Washington, D.C. (January 14, 2026) – At a time when fraud and misuse are being uncovered across a wide range of federal programs, a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies finds that the U visa program is also routinely abused, imposing real costs on law enforcement and legitimate crime victims.
The Center's director of policy studies, Jessica M. Vaughan, examines how a program intended to help police investigate and prosecute crimes has instead evolved into a large-scale immigration benefit routinely exploited by illegal aliens seeking long-term legal status.
Created by Congress in 2000, the U visa was designed to encourage unlawfully present victims of serious crimes to cooperate with law enforcement by offering legal status. In practice, the report finds, the program has become a de facto amnesty channel. Hundreds of thousands of petitions have been filed in recent years because the application is free, requires minimal scrutiny, and offers work authorization and protection from deportation, often for a decade or longer, even for applicants with criminal records or prior immigration violations.
“Without durable statutory reforms,” Vaughan said, “the U visa program will continue to burden law enforcement, incentivize fraud, and fail the very crime victims it was created to protect.”
Key findings include:
- U visa petitions have surged to more than 400,000 total pending cases as of June 2025 (including family members), despite a statutory cap of 10,000 visa approvals per year for victims (not including family).
- Under current policies, simply filing a petition often results in work authorization and protection from removal for many years, even before a meaningful background check.
- Internal USCIS studies found that in over 60 percent of cases, the crime was never investigated or the statute of limitations had expired.
- Nearly 35 percent of petitioners studied had a previous arrest for a prior criminal or immigration-related civil offense.
- The overwhelming majority of law enforcement agencies surveyed by an inspector general audit reported that the program does not help them prosecute crimes and only 18 percent articulated any benefits of certifying U visa petitions.
- Reports of staged or fabricated crimes to obtain U visa certifications have increased.
- State laws in jurisdictions such as California and Illinois pressure police agencies to certify petitions even when officers have doubts about the claims.
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