Last year, while I was reporting on the ways law enforcement regularly undermines special protections for immigrant victims of crime, I uncovered something surprising about one of the most diverse cities in the United States.

The Miami Police Department rejected nearly every request it received from immigrant victims who were trying to apply for temporary status under the U visa program, established by Congress 20 years ago to build trust between their communities and police. In order to apply, immigrants need a law enforcement agency to sign a certification that confirms they’re a victim of a violent crime and that they were helpful to detectives.

But like other departments across the U.S. – from border communities in Texas to some of New York’s biggest cities – Miami had erected barriers for victims seeking U visa protections. Between 2016 and 2018, the department approved only 27 out of the 235 certification requests it received. 

For months, I reached out to different Miami officials for comment with no luck. Then I found Police Chief Jorge Colina’s cellphone number and texted him. Within about an hour, he called me back and I told him about his agency’s approval rate.

“It does sound like that’s a very low number,” Colina told me. “It’s certainly something I want to go back and revisit.”

I recently learned that Colina’s review of Miami police’s U visa procedures is complete. In an interview Friday, criminal investigations Maj. Antonio Diaz said the department has changed its rules to bring it in line with Congress’ vision for the program.

The department will vouch for victims who are cooperative with investigators and no longer will consider whether an arrest was made or a suspect was identified, Diaz told me.

“We want to try to encourage as many victims to come forward,” he said. “We’re not going to be an obstacle.”

The policy update was welcome news for immigration lawyers in South Florida who had told me about their struggles to obtain certifications for victims. After my story published in November, Michelle Ortiz from Americans for Immigrant Justice said the nonprofit received its first certification approval from Miami police in more than a year.

“Our clients will no longer remain unprotected solely because of their ZIP code,” she told me.

The policy change means that crime victims in Miami such as Nataly Alcantara, whose family was the target of a violent home invasion robbery in November 2014, no longer will be shut out from even applying for the U visa because police couldn’t solve their case through no fault of their own.

My story closely followed Alcantara’s case. After she cooperated with Miami police for months – looking at mugshots, inviting police into her home, landing a key lead that led to the arrest of a suspect – the agency declined to sign her certification.

Her lawyer, Maya Ibars, said she will be refiling Alcantara’s case for consideration under Miami police’s new policy.

Read my story here.
 

In other U visa news: Earlier this month, the federal government released its latest statistics on U visa application totals. The figures show that the number of petitions declined 20 percent, from 58,991 in 2018 to 47,225 in 2019.

Since the U visa’s creation, the number of petitions had increased steadily through the years. But beginning in 2018, petitions began to decline. This trend is in line with what sources told me throughout my reporting: The Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement has discouraged victims from calling police.

Read my Twitter thread here.
 

LA BANS IMMIGRATION DETENTION FACILITIES IN RESPONSE TO OUR STORY 

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to temporarily ban immigrant detention centers and shelters for unaccompanied children within the city. 

The decision comes two months after my colleagues Aura Bogado and Patrick Michels broke the story about a private firm’s proposal to open a shelter for unaccompanied children in Los Angeles.

The firm, VisionQuest, is seeking to lease a building in the working-class neighborhood of Arleta in order to “host children who have entered the country as unaccompanied minors.” The company has faced similar resistance in other cities. Officials in Philadelphia, San Antonio and Albuquerque, New Mexico, have blocked the company from opening shelters in their communities.

After Aura and Patrick began asking questions, City Councilmember Nury Martinez requested that city staff review whether a shelter was the best use for the property.

“I am vehemently opposed to placing immigrant children in what some call holding facilities or detention centers,” Martinez told us.

She took her opposition a step further this past week. Martinez introduced the motion to temporarily ban immigrant holding facilities of any kind from operating in Los Angeles. The city also is working on a permanent ban based on a separate motion filed by Councilmember Herb Wesson in July.

“This new legislation is a major step forward in banning detention centers in the City of Los Angeles. I will not stand idly by and allow for-profit companies to get rich off of the anguish and suffering of immigrant children in Arleta, or anywhere else in Los Angeles,” Martinez wrote on Twitter.

Read our VisionQuest story here.
 

1. As thousands of Venezuelans flee their country each day, many make the perilous 125-mile trek to a Colombian border city.  (Los Angeles Times)

Over the last five years, more than 4 million people have fled the country’s humanitarian crisis. Many hopped on international flights or took buses out of Venezuela. But thousands of other citizens with fewer resources have no choice but to walk hundreds of miles to find refuge in Colombia, living off canned tuna and the kindness of strangers along the journey.

The kicker: The departure of the caminantes, or walkers, began slowly in 2017 with young men hoping to find jobs and send money home. Now women and children, the sick and the elderly also are taking their chances, expanding an exodus that already is one of the biggest mass migrations in modern history. Each day an estimated 5,000 people flee. The most popular way out is through the Colombian border city of Cúcuta. Then comes one of the most difficult parts of the trip: a 125-mile passage that climbs more than 9,000 feet to a long and frigid plateau – El Páramo de Berlín – before descending into the balmy, green city of Bucaramanga.

2. The Trump administration agreed to open “tent courts” at the border to the public. But advocates say it’s still failing to provide full access to proceedings. (BuzzFeed News)

In September, the Department of Homeland Security opened temporary court facilities in Brownsville and Laredo, Texas, for asylum seekers forced to wait for their court dates in Mexico. After backlash from lawyers and reporters, the Trump administration recently agreed to open the facilities to the public. But lawyers are noticing that the government still is limiting public access to merits hearings, where immigrants can present evidence to explain why they should be allowed into the U.S.

The kicker: Asked by BuzzFeed News why that was the case, an Ahtna security guard at the facility, who declined to give his name, said it was because the shipping containers in which the merits hearings are held were too small to accommodate additional members of the public. Norma Sepulveda, an immigration attorney who had a hearing last week in Brownsville with a judge located in Fort Worth, said it was "ridiculous" that the merits hearings were being held inside small shipping containers that only fit seven people.

3. Judges and immigration agents are denying court protections for immigrants with mental health disabilities in custody, attorneys say. (San Francisco Chronicle) 

Under a 2013 court order, immigrants with mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are entitled to free access to legal representation. But according to several attorneys in the San Francisco Bay Area, “immigration judges are granting these protections to fewer people, and ICE is referring fewer of them to the courts.”

The kicker: During a hearing in San Francisco on Nov. 13, attorney Kelly Wells requested a competency hearing – known formally as a Judicial Competency Inquiry – to determine whether her client, Carlos Saavedra, was eligible for (court) protections. Judge Patrick O’Brien denied her request, despite diagnoses from two psychologists saying Saavedra, 21, has an auditory processing disorder that prevents him from comprehending complex verbal communication. When Wells pressed the issue, O’Brien removed her from the courtroom – a highly unusual move that several attorneys and at least one judge said they have never witnessed in their careers. 

Your tips have been vital to our immigration coverage. Keep them coming: [email protected].  

– Laura C. Morel

Fact-based journalism is worth fighting for.