BATON ROUGE — Five people, including four law enforcement officers, were indicted on federal charges of conspiracy, immigration fraud, robbery, mail fraud and money laundering this week. Among the dozens of allegations, the indictment alleges the defendants fraudulently obtained, or assisted in obtaining “U nonimmigrant status.”
MORE: Louisiana police chiefs among five indicted in federal visa fraud and money laundering scheme
But what is a U visa and how did these individuals go about committing these crimes? UWK got some answers about the visa and indictment from former U.S. Attorney Walt Green.
Green explained the law is designed to protect illegal immigrants who have been victims of crimes, as well as their families.
“If you have an illegal immigrant who’s been the victim of a crime, many times they’re afraid to call or report to law enforcement because they fear they’ll either be deported or potentially arrested for their illegal status,” Green told UWK.
If an illegal immigrant is the victim of a crime, they can report it to law enforcement, and under the U Visa, that person and a family member qualify to remain in the United States, pending the the prosecution of the case that they were a victim of.
“In the Baton Rouge area for a period of time, Hispanic people were being taken advantage of by different gangs and other people who wanted to rob and steal,” Green said. “People would commit these crimes because they figured illegal immigrants wouldn’t report them.
“There was a big Department of Justice outreach back in 2000 to 2015 where people went out into the community: BRPD, the sheriff’s office, U.S. Attorney’s Office, ICE , DHS, all made outreach to inform people that if you know about a crime, and if you’re a victim of a crime, that we’re not going to deport you. We’re actually going to try to get you a visa to stay,” he said.
Green read through the entire indictment and explained, “It appears that police or law enforcement were also involved in drafting or submitting false police reports that went along with the packet to immigration. You have to have a law enforcement report substantiating the victim.”
Green believes the Western District did a great job with this indictment. “I think it absolutely should be prosecuted. If you don’t prosecute this crime, this U Visa is only used very sparingly, and it’s to protect illegal immigrants who are victims. If you allow people who are not victims to use it, it just perverses the whole reasoning for the visa itself, and it should be protected only for victims.”
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on the latest news across the Capital area.
Support UWK and its mission to deliver The News You Deserve. Unfiltered. Become a monthly patron on Patreon today!
