unfortunately, current policies often drive victims further into the shadows, because fear prevents them from seeking help or justice.

Many immigrant victims experience an increased risk of violence in the home and exploitation in the workplace. Abusers often exploit a victim’s immigration status as a way to maintain power and control and to keep victims reluctant to seek help from the authorities or services. This also means that many victims are at an increased risk of being separated from their children, which also makes it less likely that they will seek help.

When immigrant victims or witnesses reporting crimes fail to report or distrust the criminal justice system, this empowers abusers and perpetrators, contravenes existing protections afforded by law, undermines access to justice through the police and courts, creates extreme fear for immigrant families and communities, and undermines public safety as perpetrators are able to continue their abuse without accountability.

In addition, language and cultural barriers may make it difficult for some immigrant victims to understand their rights, access services, and work with law enforcement.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has taken steps to improve assistance to and services for immigrant victims of domestic violence, in particular by providing options for victims to obtain lawful status in the United States without having to rely on abusers.

VAWA’s self-petition process permits immigrant victims who are abused by a spouse or family member who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident to apply for lawful status on their own, without needing to be sponsored by the abuser. (Learn more about VAWA self-petitions.)

U visas can provide lawful status to victims of certain crimes (including domestic violence) who are assisting or are willing to assist law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of the crime. Currently, however, there is a cap on the number of U visas that can be issued every year, and the number of visas available is inadequate to support the need for immigrant victims of violence. (Learn more about U visas.)

Policy Recommendations:

  • Recapture unallocated U visas to assist in alleviating the significant backlog of nearly 239,000 primary petitioners and an additional 158,000 family members awaiting U visas by cutting the backlog by almost half, helping eligible victims of crime to obtain stabilizing benefits, and facilitating family reunification.
  • Ensure that no federal funds are used to apprehend, detain, and remove benefit requesters or beneficiaries of survivor-based relief, including VAWA self-petitioner classification, T nonimmigrant status, U nonimmigrant status, or Special Immigrant Juvenile classification, which undermines the protective purpose of these programs.
  • Pass the Working for Immigrant Safety and Empowerment (WISE) Act, which is comprehensive bill extending critical immigration benefits to immigrant survivors, including those who are VAWA self-petitioners, T and U visa applicants, and special immigrant juveniles. The WISE Act is an all-encompassing bill moving towards justice for immigrant survivors by providing various types of immigration relief. (See here for more information.)