David North, writing on the blog of the Center for Immigration Studies got into some serious victim-blaming while talking about the U visa program, which largely benefits victims of domestic violence and other serious crimes.
“The sharp drop in denials for the U visa is particularly troubling, as this is an unfortunate population, and one that is (by definition) closely involved with criminals, often other aliens (such as abusive alien spouses),” North wrote on November 21.
Dear immigrant women: it’s your fault if your husband beats you, or if you get robbed or raped. Don’t tell the police. Sincerely, CIS. He continues:
“It is often used by illegal aliens currently in the United States to convert to legal status. USCIS has been promoting the U program and the numbers of applications for it, as well as approved applications, have risen sharply. There were 10,937 applications in all of 2009, and 36,441 in the first 11 months of FY 2012.”
North doesn’t mention that law enforcement officials have to agree to an application for a U visa, or that no matter how many applications have been sent to USCIS, the overall number of U visas is capped at 10,000. Looking at the chart, you might think tens of thousands more people every year are getting U visas, when the actual numbers show that seven fewer people received U visas in fiscal year 2012 than in FY 2011.
Congress recently scuttled a Senate proposal to raise the program’s cap to 15,000, and entire police departments or counties can choose not to participate in the program at all. Details, details.