Foreign-born survivors of human trafficking applying for U.S. visas have two options: T or U visas.
McKenzie Harker, staff attorney at the Victim Rights Law Center, says these visas exist to encourage immigrants to report crimes without fear of being deported.
T visas and U visas share a similar structure. They are both temporary visas, providing survivors with four years of legal status in the US and the ability to work and obtain a social security number. They also provide a pathway to residency and later, U.S. citizenship.
T Visas are specific to sex trafficking survivors, and U visas include sex trafficking, but also encompass a wider variety of crime victims.
According to Harker, because these visas are often bound up with criminal investigations, cooperation with law enforcement is a requirement for survivors.
The word “cooperation” itself can have criminalizing undertones. In movies and TV, we see images of people being asked by police officers or prosecutors to cooperate after they’ve been accused of something. But according to Harker, most of her clients don’t view it that way.
“Honestly, I think that they’re happy to cooperate given this sort of extra reassurance that immigration action won’t be taken against them,” said Harker. “But there are always survivors on the flip side of it, who probably wouldn’t report to law enforcement, but because they want the visa, they feel that that’s what they have to do.”
There are exceptions to the rule of cooperation. Minors, for example, don’t have to cooperate with law enforcement. But adult survivors must prove their level of trauma is sufficient enough to merit an exception. The question of how a human trafficking survivor’s trauma is measured to meet that standard remains ambiguous.
“The officers reviewing the applications are supposed to be specifically trained in victimization and trauma,” said Harker.
“I think it depends on which officer you get … it’s a very subjective requirement.”
There is an inherent tension in this law: survivors need help. But law enforcement also needs help to crack down on trafficking.
According to Harker, for many of her clients who have come forward, the benefits have outweighed the risks.
“These remedies aren’t ideal for everyone, because for some people reporting to law enforcement is just too big of a threat to their safety, " said Harker, " But for other folks, these visas can be a tool by which they can free themselves from the trafficking or abuse that they’re suffering and change their lives.”
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