01 Aug U.S. Rep Jimmy Panetta Reintroduces Bill to Eliminate Limits on Visas for Victims and Witnesses of Crimes

U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Santa Cruz, at San Jose City Hall on Thursday, gathered with local elected officials, law enforcement and immigrants’ rights advocates to announce the reintroduction of a bill that would remove the limit on visas granted to victims and witnesses of crime who participate in law enforcement investigations. The bill would also give them protected status and the right to work while the lengthy application process plays out. (Courtesy of U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s office via Bay City News)

By Thomas Hughes
Bay City News

U.S. Congressman Jimmy Panetta on Thursday reintroduced legislation aiming to remove a cap on the number of visas granted to victims of domestic abuse and other violent crimes, and give those with pending applications protection against detention and deportation.

The bill comes as the Trump administration has sought to cut off federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions that encourage participation with law enforcement by undocumented residents, creating a chilling effect, according to Santa Clara County law enforcement.

Victims and witnesses of certain crimes who work with law enforcement to seek justice are eligible to obtain one of two types of visas that protect them from deportation and allow them to work legally.

Both types of nonimmigrant visas were created by Congress in 2000 as part of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act and the Battered Immigrant Women’s Protection Act One.

One, called a T visa, is set aside for victims of human trafficking, forced labor, and other similar crimes, and has no limit. It allows victims to stay in the U.S for up to four years while their case is prosecuted.

The other, called a U visa, has a more expansive list of eligible crimes that someone must have witnessed or been a victim of, and must participate in the criminal investigation of. The list includes crimes such as domestic violence, blackmail, sexual assault, stalking, and several other violent offenses.

The number of U visas was capped under the law at 10,000 per year, something Panetta called “arbitrary” and a limit that he said created a severe backlog of applications. A waitlist was established for applicants beyond the annual cap, but Panetta said those with pending applications are no longer receiving adequate protection from detention or deportation under a recent policy change by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A spokesperson for ICE did not respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

Panetta’s communications director Christian Unkenholz wrote in an email that the policy change related to a directive issued by ICE that overrode a previous one that had more proactive protections for people with pending applications. He said there were more than 117,000 pending in 2018, and the number had only grown.

Unkenholz said the waitlist for a U visa is now more than five years. The policy directive removed guidance for ICE agents to proactively assess whether a person targeted for enforcement has been the victim of an eligible crime, and for them to routinely request expedited decisions of pending applications when relevant to their enforcement.

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It’s the second time Panetta has introduced the bill, titled the Immigrant Witness and Victim Protection Act, after the first effort stalled in the subcommittee stage in 2022. The bill would remove the cap, establish timelines for obtaining work permits for those with cases under review, and prevent victims and witnesses from being detained or deported while their applications were pending.

Panetta, D-Santa Cruz, announced the legislation at a press conference at San Jose City Hall along with San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Supervisors Otto Lee and Susan Ellenberg, and Santa Clara County assistant district attorney Terry Harman.

Speakers also included Santa Clara County Undersheriff Dalia Rodriguez, San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph, and Jeremy Barousse, the director of policy and organizing at Amigos de Guadalupe, a nonprofit that provides legal and other assistance to immigrants, including crime victims.

Mahan said he had heard from San Jose residents afraid to leave their homes and fearful of reporting crime to law enforcement amid a federal enforcement operation that has established arbitrary arrest quotas by federal immigration authorities.

“When any of our neighbors live in fear that reporting a crime might put their life in this country at risk, it makes everyone less safe,” Mahan said. “Our police officers lose the ability to build cases, our prosecutors lose key witnesses, and our communities are left all the more vulnerable to violent crime,” he said standing under a sunny sky outside the San Jose City Hall rotunda.

Panetta, a former prosecutor in Alameda and Monterey counties, said the Trump administration’s immigration policies were making it harder to pursue justice in violent crimes and alleged that people on the waitlist for U visas, which he said were severely backlogged, were being specifically targeted for deportation.

“This bill would not only allow us to secure justice in courtrooms, it would provide safety and security to our communities and it would strengthen that trust in our democracy that’s needed now more than ever,” he said.

Lee, the current president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, said he was the first immigrant member of the board. He said 40% of the county’s population were immigrants, and 50% of local small businesses were started by immigrants.

“Immigrants make our country tick, immigrants make our county and our country complete,” Lee said. “And that’s why it’s so important that our immigrant communities have the full protection of the law.”

Harman said that crime did not have caps, so there was no reason to cap the protection for witnesses or victims, and said the district attorney’s office relied on undocumented crime victims to bring perpetrators to justice. She also said making victims or witnesses fearful of coming forward puts them in an even more vulnerable position and protects criminals.

“Threat of deportation is a common and manipulative ploy among child abusers, child molesters, and domestic violence abusers,” Harman said. “Failing to address the U visa backlog keeps victims trapped in abusive relationships and prevents abusers from being held accountable,” she said.

In the fight over sanctuary policies, the Trump administration has filed lawsuits against cities like Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago, trying to force them to end their policies that allow local residents to interact with law enforcement, including as victims or witnesses of crime, without fear of deportation.

A federal judge dismissed the suit against Chicago last week, which had sought to compel the city to share immigration data with the federal government.

The city of San Francisco and Santa Clara County, meanwhile, are leading a lawsuit involving 50 jurisdictions seeking to reinstate federal grant money that had been withheld. A federal judge issued an injunction against withholding the funding while the case continues.

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