In July 2014, one of Paschal Nwokocha Law Offices clients was approved for a U.S. T-visa. T-visas are visas for victims of extreme forms of human trafficking in the United States. The victim was trafficked from Mexico to the U.S. and was rescued by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), from the hands of the traffickers in Texas. Despite the CBP and ICE’s Special Agent in Charge refusing to sign a law enforcement certification for the victim, our office successfully managed to obtain a T-visa for our client through the hard work and experience of our attorneys.
Our client complied with law enforcement (CBP and ICE) requests to help in the investigation of her trafficking, another client was under age 18 and was not required to or (was unable to cooperate due to physical or psychological trauma); Our client also showed she would suffer extreme hardship involving “unusual and severe harm” if she were removed from the U.S.
Our client’s T-visa was approved for four years from July 2014 through July 2018. She will be eligible to petition for her parents and siblings under age 16 to join her in the U.S under T-visa status. After 3 years on T-visa status our client and her family members will be eligible to apply to adjust their status to legal permanent residents.
There are 5,000 T-visas available to victims of trafficking annually. Of that number, only about a fifth is granted yearly.
Of the 50,000 T-visas that have been offered over the last 10 years, the government has issued only 6,206 of the little-known visas meant to protect victims of human trafficking and their family members. This despite the fact that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. every year, according to State Department estimates – exactly the people lawmakers aimed to protect when they passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in 2000. Of the 5000 T-visas available in 2012, 1,432 were awarded to victims of trafficking. According to USCIS, the number of T-visas granted since fiscal year 2002 were:
• 2002: 26
• 2003: 334
• 2004: 269
• 2005: 186
• 2006: 307
• 2007: 544
• 2008: 471
• 2009: 586
• 2010: 796
• 2011: 1,279
• 2012: 1,432