For years, Laura Theresa Leon Sanchez says, she was beaten, raped and robbed by her boyfriend. If she tried to leave, he threatened to have her deported. Sanchez eventually got help from authorities – along with a special visa offered by the government to encourage illegal immigrants to report violent crime. AP Press.
The Associated Press reports that this year the government has issued over 4,400 “U” visas, temporary non-immigrant visas for victims of rape, violence, domestic violence and sex trafficking. Only 52 “U” visas were issued last year, and AP asserts that the Obama administration’s new priorities of federal immigration are responsible for the dramatic increase. The “U” Visa program was created in 2000 but delayed until rules for implementation were adopted in 2007. 10,000 “U” visas are available per fiscal year, and over 13,000 requests were made this year alone.
A staggering amount of illegal immigrants, particularly women, are victims of domestic violence and sex trafficking. Often the perpetrators use threats of deportation to silence victims. The “U” Visa program requires the visa applicants pursue legal action against their abusers.
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Violence against illegal immigrants is all too common, and is portrayed in the personal stories of many of our narrators in Underground America. Below is an excerpt from Mr. Lai’s story. Mr. Lai fled China when the government burnt down his home for violating the one-child policy.
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I’d been working at this Chinese restaurant in Kentucky for about two months. I was one of five, six kitchen staff. I worked as a cook, a wok handler. It was a typical job – long days, twelve to thirteen hours in front of a hot stove. The boss was Cantonese-speaking, so we didn’t communicate well. Myself, I speak Putonghua.
It was a typical morning. There were several workers going in and out of the kitchen to the alley. The kitchen was small and cramped so we’d use the alleys for things like peeling vegetables, washing dishes and pots, that kind of thing. I went out there a few times to throw out some hot water. There was another worker nearby, a woman, who was washing dishes. I didn’t really take that much notice to her at the time, but I remember that at one point she left the tub of dishes. After throwing some water out, I went back inside the kitchen to my stove. Suddenly everyone heard screaming – the woman came inside the kitchen, holding her hands up and screaming that her hands were burning with pain.
Then she ran inside the restaurant and came back with the manager. He had a really angry look on his face. He started talking to the workers. I could understand, “Bleach…water.” So I guessed he was saying that somebody had put bleach in the woman’s bucket of water and he wanted to know who’d done it. Nobody said anything. Several times he pointed to me, saying “Was it you?” I could understand that much.
Of course I just kept saying, “It wasn’t me” and “I don’t know anything.” Still, he kept pointing at me and asking, “Was it you, was it you?” Maybe he thought if he kept on at me, I’d eventually admit it. But I kept saying no, which made him angrier and angrier. He started pushing me around, but I didn’t fight back. I just turned away and went back to my stove. I just wanted to get back to work.
The next thing I knew I was getting struck from behind – at first I didn’t know what was happening, but then I turned around and it was the manager hitting my back, my arms. I tried to defend myself, push him away, but it was difficult – the kitchen was so cramped, I had no space to move. I couldn’t get out. I was scared. It seemed like a long time that he was hitting me. There were five or six other workers in the kitchen – some of them stood and watched. Others were carrying on with their work as if nothing was happening. I think they wanted to help me, but they were too afraid. Even when you see something bad happening, you have to think for yourself.
Then the manager grabbed a cleaver and started attacking me with it. I couldn’t believe what was happening. It seemed like he really wanted to hurt me, but when he actually cut my hand open and saw all the blood, he just looked really scared and ran away.
