Illinois’ state child welfare agency for years has been illegally blocking undocumented survivors of child abuse from seeking a special visa for crime victims that would allow them to remain in the United States, an Injustice Watch investigation has found.
Since 2019, state law has required the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and all law enforcement agencies to make a decision within 90 business days on whether undocumented immigrant applicants who have been victims of certain crimes and are applying for a type of permanent visa called a “U visa” are eligible.
That visa program was set up to help law enforcement gain the trust of undocumented immigrants who might otherwise be reluctant to come forward.
But records show that DCFS so far has taken more than four years to establish a process to review the applications, potentially denying hundreds of families a chance at legal immigration status and keeping others from even trying.
“They are defying state law, and it’s really frustrating,” said Sara Dady, a Rockford immigration lawyer who filed a U visa certification request this year on behalf of a client.
“So I have to tell my client that, under the law, we should get a response within 90 business days, but this particular government agency has decided that they’re just not capable of following the law,” Dady said.
Marc Smith, the director of DCFS, wouldn’t agree to an interview, and his office didn’t respond to questions about why it hasn’t developed a policy on U visa certification requests.
In December, Injustice Watch reported that the Chicago Police Department routinely denied hundreds of U visa certification requests, often without justification. That report prompted Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s civil rights division to open an investigation of the police department. Raoul’s office says it’s now also “looking into” DCFS’s handling of U visa certification requests.
Interviews with immigration lawyers and clients and DCFS emails and correspondence show undocumented immigrants who applied for the certifications were told their applications weren’t being considered.
One case involves a 37-year old who was sexually abused by her grandfather for years when she was a preteen. She reported the abuse to a school social worker, who notified DCFS, which, records show, investigated and substantiated her accusations.
The agency referred the case to the police, but her grandfather later was convicted in a separate abuse case in which she had no involvement — meaning DCFS was the only law enforcement agency able to certify her U visa application.
Carlos Becerra, her lawyer, sent DCFS her certification request in November. Three days later, Rodrigo Remolina, who identified himself as a member of the “DCFS U Visa Unit,” wrote back: “We are currently developing a U Visa Policy for DCFS; therefore, we are unable to confirm the information you provided nor are we able to provide a signed certification at this time.”
“Can you tell me approximately how long it will take to develop the policy?” Becerra asked.
“Unfortunately I don’t have a date but I can tell you we are working on it diligently,” Remolina said in late November. “The best I can say is that we are hopeful to have it up and running in 2023.”
In mid-January, Remolina wrote to Dady’s office in emails in another case: “Although we already have a dedicated email for U-Visa, we do not yet have any policy or even an established process to certify U-Visa requests. We are working on it and hope to have this service up and running in the next few months.
“Please check back with us later this summer.”
Becerra filed suit against DCFS on behalf of the 37-year-old Chicago woman in Cook County circuit court on Feb. 15, accusing DCFS of violating provisions of the VOICES Act, the 2019 law requiring a swift process to consider U Visa certifications.
“This is my last shot at legal status,” the woman said in an interview. “I don’t want the system to fail me again.”
Most U visa certifications go through police and other agencies, according to federal data. But it’s common for child protective services to be the only agency involved in a case, said Danielle Kalil, a University of Michigan law professor.
A spokesperson for DCFS said the agency had received just seven U visa certification requests since the VOICES Act took effect in January 2019 and certified one. DCFS officials would not discuss that case.
In New York City, where about the same number of undocumented immigrants live as do in Illinois, child protective services have issued more than 234 U visa certifications since 2019, records show.
Kalil said the VOICES Act mirrors legislation in California and New York requiring state law enforcement agencies to quickly handle U visa certifications. The laws give child welfare agencies discretion to decide whether to certify U visas, but “you don’t get to decide not to review it at all,” she said.
The longer DCFS takes to comply with the VOICES Act, the longer potential applicants will have to wait in line for a U visa, Kalil said.
The federal government awards no more than 10,000 U visas a year, and the applicant backlog topped 188,000 as of September. That means it could take more than a decade for someone who applied for the visa this year to get it, Kalil said.
By preventing undocumented victims from applying for the U visa, DCFS could be keeping others from even coming forward, said Sarah Diaz, co-author of the VOICES Act, who is associate director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago.
“It makes children and their families remain in the shadows,” Diaz said.
