Undocumented immigrants who are victims of domestic violence now can get protected status from deportation.
The Department of Homeland Security issued rules on the new U visa, which offers victims temporary legal status in exchange for cooperating with police on prosecuting their abuser, Barb Barrett reports.
But the new visa comes seven years after Congress first authorized it, and then only after U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, warned that he would pull funding from the agency’s new headquarters. Price said as much in the report his Homeland Security funding subcommittee wrote the agency earlier this year.
"To encourage speedy progress on this issue, the Committee has withheld from obligation any funds for the Department’s headquarters projects until the U– Visa rule is published," the report said.
Today, Price said he was pleased with the results.
"This is good news for victims of domestic violence and for their tireless advocates who have been working to make the U Visa a reality," he said in a release. "Safety and justice for crime victims should never take a back seat to a victim's fear of deportation. This new visa program upholds the right priorities for a compassionate society."
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