Santa Cruz launches program to help undocumented report crime
The Santa Cruz Police Department launched a program dedicated to help victims of crime who are undocumented. They want to get the word out that they can help people in two ways without fear of deportation.
The U Visa status is for undocumented people who have been victims of certain crimes and help law enforcement and prosecutors with the investigation.
Santa Cruz Police said they can help these victims get temporary immigration relief while getting the suspect off the streets.
Santa Cruz has been a so-called sanctuary city for a long time, dedicated to protecting all of its residents, including the undocumented. The city wants undocumented immigrants to know they can report violent crimes without fear of deportation under the U Visa.
“This is about taking predatory people off the street as much as it is about helping people not be re-victimized and so this is a very important program where a person applies for a visa, we verify that they were cooperative and then we send it to the federal government, our partner, to help us keep them in the country,” said Santa Cruz Police Chief Andrew Mills.
Under the police department’s program, which Chief Mills believes is the first in Santa Cruz County, when someone comes in to report a violent crime, if the officer thinks that person could be undocumented they will provide them with information and get them in touch with victim advocates.
There are certain criteria: the person has to be a victim, only certain types of crimes apply, they have to have been physically or psychologically hurt and they have to cooperate with law enforcement and prosecutors.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, some crimes include: kidnapping, human trafficking, certain sex crimes and domestic violence.
“It’s tough, they’re afraid and it’s going to continue until somebody intervenes. Police will normally intervene when we’re notified but part of the problem with that is, what do you do afterward? If the person just gets out, even if they get deported, the suspect, they’re going to come back. And it just makes it much worse,” said Chief Mills.
Members of the community said they’d like to see the program expand to hospitals and schools so everyone knows about it. And they believe this program will help build trust with the police.
“Coming in here and starting to trust the police is difficult for us. And nevertheless I want to believe that we can make a change. I want to believe it’s possible here in Santa Cruz. and seeing how he’s been acting with the homeless people in Santa Cruz, give me hope that he’s going to be keeping his word that he is going to be really trying to protect and engage the Latino community,” said Santa Cruz resident Ernestina Saldana.
The U Visa program is capped off at 10-thousand people a year. Congressman Jimmy Panetta plans to introduce legislation that would not only eliminate that cap but would stop immigration officers from targeting undocumented people who come forward to report crimes and cooperate with law enforcement.
