OAKLAND, Calif. — For years, Laura Teresa Leon Sanchez says, she was beaten, raped and robbed by her boyfriend. If she tried to leave, he threatened to have her deported.
“I was a ghost. I was nothing,” said the Mexico City native who was living in the U.S. illegally. Sanchez eventually got help from authorities — along with a special visa offered by the government to encourage illegal immigrants to report violent crime.
Created in 2000, the “U” visa program was on hold until rules for its implementation were adopted in 2007. Now the government is approving thousands of requests.
Records from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service show that 4,400 visas were issued this fiscal year — up from just 52 last year.
Those benefiting from the program include hundreds of women alleging rape, female genital mutilation and sex trafficking. But government records show the overwhelming majority — upward of 4,000 cases — are domestic-violence victims.
