Top 5 Policy Priorities to Provide Access to
Safety for Immigrant Survivors
The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS) is a national network of advocates and allies dedicated to defending and advocating for policies to ensure immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and other gender-based abuses have access to life-saving protections that all survivors deserve. We urge Congress to pass Federal legislation and the Administration to adopt policies that promote the well-being and safety of immigrant survivors.
From the very first bipartisan Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) over 25 years ago, Congress created immigration protections, like VAWA self-petitions, U and T visas, so that survivors do not have to choose between living with abuse and risking deportation or separation from their families. Yet in order for survivors to realize these pathways to safety, we must ensure that the need is adequately met and survivors are protected while their applications are pending. That’s why we are prioritizing five key asks for Congress and the Administration to protect immigrant survivors of violence.
Our Top 5 Asks:
Lift the cap on the number of U visas annually available – currently limited to 10,000 – to meet the need. Survivors are experiencing egregious delays in the processing of their U visas. Currently there are nearly 270,000 individuals with pending U visa matters, and the processing times just to place these cases on the waitlist is over five years. These significant delays, coupled with lack of access to financial resources, can subject survivors and their families to additional risks of violence, exploitation, manipulation, and trauma.
Fund USCIS to ensure they can grant timely employment authorization to VAWA self-petitioners, U and T visa applicants. Work authorization is essential to ensuring immigrant survivors can access safety and take care of themselves and their families. Earlier this year, USCIS released a promising new policy alert announcing work authorization for U visa petitioners who present a bona fide case. USCIS must now receive the much-needed resources to implement this policy guidance, reduce the extensive processing delays for humanitarian cases, and provide timely access to work authorization to immigrant survivors, ideally within 90-180 days. USCIS should at least double the number of U visa adjudicators to meet the need.
Prevent detention and deportation of survivors seeking asylum and eligible VAWA self-petitioners, U and T visa applicants. No survivor should fear detention or deportation in seeking a pathway to safety and security for themselves and their families.
Explicitly include survivors of gender-based violence in asylum law. Right now, many survivors of violence are denied protection from persecution because the law does not clearly state that they qualify. Congress and the administration can change that by naming gender-based persecution as a reason for protection.
Ensure access to economic supports for immigrant survivors. Economic resources play a critical role in immigrant survivors’ ability to seek safety and stability. This includes a permanent and inclusive expansion of the Child Tax Credit and lifting the five-year bar on access to public benefits like Medicaid for immigrant communities.
Congress and the Administration have multiple vehicles to achieve these critical protections for immigrant survivors, including federal legislation or the appropriations or reconciliation processes. Whatever the vehicle, what we know is that immigrant survivors need enhanced protections right now.
We hope you’ll join us in calling on Congress and the Administration to prioritize immigrant protections and pathways to safety for immigrant survivors of violence.
Take Action: Call on Your Representatives to Prioritize These Asks!
Share On Social Media!
Sample tweets and a graphic below and feel free to link this AIS’ action alert online: immigrantsurvivors.org/ais-top-5-policy-asks
.[Tag your Representative], as your [constituent/supporter], I strongly urge you to protect #ImmigrantSurvivors so that everyone has the opportunity to seek safety and relief by lifting the annual cap of U visas to meet the need. @4ImmSurvivors
The U visa program was created so that #ImmigrantSurvivors do not have to choose between living with abuse and risking deportation or separation from their families. Congress MUST now raise the annual cap of U visas to meet the need. @4ImmSurvivors
The delays in processing VAWA self-petitions, U visa and T visa applications put #ImmigrantSurvivors at risk. We agree @4immsurvivors, Congress must now address the backlog and grant immigrant survivors timely employment authorization. #VAWA4ALL
For #ImmigrantSurvivors, timely work authorization means access to housing, education, and healthcare. It is now on Congress to fund USCIS to provide #ImmigrantSurvivors an essential pathway to services for themselves and their families. @4ImmSurvivors
Pathways to safety are only truly accessible to #ImmigrantSurvivors if they include explicit immigrant protections. We must end detention and deportation of immigrant survivors applying for VAWA self-petitions, U or T visas. @4ImmSurvivors
Right now, many #ImmigrantSurvivors are denied protection from persecution because the law does not clearly state that they qualify. We must explicitly include survivors of gender-based violence in asylum law. @4ImmSurvivors
Economic resources allow #ImmigrantSurvivors to seek safety and stability. We need a permanent and inclusive expansion of the Child Tax Credit and to lift the five-year bar on access to public benefits like Medicaid for immigrant communities. @4ImmSurvivors
Call Your Representative! Sample scripts below:
My name is [Name] and as [your constituent/ a supporter of immigrant survivors], I urge you to prioritize pathways to safety for immigrant survivors by lifting the U visa cap and ensuring that USCIS has the funding it needs to reduce processing times for immigration applications for survivors. These backlogs make it all the more necessary to have protection against deportations and increased economic support for survivors like the expansion of the Child Tax Credit, so that they have access to greater safety and stability. I also call on [Representative/Senator] to increase asylum protection for survivors by naming gender-based persecution as a reason for protection. [Include any more details from the asks outlined above!].
OR
My name is [Name] and I work for [organization.] We are part of the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors, a national network of advocates and allies dedicated to defending and advocating for policies for immigrant survivors of violence. We join AIS in calling for five key asks to protect immigrant survivors seeking safety. [Discuss the five asks or choose one or two that resonate with you, your organization, or your constituents. Feel free to include details from the asks outlined above and incorporate stories when you can!]
