The prosecutors in Utah get victims of crime and are undocumented that are silent for fear

Salt Lake County's prosecutors are concerned that local victims of crimes that happen to be immigrants are increasingly afraid to report.

For those who are undocumented or are missing from the legal status, it has long been a fear – because the victims are of the opinion that the report of crime could lead to deportation or because a perpetrator could threaten to call immigration authorities as retaliation measures.

The district prosecutor of Salt Lake County, Sim Gill and Utah are of the opinion that it has become worse under the administration of President Donald Trump. Officials from the immigration authorities allow again in places such as schools, court buildings and churches that Gill said that Gill can achieve a terrifying effect.

For this reason, his office in March has approved an approval to investigate prosecutors, law enforcement agencies and non -profit organizations with regard to non -profit organizations about the protective measures for victims without papers.

Chelsea Montoya, the deputy clinical director of the Multicultural Counseling Center in West -Jordania – a therapy practice that often works with immigrants – said that she and other therapists have also found that their clients are increasingly reluctant crimes, including domestic violence, as part of Trump's administration.

“It was much more remarkable,” she said. “There was only one loss of security and a loss of security.”

Immigration protection for victims of crimes

The training in Gill's office in March was the second that it has been offered on this topic since September. It touched U -Visa and T -Visa, the latter of whom apply especially to people who end up in the United States because they were victims of human trafficking, according to the US citizenship and immigration services.

They invited Leslye Orloff to a training session, a lawyer who contributed to codifying U- and T -VISA options in the early 2000s. She is now the director of the National Immigrant Women's Advocacy Project at the American University Washington College of Law.

Before such protection existed, Orloff said that perpetrators to call us the US immigration and customs authorities when the victims went to the police, worked with prosecutors or applied for custody for their children.

Domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking and sexual abuse offenses make up about 60-75% of the country's U-visual circumstances, she said.

“Without immigration protection, the perpetrator essentially had an adhesive-out-of prison card,” she said. “… there was no way to the legal status for the victims who found the courage to report.”

Now, she said, prosecutors and law enforcement authorities have instruments. But protection does not apply to everyone.

Gill said, for example, that a “spectator victim” could sometimes achieve a legal status, but U -Visum qualifications state that immigrants must have suffered “considerable physical or mental abuse” and “have information about criminal activity” in order to be justified.

That is why Keith Chalmers, communication manager of the Salt Lake County public prosecutor, said the prosecutors concerned Witnesses of third -party providers could also be silent.

“If people do not trust the possibility of proper procedure, they will be less likely to proceed,” he said.

Why immigration lawyers are concerned

Even with the protection options of the Utah, the immigration lawyers believe that there are growing risks to find them, especially for those who submit, but do not recognize that they may not qualify.

When asked about the concern, US customs and immigration services said in a statement that the agency no longer has categories of more removable immigrants of a possible enforcement of immigration.

A memo from USCIS notice of February 28 will refer the applicant to the applicant to deportation procedures if “after issuing an unfavorable decision on a request for benefits from foreigners in the United States is not legally present”.

For this reason, a lawyer of Utah, Marti Jones, lawyers, said to submit a U- or T visa in the name of a client who carefully think the probability that their client is considered to be eligible.

Jones has worked on the victim's protector's visa since the beginning of the under-visa process, and under the Trump administration, she said, she also saw for the first time of ice that appeals to people who are applying for protection.

ICE did not answer questions about her claim. However, Jones advised to submit the lawyers to determine whether his client has a reasonable case to stay in the United States when they end up in the distant procedure.

“If someone is advised to submit a U -visa without a competent lawyer if you take all of these factors into account and make this call? Not in her life,” she said.

The immigration lawyer Adam Crayk, a partner at Stowell Crayk, where Jones Works also warned before the licensed immigration consultant in Utah-a title that does not require a legal conclusion that may offer people to submit applications to submit applications, but could do so inadequate.

Crayk said, even if the application for victims of the victim protection is not directly refused and is still being considered in various phases of consideration, immigrants can still detention and land at the immigration court.

Uscis said that there was a discretion when deciding whether to grant the approval of employment or temporarily granted deportation measures against applicants or initially stated that they meet the requirements for the victim's visa, but are not officially approved.

“The political reforms of the Trump government restore integrity in our immigration system and protect the interests of the Americans of legitimate foreigners who are looking for protective measures,” Uscis spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser told the tribune in a statement.