Immigrants who are victims of crime and cooperate with police may be eligible for a U-visa, which grants them temporary legal status in the United States. Although many law enforcement agencies recognize the U-visa as a valuable policing and crime-fighting tool, most police and sheriffs’ departments still have questions about it. For example:

• What are the implications for officers who certify that someone is eligible to apply for the U-visa?
• Can law enforcement exercise discretion when deciding whether to sign such a certification as part of the application process?

In “An Introduction to Law Enforcement Use of U-visa, a webinar Vera recently hosted withLegal Momentum (our partner in the National Immigrants' Access to Justice Partnership), two officers who have extensive experience with the visa—Lieutenant Chris Cole of the Storm Lake Police Department in Iowa and Deputy Chief Pete Helein of the Appleton Police Department in Wisconsin—answered these and other questions.

In a new podcast, Lieutenant Cole and Deputy Chief Helein provide practical details about how they use the U-visa in their respective jurisdictions, including a discussion of how they have handled cases when applicants have a criminal history.