El Paso, TX – Five years have passed since the racially motivated shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, yet dozens of immigrants who assisted law enforcement are still waiting for relief from the federal government.
At least 50 witnesses and relatives applied for U visas following the attack. This special permit, established in 2000, aims to enhance law enforcement’s ability to investigate and prosecute major crimes, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
However, applicants are still waiting for updates on their visa status, with some potentially facing several more years, or even decades, of uncertainty.
Immigration attorneys attribute the delays to a lack of resources for USCIS to tackle the growing backlog of applications. Additionally, there is an annual cap of 10,000 visas for the U visa program.
Allegra Love, supervising attorney for community programs at the El Paso-based Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, represents the 50 affected individuals. She noted that many in immigrant communities were willing to assist in prosecuting criminals.
“People in immigrant populations were not participating in the prosecution of actual criminals,” Love told The Texas Newsroom. “There were so many more people than Congress predicted who were able and willing to participate in this program as the actual victims of crime.”
To qualify for a U visa, law enforcement must certify that the applicant has provided helpful information for the investigation, and the applicant must agree to cooperate with investigators throughout the case.
According to Love, this has been accomplished.
For individuals like Ana, a witness to the shooting, the wait adds another challenge to the difficulties she has faced over the past five years.
“While I have tried to heal from this horrific attack against people like me and my children, the trauma may remain for the rest of our lives,” she said in a statement to Las Americas. “I urge community leaders and elected officials to help families like mine gain peace and stability.”
The gunman, a North Texas man who traveled to El Paso to carry out the attack, received a sentence of 90 consecutive life sentences after being convicted of killing 23 people and injuring 22 others. His actions intentionally targeted the Latino community in the border city.
A separate state case is ongoing, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and the trial is expected to start next year.
The U visa is valid for four years, and after three years, recipients can apply for lawful permanent residency, also known as a green card. After five years as a permanent resident, individuals may apply for citizenship.
Love and her clients are eager to know when they will receive their visas and begin this process.
Some clients have been granted deferred action, a temporary status that allows them to work and provides some relief from deportation.
“What the government has started to do is process the cases. They’re sending letters to our clients saying, ‘You’re going to qualify for this, but we just don’t have the visa to give you,’” Love explained.
In 2020, the average processing time for U visa applications was about four years, with a backlog of around 140,000 cases, according to KERA.
Currently, the processing time has increased to 58 months—just under five years—and over 220,000 cases are pending, according to USCIS statistics.
USCIS funding from the federal government has remained stable over the past two fiscal years. However, the available resources are primarily allocated to other applications, as noted by Kathleen Bush-Joseph, an attorney at the Migration Policy Institute.
“There are legitimate questions about how USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security prioritize their resources,” she stated. “The focus on work permits for newcomers and processing humanitarian parole applications has taken priority, leaving a limited number of adjudicators for other types of applications.”