Special US visa places trafficking victims in 'dangerous dilemma' — legal experts

The United States government may have offered victims of human trafficking a new lease on life by granting a special visa for them but legal experts said the requirement for victims to cooperate in investigations places them "in a dangerous dilemma."   A report published on the news site Asian Journal on Wednesday said legal experts believe that the T-1 Nonimmigrant Status visa— created more than a decade ago to help curb international human trafficking— puts the victims and their families in dangerous situations. Lynette Parker, a lawyer for the immigration program of the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center of Santa Clara University, said "it is scary to be in a situation where (the victims) may potentially have to confront their traffickers in court."   The visa “has been vastly underutilized,” the report added, with “only a few hundred T visas issued each year… despite the yearly quota of 5,000 available.”   Last year, for example, the government “received one-fifth of its quota,” where 557 T visa applications were approved and 23 were rejected.   Problems   According to the Asian Journal, the T visa was created by the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, providing victims from foreign countries “temporary legal status, with an opportunity to apply for permanent residency and access to federal benefits if they cooperate with law enforcement in the investigations of their traffickers.”   The requirement, however, exempts minors and those that have“physical and psychological trauma.”   According to lawyers and social service providers, the victims who apply for this visa are held back by the mere fact that they have to obtain a certification from federal law enforcement agencies, which state their willingness to participate the hunt for their traffickers.   The investigation intimidates many victims, the Asian Journal said, because their families back home have to be a part of it.   According to Hediana Utarti of the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco, she had a case involving a young woman who was told she was going to work as a cook, but she was “also forced to participate in sex parties” in the home of the family that brought her to the US.   The young woman applied for the T visa and aside from her testimony, law enforcement officials also “contacted her… siblings in her home country.” “It’s very scary for that person to have that situation where there are a lot of people talking about you,” Utarti said.   Awareness   This reaction to the T visa has urged the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to raise public awareness of the program.   According to Sharon Rummery, the agency’s spokesperson in San Francisco, California, her office has given training to law enforcement officials, community-based organizations, and the media all over the country regarding the program.   “We very much want people to know that the T is available, people to understand what it means to be trafficked. Some people may not even know that they’ve been trafficked,” she said.   The US government puts human trafficking forward as one of its advocacies and it has lauded the Philippines for taking steps in its own fight against the worldwide problem.   During her visit to the Philippines last November, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton praised the country’s “real commitment” in fighting human trafficking, also known as “modern-day slavery.”    “Now you’re prosecuting—that sends a very strong message to traffickers that ‘you have to beware, that you’re not gonna get away with this,” she said during the forum “A Conversation in Manila” at the National Museum. “I think it’s fair to say that we’re very proud of the progress that the Philippines is making.”   In a separate interview with CNN in June 2011, Clinton said they now see “a sea change of difference” in this advocacy, which is important since “the Philippines probably export more people of their citizenry than nearly any other country in the world.”   The Philippines has moved up from the “Tier 2 Watch List” to “Tier 2” in the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report of the US State Department, an improvement that Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. dubbed as “a vindication.” - VVP, GMA News